Women urged to report harassment cases

Islamabad : The Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment (FOSPAH) at Workplace Kashmala Tariq on Tuesday said that using mobile phones to intimidate or stalk others, text messages at social media like Facebook, Instagram etc falls under harassment and must be reported.

She said that ‘Good Morning’ messages to women also fall under the category of harassment. She said that in some reported cases of harassment, even peons and ‘Naib Qasids’ were found involved in harassing women at workplace. Federal Ombudsperson advised women to save such unwanted and intimidating messages by men and report such cases according to law.

She was speaking at organized by Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) in connection with International Women’s Day. She said that to change things for women, the change is required in men. “They should celebrate the women. They should celebrate the nucleus of their families.”

Kashmala Tariq said that education is vital for women so that they can stand with men equally and can contribute to the country’s economic development. “Women should be aware of their rights and they should not tolerate the injustices done to them.”

Talking about the harassment committees in offices, she said that all the institutions, offices and organizations should have harassment committees. “All organisations are required to report their status of compliance with the workplace harassment law.”

Federal Ombudsperson said that not only sexual harassment should be reported to FOSPAH, but using mobile phones to intimidate or stalk others, text messages etc. also falls under harassment and must be reported. “Any unwanted act that hinders the work falls under the category of harassment,” she said adding that FOSPAH is not only for women but men can also file their harassment cases in the Ombudsperson.

She lauded RCCI efforts for promoting women entrepreneurship and added that these women playing a remarkable in the economic uplift of the country. “Women are coming out of the taboos and social bars and now we can see professionals in different sectors other than conventional sectors like IT, Air Force and board members at corporate levels,” she said.

She stressed on gender equality and asked participants to create awareness among fellow members with respect to workplace harassment.