She-Box - Making it Easier for Women to Report Sexual Harassment
SHe-Box was introduced by the Women and Child Development Ministry in July 2017 to give any woman, regardless of her work status, access to register a complaint against an abuser or mistreatment of any sort.
This portal connects all central ministries and 653 districts in India for rapid case disposal, taking several factors into consideration when using this tool.
Ease of Use
Women and Child Development Ministry has launched the SHe-box portal (Sexual Harassment electronic Box) for any woman working either for government or in the private sector, to file sexual harassment complaints electronically. This portal will route them directly to authorities with jurisdiction to investigate cases based on filing date.
This user-friendly online portal makes filing complaints much simpler for women who feel aggrieved by government or private offices. The first step asks her to indicate whether she works in government or private offices before leading her on to another page where they need to provide more details of the incident in question.
Complaint Management systems enable victims to track the status of their complaints easily. Women can use their email id as the SHe-box username and password, giving them access to viewing complaints at any given time.
The portal is an important addition to existing redressal mechanisms, providing female employees with an external means for seeking justice outside the organization and raising awareness. Furthermore, this will encourage more women to voice their cases rather than keeping silent about them; however, government must ensure this initiative is executed with care so that all citizens receive equal protection under law.
Convenience
SHe-Box is an online portal launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to register sexual harassment complaints by women. Both government employees as well as private employees can use it.
The portal allows users to file complaints and track their progress after registration, as well as report incidents of sexual harassment in unorganised spaces. Women working for government have found the portal successful; however, victims still fear reprisals from employers when reporting sexual harassment incidents; to combat this trend the government has asked companies and workers to spread awareness of this resource.
SHe-Box was initially implemented only for government employees; however, private workers can now also utilize it. When accessing SHe-Box portal, users must first indicate whether they are government or private employee; this information will then determine which committee to address their complaint with.
The SHe-Box portal is an accessible and user-friendly solution for victims of sexual harassment in an organisation, encouraging ICs to take their PoSH act responsibilities seriously and respond promptly to complaints filed through it. Unfortunately, several issues must be addressed to make the system even more effective - for instance allowing users to file multiple complaints against multiple known and unknown respondents would help reduce fear that retaliation from perpetrators might follow after filing their report.
Fairness
Women in India fear the repercussions of reporting sexual harassment; fearing they could lose their job, be socially ostracized or experience backlash at the workplace are among the factors why many victims remain silent about their experience. She-Box's online complaint portal allows victims to easily and conveniently report sexual harassment incidents while tracking its status for additional convenience.
WCD ministry launched She-Box portal to address complaints under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act. At first it was only accessible by government employees but now non-government workers may use She-Box.
To use She-Box, one must register their name and email id with the portal, after which a verification link will be sent via email to confirm your complaint before being delivered to the relevant authority for processing. This process decreases case processing times considerably.
However, She-Box Portal presents several issues. Notably, complainants must provide their Aadhaar number when filing complaints; furthermore there is no provision for lodging a complaint against an unknown respondent, leaving victims vulnerable and exposed without knowing who the harasser may be.
Monitoring
The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has made it easier for female employees to report sexual harassment. Their online complaint portal SHe-box, launched in July and accessible by government employees initially before becoming available to private sector workers as of November 2017 via their own web platform hosted on WCD website and monitored by cell within ministry, allows female employees to file claims of sexual harassment more easily than before.
As part of filing a SHe-box complaint, the initial step involves selecting which office involved (Government/Private). After providing all the relevant information and pressing submit for registration of their complaint to take place. Once submitted successfully, an email containing a link for creating a password that can allow tracking the progress of her case will be sent directly to her email address confirming her submission of her SHe-box complaint.
While its exact purpose remains uncertain, She-Box emphasizes the need for workplaces to have grievance redressal mechanisms. Perpetrators of sexual harassment often get away with their acts because victims don't know how they can report it; hopefully She-Box will encourage more victims of harassment to speak up, while pushing companies into providing appropriate internal committees and redressal mechanisms in place.
