Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment can be physical and/or a demand or request for sexual favors, making sexually colored remarks, showing pornography, and any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions from verbal transgressions to sexual abuse or assault. Harassment can occur in many different social settings such as the workplace, the home, school, or religious institutions. Harassers or victims can be of any gender.
Kashmala Tariq is a Pakistani politician who was the Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplaces, in office from February 2018 to March 2022. Previously, she was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2002 to 2013.
Employment discrimination law in the United States derives from the common law, and is codified in numerous state, federal, and local laws. These laws prohibit discrimination based on certain characteristics or "protected categories". The United States Constitution also prohibits discrimination by federal and state governments against their public employees. Discrimination in the private sector is not directly constrained by the Constitution, but has become subject to a growing body of federal and state law, including the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Federal law prohibits discrimination in a number of areas, including recruiting, hiring, job evaluations, promotion policies, training, compensation and disciplinary action. State laws often extend protection to additional categories or employers.
Equal Rights Advocates (ERA) is an American non-profit gender justice/women's rights organization that was founded in 1974. ERA is a legal and advocacy organization for advancing rights and opportunities for women, girls, and people of marginalized gender identities through legal cases and policy advocacy.
Yasmin Abbasey is a Pakistani Judge, serving in the Sindh High Court. She is one of only two women serving on the court at this time. Justice Abbasey has previously served as a Judge in the lower courts. Since her elevation to the High Court, most of Justice Abbasey's reported cases have been in Criminal Law, although she has extensive experience in Administrative Law, having served in Administrative Tribunals while serving as a puisne judge. She was previously serving as Federal Law Secretary. Presently she is the Federal Ombudsman for Harassment of Women and Men at Work Place under the Harassment at Work Place Act, 2010.
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral reasonableness. In the legal sense, these are behaviors that appear to be disturbing, upsetting or threatening. Traditional forms evolve from discriminatory grounds, and have an effect of nullifying a person's rights or impairing a person from benefiting from their rights. When these behaviors become repetitive, it is defined as bullying. The continuity or repetitiveness and the aspect of distressing, alarming or threatening may distinguish it from insult.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 is a legislative act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their place of work. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 3 September 2012. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 26 February 2013. The Bill got the assent of the President on 23 April 2013. The Act came into force from 9 December 2013. This statute superseded the Vishaka Guidelines for Prevention Of Sexual Harassment (POSH) introduced by the Supreme Court (SC) of India. It was reported by the International Labour Organization that very few Indian employers were compliant to this statute. Most Indian employers have not implemented the law despite the legal requirement that any workplace with more than 10 employees need to implement it. According to a FICCI-EY November 2015 report, 36% of Indian companies and 25% among MNCs are not compliant with the Sexual Harassment Act, 2013. The government has threatened to take stern action against employers who fail to comply with this law.
Violence against women in Pakistan, particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence, is a major public health problem and a violation of women's human rights in Pakistan. Women in Pakistan mainly encounter violence by being forced into marriage, through workplace sexual harassment, domestic violence and by honour killings.
The law for workplace bullying is given below for each country in detail. Further European countries with concrete antibullying legislation are Belgium, France, and The Netherlands.
Victoria Ann Lipnic is an American lawyer and public figure. She served in multiple senior United States government positions. She was Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), nominated to two terms by President Barack Obama, 2010 – 2020.) She served as Chair (Acting) of the EEOC under President Donald J. Trump from 2017 – 2019. Prior to her appointments to the EEOC, she was Assistant Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush. The United States Senate confirmed her unanimously to each of these positions.
Musarrat Hilali is a Pakistani judge who has become the second female judge to be elevated to the country's Supreme Court. She previously served as the first woman Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court. From March 2013 till her elevation to the Supreme Court in July 2023, she had been the only woman on the bench of the Peshawar High Court.
The Federal Tax Ombudsman evaluates complaints against federal tax agencies. Article 37 of the Constitution of Pakistan calls for inexpensive and expeditious justice. The Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance of 2000 and the Federal Ombudsman Institutional Reforms (FOIR) Act of 2013 confer powers, including administrative and financial autonomy. This aligns with the separation of Pakistan's judiciary and executive branches in accordance with the Constitution.
Founded in 2001, Alliance Against Sexual Harassment (AASHA) is an alliance of non-government organizations (NGOs) including Action Aid Pakistan, Bedari, Working Women's Support Centre, Working Women Association, Federal Women's Welfare Agency, Conscience Promoters, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research, and Working Women Organisation. AASHA is a non-governmental organization operating in Lahore and Karachi which raises awareness regarding sexual harassment and lobbies the policymakers to take action against it.
Fauzia Viqar is a Pakistani human rights activist with a focus on women's rights. She served as the first chairperson of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women from 2014 to 2019.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is Canada's national police force established in 1920 after the Cabinet moved to have the Royal North-West Mounted Police absorb the Dominion Police. The RCMP's primary mandate is to maintain "peace and order," and Officers provide police services to all Canadian provinces, excluding Québec and Ontario, as well as to the three Canadian territories, and more than 180 municipalities and Indigenous communities.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) is a New York–based non-profit organization that functions globally. The organization is supported by Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
The legislative assembly of Pakistan has enacted several measures designed to give women more power in the areas of family, inheritance, revenue, civil, and criminal laws. These measures are an attempt to safeguard women's rights to freedom of speech and expression without gender discrimination. These measures are enacted keeping in mind the principles described by the Quran.
Wafaqi Mohtasib,, also known as the Federal Ombudsman, is a governmental institution established by Presidential Order I of 1983, during the tenure of President General Zia ul Haq. The primary mandate of the Wafaqi Mohtasib is to identify, investigate, address, and correct instances of injustice stemming from the maladministration of federal government agencies. Its role is crucial in ensuring accountability and fairness in the public sector, serving as a mechanism for citizens to seek redress for grievances caused by administrative lapses.
The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010 is a legislative act in Pakistan that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their place of work. The Acts of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) received the assent of the President on 9 March, 2010. The objective was to "create a safe working environment for women, which is free of harassment, abuse and intimidation with a view toward fulfillment of their right to work with dignity."
National Women's Day in Pakistan is 12 February of each year, chosen to mark the first women's march in Pakistan against the Zia ul Haq's military regime. The date 12 February 1983 is significant in the history of women's rights in Pakistan because the first such march was brutally suppressed by the martial law enforced by the police of General Zia ul Haq's regime. The Day is over three weeks before International Women's Day when the Aurat Marches take place in Pakistan.
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