Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct case has had numerous fall outs. One of this was a Facebook post by Raya Sarkar, a law graduate student at the University of California, Davis. She named two Indian academicians accused of sexual misconduct and then invited other victims to send her the names of Indian academicians who have sexually harassed them. Not being on Facebook, I did not see this post. But it caught my attention today when I saw that prominent feminists have put out a statement against Raya Sarkar.
Curious, I searched out the list and scrolled down through it. The following are my thoughts:
1. The list contains names of mostly social scientists. There are no scientists in that list. I am not surprised. The science students are not brave enough to name their professors. Their career (read: future grants and positions) are dependent on their professors.
2. After reading the names I was also not surprised by the statement put out by the prominent feminists.
3. One of the questions asked or suggestion proffered is that the victim should use the institutional mechanism available to them to complain against the alleged harasser. I agree that would be the wisest course. However, the reality is different. Where the powerful are concerned, no action will be taken and in this case, all attempts will be made to shield/protect the harasser. Instead, the victim will be shamed. May be this is one of the reasons that these victims have chosen to speak out in this way.
4. The institutions- even the courts- have not really given any solace to the victims that their voice will be heard and justice will be done. In case of Mahmood Farooqui, the Delhi HC let him off by saying that a feeble No can mean yes.
5.That said, the major problem is that it names the name but no explanation is offered. No chance is given to the alleged harasser to explain his stance. That is really worrisome. One of the names on the list shocked me. Why did the person name him? Is there any truth? Who investigates?
I do not know what will be the outcome of this list or what Raya Sarkar hopes to achieve. All I know is that the list has left me deeply disturbed.
I will just end this with a personal anecdote. When I worked for a company in Bangalore, a girl intern approached me. She was deeply upset. Her supervisor was mentally abusing her- basically telling her that he does not like to hire women because they are insincere and they do not work. They always make excuses as to why they cannot stay late and if some body talks to them harshly, they will start crying. I went to the HR and told her that irrespective of the position the man holds, he has no right to harass anyone. Next thing I knew- I was pushed into resigning from the company.
Curious, I searched out the list and scrolled down through it. The following are my thoughts:
1. The list contains names of mostly social scientists. There are no scientists in that list. I am not surprised. The science students are not brave enough to name their professors. Their career (read: future grants and positions) are dependent on their professors.
2. After reading the names I was also not surprised by the statement put out by the prominent feminists.
3. One of the questions asked or suggestion proffered is that the victim should use the institutional mechanism available to them to complain against the alleged harasser. I agree that would be the wisest course. However, the reality is different. Where the powerful are concerned, no action will be taken and in this case, all attempts will be made to shield/protect the harasser. Instead, the victim will be shamed. May be this is one of the reasons that these victims have chosen to speak out in this way.
4. The institutions- even the courts- have not really given any solace to the victims that their voice will be heard and justice will be done. In case of Mahmood Farooqui, the Delhi HC let him off by saying that a feeble No can mean yes.
5.That said, the major problem is that it names the name but no explanation is offered. No chance is given to the alleged harasser to explain his stance. That is really worrisome. One of the names on the list shocked me. Why did the person name him? Is there any truth? Who investigates?
I do not know what will be the outcome of this list or what Raya Sarkar hopes to achieve. All I know is that the list has left me deeply disturbed.
I will just end this with a personal anecdote. When I worked for a company in Bangalore, a girl intern approached me. She was deeply upset. Her supervisor was mentally abusing her- basically telling her that he does not like to hire women because they are insincere and they do not work. They always make excuses as to why they cannot stay late and if some body talks to them harshly, they will start crying. I went to the HR and told her that irrespective of the position the man holds, he has no right to harass anyone. Next thing I knew- I was pushed into resigning from the company.
Exploitation of subordinates and doctoral students (in particular) is not uncommon in India. Even male students are victims, sometimes. Exploitation is not always sexual, but it is exploitation nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteThe guilty almost always get away. Voices must be raised against such academic predators, no doubt. However, Raya Sarkar's approach is wrong. Naming and shaming leads to vigilantism and defamation and thence to retaliation from the named and shamed ones. That retaliation may be legal or otherwise.
It's worse in the corporate world, as you discovered. Always wondered why you quit that particular company. It's a bad place to work in, anyway.
We had some nasty academics in the "premier" institute that I hail from. Of course, nothing came out in the open - just whispers and fingers being pointed. A couple of doctoral students had their lives destroyed because they stood up to their research guides, but again, nothing out in the open.
Nothing much can be done, because of the same old reason - the System. The System allows professorial thugs to get away. The System gives a PhD guide too much power over his/her student. Which is why I decided never to give another human being that much power over me, after I was brutally harassed at UDCT(ICT) during my Master's days. (Male students are victimised too, although not sexually).
Until the System changes, nothing will change.
The power to exploit/harass/victimize in the academia exists across the world. The right student with the right pedigree will make it to the top. The rest will fall wayside. This is one of the reasons that victimization/harassment/exploitation is widespread in academia. I remember Jaspal Bhatti did a comedy skit on the relationship between a Ph.D student and his Ph.D guide. Unfortunately, the onus is still on the victim to prove that the harassment happened and most of the academic institutions, at least in India, fail to have a mechanism that would help the victim. I think this pent up anger was one of the reasons that the names came up on the list. I am still ambivalent about it. I believe nothing will happen. The academics will go on as before.
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