Skip to main content

Not just Indian women engineers, men too face sexual harassment at workplace: US study

By Rajiv Shah
A recent research, carried out jointly by two US-based non-profit organizations, Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Center for WorkLife Law (WLL), based at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, has found that 45% of women engineers as against 28% of men engineers complained that it was perceived as “inappropriate when women argued at work, even when it was work-related.”
Carried out by a team of scholars led by Joan C Williams, distinguished professor of law, Hastings Foundation Chair Director of the Center for WorkLife Law, University of California, Hastings College of the Law, the study also found that 45% women as against 30% of men “reported feeling pressured to play submissive roles at work”.
Titled “Walking the Tightrope: An Examination of Bias in India’s Engineering Workplace”, the study  says, “40% of men and women reported that women should work less after having children, while 27% of men and women reported that men should work more after having children.”
The study continues: “A higher percentage of women (63%) than men (55%) reported feeling their female colleagues had just “turned into men”; 74% of women but only 60% of men reported thinking that most women didn’t understand what it takes to succeed at work”; and “60% of women but only 44% of men reported a lack of support for diversity initiatives.”
Based on a survey of 423 women and 270 men, majority of them in the age group 25-44, the study says, “Indian engineers reported high levels of bias whether they were men or women. Our data suggest that women engineers are more likely to face gender bias, while men engineers are more likely to face bias based on where they come from (both their region and language).”
Pointing towards men reporting “more bias than women”, it says, “44% of men but only 30% of women reported bias based on language or region of origin; of engineers without kids, “a higher percentage of men (50%) than women (39%) reported that they are perceived as having ‘no life’ so they end up working overtime.”
Then, the study says, “A higher percentage of men (54%) than women (41%) reported they found it difficult to get administrative help”, adding, “54% of men but only 44% of women reported bias in hiring.” 
Ironically, the study points out, not women but also men face sexual harassment at workplace: “11% of women engineers and 6% of men engineers reported unwanted romantic or sexual attention or touching in the workplace.”
Further: “When asked if respondents had ever felt bribed with workplace advances (quid pro quo) or threatened with workplace consequences for not engaging in sexual behavior, 2% of women and 4% of men agreed." And, “when asked if respondents had been told sexist or sexual stories, jokes, or comments, 25% of women and 16% of men reported that they had.”
Classifying bias in four categories, the study found that 76% of engineers reported having to prove themselves over and over to get the same level of respect as their colleagues; 77% of engineers reported that they were confined to a narrower range of acceptable behaviours than their colleagues; 40% of engineers in India reported bias against mothers in their workplaces; and 45% of women reported that they have to compete with their female colleagues to get the one “woman’s spot” available. 
Noting that “higher levels of bias were associated with feelings of exclusion, belonging, and lower intent to stay with one’s employer”, the study says, “Three-quarters of engineers reported bias in assignments, promotions, sponsorship opportunities, and compensation”, adding, “Two-thirds of engineers reported bias in their performance evaluations. Half of engineers reported bias in their companies’ hiring systems.”
Such biases continue despite the fact that over the past four decades, the number of women earning engineering degrees in India increased sharply. Thus, says the study, “In 1980, only 1.5% of engineering degrees were earned by women. Twenty years later, in 2000, that number grew to 23.9%.” And, “by the 2017-2018 school year, women earned 31.7% of the engineering and tech degrees in India.”
According to the study, “the climate for women engineering students in India” has become positive, with “only 8% of women students reported that they sometimes felt left out in their academic setting”.
However, it regrets, “After college, the situation gets worse for women engineers in India. The unemployment rate for women with engineering degrees is high: five times higher than the rate for men.” The reason, it adds, is, “Engineering jobs have traditionally been viewed as needing tough, long, on-site hours, employers have been reluctant to hire women.”

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.