By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, Sep 22 2003 (IPS)

In Sri Lankan plantations, female tea pluckers are occasionally asked to sleep with the ‘kangani’ or field supervisor, or find tea dust poked into their blouses by male workers. Sexual harassment in the workplace and the seeking of sexual favours are a common but largely hidden occurrence, according to studies by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The figures from the police on sexual harassment are low, but there is evidence from women’s groups and trade unions that it often happens, says Claudia Coenjaerts, head of the ILO Colombo office. However, awareness of the problem is growing.

Last week, Sri Lanka’s private sector – with the ILO’s help – launched a voluntary code of conduct on sexual harassment in the workplace. While similar codes and laws against sexual harassment are already in place in some parts of South Asia, Sri Lanka is the first country in the subcontinent where a code was initiated by the private sector-driven Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC).

In other countries, guidelines were drawn up by governments with the ILO’s help. Sexual harassment often goes unreported, says Gotabhaya Dissanayake, director general of the EFC, an umbrella organisation that represents employers in Sri Lanka.

”It impacts on the workplace in many ways,” leading to loss of productivity and losses, he said, adding however that the code’s drafters had come up with guidelines that are not too cumbersome and rigid. He said several companies have assured support by drafting their own rules.

This code comes on the heels of attempts by workers themselves to have employers acknowledge the problem and deal with it.

Last year, the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union included a clause on sexual harassment in a collective agreement with tea, rubber and coconut estates. "That was a landmark development," noted M S Mohideen, secretary of the union that represents some 100,000 workers, mostly of Indian origin, and is affiliated to the ruling United National Party (UNP). "Under this clause, estate companies are obliged to issue guidelines on sexual harassment. Anyone who violates the rules could lose their jobs." As in other parts of the Asia-Pacific, sexual harassment is wrapped around ”taboos and confidentiality”, said an ILO statement at last week’s launch ceremony.

Most of the time, it affects women. Most at risk are young women under precarious employment contracts, migrants and domestic workers. Those working in plantations and free trade zones in Sri Lanka, where majority of workers are women, are also at risk, trade unionists say.

But some women trade union activists there say the problem is not too serious. "It’s possible it’s not being reported. But from our investigations, there are no serious issues like men asking for sexual favours or something like that. Of course teasing goes on but that isn’t considered serious or unwelcome," said Mila, an official at a Friendship Home for free trade zone workers run by local unions. Most of the problems faced by women workers in the zones are harassment by men while travelling by bus to and from their workplace, added Mila, who uses one name. Manori Witharana, project officer at the American Solidarity Centre’s Colombo office, which works with a lot with unions in the zones, says that workers may indeed be reluctant to complain out of fear of harassment. According to Jyoti Tuladhar, a senior specialist in gender and women worker issues based in New Delhi, just about 10 to 15 percent of the victims report incidents of sexual harassment.

If women do report them, the police are not always understanding or sympathetic. Niroza Hussein, a senior manager at the multinational Unilever and one of the drafters of the code, said often policemen tease victims and treat complaints of sexual harassment as a joke.

"Victims should know their rights, that there is redress and the guilty could be jailed, fined and also ordered to pay compensation," she said. Sri Lanka amended its penal code a few years ago to make sexual harassment a criminal offence with a maximum jail term of five years, in addition to fines and payment of compensation to victims.

There has not been any case filed in a Sri Lankan court unlike the landmark Indian Supreme Court judgment where the court – acting on a complaint by a group of non-government groups on behalf of a victim – set out guidelines that the government was instructed to follow. Now that there is a code of conduct for Sri Lanka in place, it should be used and for this to happen, workers should be informed of their rights, said Mahinda Gammanpila, secretary to the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

"Sexual harassment should no longer be taboo. It should be an issue openly discussed and action taken," he said. ILO’s Coenjaerts said a voluntary code of conduct can give confidence to workers that the management cares about them and wants to protect their dignity.

This is also because the common attitude is that sexual harassment is harmless flirting or that women provoke it by their dress or behaviour. "This is not what it is. A key characteristic of sexual harassment is that it is unwelcome and unwanted behaviour as determined by the victim," she said at the launch. "Sexual harassment is not about sex; it is about power." The code describes sexual harassment as conduct that is "unwelcome, unsolicited, unacceptable, unreasonable and offensive to the recipient or an overtly or covertly sexual nature." It includes visual, verbal and tactile moves, such as pinching, touching, squeezing, kissing and molesting.

The code says companies should undertake to appoint a panel to address sexual harassment complaints. Disciplinary measures include counselling, verbal and written warning and dismissal.

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