Women in history have been facing tremendous barriers as they sought opportunities that would set them on an equal footing with men globally let alone in Pakistan. In most countries—rich and developing—they are going to school more, living longer, getting better jobs, and acquiring legal rights and protections. But large gender gaps remain. And women have less opportunity to shape their lives independently and make decisions than do men.

Last year, the movie of this Faysal bank supervisor was taking rounds among so many sexual harassment cases that occur each day, and also a lot of people have very toxic perspectives about the victim. As per the news, the guy not only got reported to the State Bank of Pakistan but also has been permanently banned from ever working in a bank and arrested.

Let me break down the Pakistani workplace for women:

With the ease and convenience with which the manager is seen carrying out the abuse, it’s evident that it’s been happening repeatedly and the poor girl may not be the only victim. Meanwhile, Faysal Bank execs are busy working on policies to make burqa mandatory. If they haven’t created a safe working space for women, a mere burqa is not going to cut it. Whether FB employees like it or not, the abuser’s casual demeanor while committing such a deplorable act is a reflection of the bank’s work culture. I wonder if the insistence upon the new dress code is due to an overwhelming number of sexual harassment reports. And rather than treating the underlying cause – the disgusting creeps, they’re simply covering up the women in the hope that their new policies will stop this vile, and abhorrent behavior.

Harassment in Workplace

What baffled me about all of this, is the fact that he was being filmed, and I came to the conclusion that it was probably being filmed because he had been doing it repeatedly at the time, to the same girl. Chances are the reason she didn’t react, is because it’s probably the fourth, or fifth, or the countless times he had done it. Made excuses to return to the desk and touch her every time, at which point the person filming thought it prudent to catch him in the act! Such kinds of managers deserve slap and spit on the face.

“Ask him in front of all the colleagues that what did you just do?”

Which colleagues? The same one in front of whom he is openly groping her without a concern in the world? Do you think he was scared of those colleagues finding out or was going to be embarrassed? He was assaulting her openly in front of everyone with pure impunity. That explains everything there is to understand. He was the boss and did whatever he wanted without any fear and that’s why the girl had to get the video made and out in public because inside the bank nobody dared say anything against the boss. Why is this so difficult to understand?

She must have responded

The claim was, it was certainly consensual. Women in banks know their rights. There are very strong policies in place and a lot of emphases is placed on harassment. As both of you know nothing in the world works without evidence, so she smartly created evidence. If it was consensual, she wouldn’t allow him to do it in front of other people, people have affairs in office, and they do it hidingly. She is not likely to grow a set of balls to respond against a harasser. Actually, it wasn’t consensual.

Forget consent, let’s say they are married, is it ethical to do such things in a public place? The girl clearly was under pressure so she asked her colleague to make a video because she was sure that the guy would do that again. So yeah, it was pretty obvious. If you’re a girl and respond to these things happening to you personally, please thank God you have the environment and support system to offer you that guts to do so. The majority of women fear retribution not just from the harasser, but also from their own families at home who’d blame them instead of helping them. To the people asking why she didn’t react, everyone has their own nerve level. That’s why we have laws so that the law exacts justice and not individuals, or some people would just suffer because of ignorance or lack of courage or some other economical political impediment, while others would go overboard for similar reasons.

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