Karnataka State Women’s Commission chairperson Nagalakshmi Choudhary speaking at a workshop at Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi on Monday (September 7).
| Photo Credit: P.K. BADIGER
“Ensuring the safety of working women is the responsibility of everyone and not just the government or civil society groups,’’ Nagalakshmi Choudhary, chairperson of the Karnataka State Women’s Commission, said in Belagavi on Monday (September 7).“A conducive environment should be created for women to work with respect, dignity and safety at their workplaces. Women should be made aware of their rights. It is everyone’s responsibility to create an environment where women can freely share their problems and get necessary help without any fear or embarrassment,” she said.She was speaking at a district-level workshop on the Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, at the Central Hall of Suvarna Soudha, under the joint auspices of the commission, district administration, zilla panchayat, and Women and Child Development Department. She said that respect, dignity and safety of working women should be ensured by effectively implementing the provisions of the Act in every organisation, public or private.“The commission has implemented many programmes for the safety and protection of women’s rights. Various facilities have been provided to provide necessary assistance to women, including helplines 181, 112 and help messages through WhatsApp. Women can contact the commission for appropriate assistance and guidance regarding harassment, injustice or other problems they face,’’ she said.Resource person Prashanth Turamuri said that implementing provisions of the Act was mandatory for any organisation that has an office with 10 or more staff members, even if it did not have women employees. “That is because any organisation may employ women in the future and if it does, it should welcome women with these safeguards in place,’’ he said.He said all offices had to set up an Internal Complaints Committee to prevent sexual harassment of women at workplaces in order to create a safe and respectful working environment for women and effectively resolve complaints related to sexual harassment. “Apart from being aware of their rights, women should also develop the courage to lodge a complaint through the appropriate channel instead of silently tolerating any kind of sexual harassment at the workplace. Creating awareness about the Act and ICC among employees and employers is therefore mandatory,’’ he said. He said the committee should not be just a paper system, but should work actively in a way that instilled confidence in women.“Sexual harassment in the workplace is not limited to just rude words or physical harassment. It can include various types of behaviour that violate the dignity of women, including unwanted touching, sending obscene or inappropriate messages, indecent behaviour, sexual comments, and pressure. It is essential to continuously make employees, heads of organisations and members of the grievance committee aware of this. Female daily wage labourers and women in other unorganised sectors often face problems without knowing whom to report the harassment to. Therefore, everyone should cooperate in creating a safe and respectful workplace by creating widespread awareness among such women about the law, the method of lodging a complaint, and the available assistance and protection systems,’’ he said.Commission Secretary Rupa. R, Deputy Superintendents of Police M. Niranjan and Veeresh Doddamani, Zilla Panchayat Planning Director Ravi Bangarappanavar, Joint Director of Social Welfare Ramanagara Gouda Kannolli, Deputy Director of Women and Child Development Department R. Chethanakumar, officers and staff of various departments and others participated in the workshop. Published - September 07, 2026 08:18 pm IST
