Using the SHe-Box

The present Assam government deserves all praise for introducing the SHe-Box – Sexual Harassment Electronic Box – in all departments of the state administration with the objective of enhancing the safety of female employees in the workplace. This is a very big step to curb sexual harassment of female employees in government offices, one which will enable women employees to submit complaints regarding workplace harassment in a secure and confidential manner. While the SHe-Box facility will be initially accessible in all departments of the state once it has been implemented, what is required, however, is to extend this facility to all kinds of government and non-government offices and establishments so that every working woman can feel safe and also avail herself of the facility to file complaints immediately whenever the need arises. A senior lady officer of the rank of an additional secretary has been appointed as Nodal Officer for SHe-Box, and her basic responsibility is to oversee the platform’s operation and guarantee that complaints are promptly and effectively addressed. Victims will now be able to submit complaints without disclosing their identity to the public through the new electronic platform. The SHe-Box platform comes at a time when data revealed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and other related studies indicate that sexual harassment and crimes against women in Assam remain a significant concern, often placing the state among the highest in India. It is also important to note that the most common reported forms of workplace harassment include unwelcome physical contact, mental harassment, hostile work environments, and sexually coloured remarks. Also important is the fact that there is a lot of under-reporting too. Research indicates that while occurrences of sexual harassment of women at the workplace in Assam are high (estimated at 44% in a 2017-2019 study), only about 2.7% of these cases were officially reported.