#Metoo movement has brought out various instances of abuse against women. Why women continue to face harassment in India?

#Metoo movement has showed how it is difficult for women to coexist as colleagues or as relatives with dignity and how often they fall prey to harassments in the workplace.

Why the harassment continues despite stringent laws?

• Many times the lines are crossed by friends or relatives. This creates a double whammy for women who have to fight the culprits both inside and outside their home, if they choose to open up.
• Abuse of power is another main reason for the continuing harassment against women. The power due to superiorship in the professional environment or in the name of family prestige the women are forced to bow down before the culprits.
• The slow pace of judiciary where in cases run for decades. The men expect to get off with it because they have gotten away with it for so long promotes a lackluster attitude towards women.
• The patriarchal upbringing which privileges the male over the female and socially licensed misogyny reduces women to be a second gender and make them vulnerable.
• The patriarchy and misogyny in the society promote a sense of entitlement among men. They see abusing women as their right.
• Women have also internalised the idea of being powerless. Women are additionally brainwashed from infancy into being “nice”. They fear confrontations or conflicts which would act as deterrence against harassment. As a result they become an easy prey.

Women empowerment is a way out to address the crisis. But this revolution is not an easy one to bring. Together with institutional and social reforms individuals must fight back. Only then there would be a place of dignity for women where they could coexist with dignity.