Faculty Seminar | Evaluating the Implementation and Enforcement of India’s POSH Act through Surveying Individuals Across Sectors

Alexandra (Zander) Blitzer will present a paper titled “Evaluating the Implementation and Enforcement of India’s POSH Act through Surveying Individuals Across Sectors”. Prof. Saurabh Bhattacharjee will be the discussant.

Abstract

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, more commonly known as the POSH Act, represents a major step forward for protecting women from workplace sexual harassment across India. Previously, there was no law that explicitly provided these protections. However, this law is far from perfect, and implementation and enforcement over the last 10 years have proven to be inconsistent across geographies, sectors, and workplaces. As such, this paper focuses on a survey I have deployed this spring surveying individuals’ opinions on and experiences with the POSH Act. By focusing on the efficacy of the law on a human level, I aim to illuminate the law’s capacity, or lack thereof, to make individual people’s lives better, safer, healthier, more secure, and more prosperous.