Rise against sexual harassment at work place, women urged

 ANN ZULU Writes

WOMEN should resist all discriminatory practices against them at their workplaces to ensure that they enjoy the same rights as their male counterparts, Gender Activist Betty Mumba has said.

Ms Mumba urged women not to sit down, but fight for their rights.

“Women need to stand up for their right, because you won’t get it on a silver platter,” Ms Mumba said.

She mentioned some of the discriminations against women as height, when being recruited into the security agencies, employing women because of their looks or body size, domestic mistreatment and abuse, demanding sexual favours before employment, sexual harassment and others.

Ms Mumba noted that though there were laws that protected women at their workplaces, there was the need to increase advocacy and consultations with target institutions to have such discriminations eroded.

She said they should have sexual harassment policies popularised in all institutions.

Ms Mumba also called on institutions not to wait till they were dragged to court on such discriminatory practices when they could administratively review their policies to be in line with the constitution.

She further called for sensitisation, saying a number of female workers did not know their labour rights, thus, the need to be educated on it.

She said it was imperative that the citizenry, especially women, were empowered to stand up for those rights and not die in silence, even if their institutions do not make them aware.

Ms Mumba explained that though women formed the majority of the world’s population, they were denied many of their rights and marginalised due to patriarchy, culture and gender stereotypes.