KARACHI: The Office of Students’ Advisor of the University of Karachi in collaboration with Ombudsperson for Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Fospah) of the government of Pakistan arranged an awareness seminar on protection against harassment (Workplace Harassment Act) at the Chinese Teachers Memorial Auditorium on Monday.
The Federal Ombudsperson for Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace, Government of Pakistan, Fauzia Viqar during her address said that only 21 percent of the total population of females in the country are working, but now as the inflation ratio has increased to more than 35 percent, the proportion of the working women must be increased.
Pakistani females should go out for work because it has become very difficult to rely on a single income and almost impossible to meet the expenses.
Fauiza Viqar while giving a reference to research conducted in 2018, shared that around 80 percent of college-going girls in Punjab, who use public transport, have admitted to experiencing harassment. She mentioned that this is a huge number, and reflects our social problem. She urged that this issue must be resolved on an emergency basis.
She informed the audience that another study highlighted that 57 percent of working women have faced harassment in the workplace. According to her, this is a reported figure and there are chances that more females have gone through the same experience at least once in their lives.
Fauzia Viqar mentioned that working women mostly face harassment during the initial stage of their professional career, or working in junior positions, or at the time of joining organizations.
She observed that to ensure the implementation of laws related to harassment, it is important that the affected people should raise their voices against this nuisance.
She advised that people who are around the victim and have proper information related to harassment matters should also raise their voices against it to prevent such incidents.
Meanwhile, the KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi said that the University of Karachi strictly follows the policy of zero tolerance regarding harassment.
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