Cops, lawyers and judges are needed to be sensitised about legislation meant to protect women against harassment at workplace, Resident Director, Aurat Foundation, Mehnaz Rehman told newsmen on Saturday. "This is extremely important as the rampant chauvinism and traditional approach are major hindrances for sufferers in need of justice," she said.
The activist said indifference of law enforcers and the interpretators of the law can be extremely detrimental for the women as they fail to gain courage and report their plight or pursue their case against perpetrators of the crime. "Social pressures and patriarchal paradigm are preventing women to report crimes, the commonest being the harassment, committed against them," said Mehnaz.
She maintained that introduction of the law that has also been included in the Pakistan Penal Code, turns it important that all stakeholders understand it and make it work. The activist, in reply to a question, agreed that there was a need to incorporate the law in the training packages for police, lawyers and judges.
There was also a dire need that every institution and organisation with women workforce, complying to the law itself, immediately develop a code of conduct, she added. Mehnaz Rehman suggested that workers also, be they men or women, must be helped understand the law so as to help create a safe and dignified working environment for both women and men workers.
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