It’s been 6 years since POSH {The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013} came into being. Many organizations are just ticking off boxes from compliance stand point. However, until organizational leaders realize the importance of this issue and make it a priority, this isn’t going to be addressed.
Amongst other issues, one of the key concern for a company is to lose goodwill if any of its sexual harassment cases comes to light. Secondly, a workplace to be zero tolerant and free of sexual harassment, efforts on enhancing awareness and sensitization, the real solutions, are seen as added unnecessary expense.
On a brighter note, more and more organizations, including MNCs are now making efforts to enhance awareness by sensitizing their employees on POSH. Be.arsty (a for profit organization) is one of the forerunner venture that is helping organization sensitise their employees using innovative means of communication, including Nukkad Natak (street plays) by theatre artists and student volunteers.
Be.arsty is headed by Shikha Mittal who is quite passionate about POSH. This issue is something that is very close to her heart, as she herself had to quit 8 jobs in 6 years due to sexual harassment. Being courageous, she was determined to make a difference, thus Be.arsty was born in 2010.
Be.artsy’s mission is to encourage the raising of awareness as a business responsibility before social responsibility and to relook at the concept of awareness beyond an act of charity.
The organization delivers awareness programmes on any social issue but the two topics that particularly focused on are Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Financial Literacy. Be.artsy wields art as its weapon to design all its communication campaigns in over a dozen languages that cover almost all-official languages, in India. These two key unique selling points make Be.artsy’s awareness projects, relevant, approachable and impactful for people from different walks of life.
Utilising the power of art to drive the message in corporates that POSH is a business responsibility, is an attempt to make workplace safe and secure for employees. Be.artsy’s clients like Air India, American Express and Tata Coffee, among others, found that theatre hits people more strongly than a regular PowerPoint presentation, especially during a conversation around a sensitive topic like sexual harassment.
PepsiCo India is Be.artsy’s first clients who have used the art-based model since 2013 to efficiently create awareness about sexual harassment amongst both white and blue-collar employees by translating the play in nine Indian languages. As if to recognize the adeptness in bringing about behavioral change, ‘Mind Bugs’ campaign designed and developed by Be.artsy for PepsiCo India went on to win the prestigious Global Harvey C Russell Inclusion Award.
Shikha further reiterates that POSH isn’t just a workplace issue or a stand alone society issue but a very core human issue. It occurs when people don’t equate others to themselves. She isn’t an innocent bystander but a crusader against this war and urges all men, women, society, lawmakers and organisations to prevent sexual harassment before it reaches to the stage of assault. She has already reached out to 25,000 corporate employees of MNCs, Indian collaborates and public sector undertaking. Miles to go…..
Also Read: ‘She’s Safe’ – equipping workplaces to get safer for women I India CSR
