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Keeping in view the problem of sexual harassment of women at workplace, the present book titled as "Exploitation of Women at Workplace; Assessing the Effectiveness of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 in the Health Sector" has been written as an effort to study the aspect of sexual harassment of women at workplace and the efficacy of the act with special reference to the health sector. The book is a comprehensive, well researched and up to date work on this sensitive issue. Chapters dedicated to the definition and extent of this problem, national as well as international scenario, important judgements and recent cases along with the policy formulation issues form an integral part of the book. The author has tried to analyze the problem from all angles- the effectiveness and adequacy of enacted laws in the country and policies framed at international level, the root cause of the problem and loopholes in present legislative and enforcement systems have been analysed so that perhaps one of the biggest hurdle being faced by women today can be eradicated/curbed.

The present study is empirical in nature, attempting to make a sociological enquiry regarding the women working in the health sector “the Safdarjung Hospital and All India Institute of Medical Sciences in particular. It also aims to investigate the level of safety experienced by the women employees working in the above mentioned two hospitals. An effort has been made by the author to find out the level of awareness regarding The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013, in these hospitals and if at all the hospital managements have taken the steps as instructed by the legislation to strengthen the preventive, prohibitive and redressal measures in their respective institutions.

The effort taken to write such a book would have no value if it lacked a fresh perspective and does not contribute something new to the study. Intensive researches, availability of extensive literature, keen interest and proactive debates are available in abundance but all are focused mostly on the theoretical aspect of the problem. There is hardly if any data on the subject that has been currently undertaken by the author. The area chosen for this particular work was undertaken for this very reason- that the availability of data in the said field is next to nil. Hence this study was undertaken to identify the problems related to their safety and sexual harassment faced by the women workers including the doctors, nurses, technicians etc. in the health sector, specifically the two hospitals mentioned above. Every system is run by human beings thus human element occupies a very important or significant place in every system. The objective of this book is to study the various causative factors leading to the success or the failure of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013. A detailed analytical study of the various factors with special reference to the health sector has been done. In the health sector, two leading government hospitals namely All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Safdarjung Hospital were visited and the relevant data was collected. In the present book, the primary data from the respondents was first tabulated in simple statistical tables, and then an attempt has been made to interpret them logically and fruitfully. The data has been rendered clear and comprehensible with the help of simple statistical tables and graphs. The data thus presented in the statistical form has been analyzed, interpreted and the conclusions were drawn there from. Wherever the statistical data was not possible, descriptive analysis has been resorted to. The primary data wherever necessary has been supported by secondary source of material for presentation. The plausible inferences have been drawn to find out the reasoning that the data reveals. Based on the data, the suggestions that emerged to curb this problem (legislatively, administratively, organizationally, socially and individually) have been put forth in the form of summations and suggestions at the end of the book.

Contents: Preface. 1. Human rights of women and gender discrimination. 2. Legislative developments in safeguarding women. 3. Violence against women and legislative protection at workplace. 4. Profile of victims of sexual abuse. 5. Administrative actions for sexual abuse. 6. Summations and suggestions. Annexure. Bibliography.