Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment-Social Barricades and Implementation of Laws in Pakistan

Abstract

Sexual harassment infringes the fundamental human rights of women. It restricts the most important segment of society from demonstrating their full potential and their right to work and attain equal opportunity. The quantum of this behaviour in a society can only be evaluated when women in general are fully aware of the nature of this behaviour and the legal protection available. Sexual harassment is an ambiguous term for many; when hearing of an incident of sexual harassment, many might not understand exactly what crime has been committed. Under which category does it fall? What if the complainant is lying? Pakistan has enacted special and general laws to fight the epidemic of sexual harassment. This article presents the appraisal and implementation of all the prevailing laws related to sexual harassment of women in Pakistan. It examines the hurdles, restraints, and resistance women have faced during the course of adjudication and determination of such matters due to various factors including social barricades that persist in this society. This qualitative and quantitative study examined whether the prevailing laws sufficiently cover the full nature, scope, and underlying themes of sexual harassment through implementation, by analyzing the procedures adopted at the time of implementations. I also explored whether sexual harassment is really a form of discrimination and what prevailing laws should entail to combat the practice and whether the law is generally accepted by the social community because of certain intrinsic differences. The study also recommended changes and additions to the existing methods and procedures in the laws, policies, and guidelines and implementations and examined how rampant sexual harassment is in the workplace, and whether employers address harassment through policies, training, and acting on complaints.