Beyond the Basics: Expanding Our Understanding of Workplace Sexual Harassment

When we talk about harassment at the workplace, the conversation almost always gravitates toward one thing: sexual harassment. And while that is undeniably a serious issue, it tells only part of the story. What about the woman whose manager routinely assigns her clerical tasks despite her technical qualifications – simply because she is a woman? What about the male employee who is harassed by a colleague but has no dedicated legal mechanism to file a formal complaint? Or the colleague whose appearance becomes a subject of public ridicule in office meetings? These situations are all forms of gender-based injustice at work – yet most of them fall outside the legal protection offered by India’s existing framework. Understanding workplace harassment comprehensively means looking beyond the sexual act itself.

The POSH Act and its defined boundaries 🔗

India’s primary law addressing workplace harassment is the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, commonly called the POSH Act. Enacted following the Supreme Court’s landmark Vishaka Guidelines, the Act was a significant step forward in recognising women’s right to a safe and dignified workplace as a fundamental right under Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution.

However, the Act’s scope is defined very precisely – and that definition creates notable gaps. Section 2(n) of the POSH Act defines sexual harassment as any unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature – covering acts such as sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and sexually coloured remarks. Section 3(2) extends this to circumstances such as threats to employment and the creation of a hostile work environment, but only when those circumstances are connected to sexual conduct. The result is a law that addresses individual acts of sexual harassment effectively but does not address the broader patterns of gender-based discrimination that poison workplaces every day.

What the law misses: non-sexual gender harassment 🔗

Not all gender-based harm at the workplace involves sexual conduct. Consider these scenarios: a manager consistently interrupting or dismissing a female colleague in meetings while engaging with male peers; a supervisor assigning a woman only support roles despite her being equally or more qualified for leadership tasks; or a male colleague making a demeaning public remark about a woman’s appearance – but one that carries no explicit sexual undertone.

A recent case illustrates this gap starkly. In Vinod Narayan Kachave v. The Presiding Officer (ICC) and Anr, the Bombay High Court was faced with a situation where a male employee made a public comment comparing a female colleague’s appearance to a JCB machine in an office setting. The Court found it difficult to classify the comment as sexual in intent and declined to treat it as sexual harassment under the POSH Act. Yet the comment was plainly sexist – it singled out a woman’s physical appearance in a professional setting, undermining her dignity and reinforcing gendered scrutiny at work. The Act simply had no provision to cover it.

This is precisely the gap that scholars have been pointing to. As noted by researchers at the Oxford Human Rights Hub, the POSH Act is rooted in a traditional understanding of harassment as conduct driven by unwelcome sexual desire, while failing to capture systemic sexism – gendered stereotypes, the limitation of opportunities based on gender, and the reinforcement of traditional gender roles – all of which are equally damaging to a person’s dignity and professional growth.

The hostile work environment that isn’t called harassment 🔗

A toxic work environment does not always arise from overtly sexual behaviour. Repeated belittling comments about a woman’s competence, exclusion from professional opportunities on gender grounds, or casual remarks that reinforce gender stereotypes – these create a workplace climate that is hostile, even though they do not meet the POSH Act’s threshold. The preamble of the Act itself speaks of advancing women’s right to live and work with dignity. Yet the operative provisions do not always deliver on that promise.

This is not just a theoretical concern. IDR Online notes that gender-neutral laws against workplace sexual harassment are already in place in 77 countries, and many of these frameworks address sex-based harassment more broadly – not just acts that are sexual in nature. In India, some forward-thinking companies like Wipro, Infosys, and Godrej have adopted gender-neutral harassment policies voluntarily, but this is not mandated by law.

Harassment of men: a legal blind spot 🔗

The POSH Act is explicitly limited to women as complainants. As clearly stated in legal analyses of the Act, its safeguards do not apply to men as victims, though employers may choose to extend similar protections through internal policy. This exclusion creates a significant legal blind spot.

The data suggests the problem is real. A survey cited in the Economic Times found that 29 to 43 percent of respondents reported being harassed by female colleagues – yet legal recourse under the current framework remains unclear for male victims. Without a dedicated mechanism, harassment of men is typically routed through general misconduct or code-of-conduct provisions within organisations, rather than through any structured legal process.

The barriers to reporting are also compounded by societal attitudes. As documented in legal scholarship, deeply entrenched stereotypes about masculinity make men far less likely to report harassment – many are uncertain whether what they experienced even qualifies as harassment, and fear that complaints will not be taken seriously. The result is a cycle of underreporting that renders the problem statistically invisible.

What legal avenues exist for men? 🔗

Male victims of workplace harassment are not entirely without legal recourse, but the available mechanisms are fragmented and inadequate. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code, contains provisions covering unsolicited sexual approaches, sexual acts without consent, and conduct meant to offend modesty – but the language of most sections remains female-centric, creating ambiguity about their application to male victims. Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees equality before law, and legal experts argue that the exclusion of men from workplace harassment protections may itself be constitutionally questionable – but no legislative remedy has followed yet.

The LGBTQIA+ gap 🔗

The exclusion does not stop at men. IDR Online reports that the POSH Act does not protect members of the LGBTQIA+ community either, since the law assumes a binary male-female divide and designates only women as potential complainants. In 2023, the Supreme Court, while hearing a petition seeking to amend its own internal harassment regulations to cover LGBTQIA+ persons, declined to make the amendment but granted liberty to approach the relevant committee for a separate regulatory framework. This reflects the broader reality: the law has not yet caught up with the diversity of identities present in modern workplaces.

Why a comprehensive approach matters 🔗

Limiting the discourse on workplace harassment to sexual acts alone has several practical consequences. It allows a range of genuinely harmful conduct – gendered insults, discriminatory task assignments, appearance-based ridicule, and hostile professional environments – to go unaddressed. It leaves male victims and LGBTQIA+ employees without formal legal protection. And it frames workplace justice as a women-only concern, which actually undermines the broader goal of gender equality.

As the International Bar Association has observed, gender and sexuality are more fluid today than when the POSH Act was drafted, and men and members of the LGBTQIA+ community equally require legal protection from workplace harassment to ensure safety for all employees, regardless of gender. A truly comprehensive policy framework would need to recognise sex-based harassment (harassment rooted in gender, even without sexual intent), extend protections to all genders, and move beyond reactive complaint mechanisms to address the structural and cultural conditions that enable harassment in the first place.

The role of organisational policy in filling the gap 🔗

While legislative reform remains pending, organisations have significant room to act. More than 90% of employer policies in India are already gender-neutral in practice, even though the POSH Act itself is not – meaning that internal HR frameworks already extend protections beyond the law’s boundaries. Organisations can go further by explicitly defining non-sexual gender harassment, creating confidential reporting channels for all employees, and building a culture where any form of gender-based discrimination is taken seriously – not just those that meet the legal definition of sexual harassment.

The POSH Act was a foundational achievement. But a foundation is not a finished structure. Protecting all employees from gender-based harm requires acknowledging that harassment wears many faces – and that the law, as it stands, can only see a few of them.

What do you think? Should India amend the POSH Act to cover non-sexual gender harassment, or would a separate, gender-neutral law be more effective? And given that organisational policies are already outpacing the legislation in many workplaces, does the law need to catch up – or is voluntary reform by employers sufficient?

References

1. https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/2104
2. https://doe.gov.in/files/inline-documents/DoE_Prevention_sexual_harassment.pdf
3. https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/rethinking-the-posh-act-in-india-expanding-sexual-harassment-to-include-sex-based-harassment-at-the-workplace/
4. https://idronline.org/article/rights/indias-workplace-sexual-harassment-laws-need-an-update/
5. https://www.nishithdesai.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdfs/Research%20Papers/Prevention_of_Sexual_Harassment_at_Workplace.pdf
6. https://www.kelphr.com/blogs/are-there-laws-that-protect-men-from-harassment/
7. https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-19148-redressing-the-imbalance-legal-gaps-in-protecting-men-from-workplace-sexual-harassment.html
8. https://www.ijlra.com/details/rights-of-men-against-sexual-harassment-at-workplace-in-india-a-call-for-gender-neutral-laws-by-amit-d-namder
9. https://www.ibanet.org/india-decade-of-posh-act
10. https://www.easyllama.com/blog/india-workplace-harassment-laws