WUNRN
Stigma attached to complaining and inadequate legal provision means victims suffer in silence.
By Maharram
Zeynalov – September 27, 2013
Women who face sexual harassment at work in
27 September 2013 - Anna worked for a
tourist company in the capital
“My boss made unacceptable remarks, so I
resigned,” she said. “But before that I avoided him, and tried never to be
alone with him.”
Anna, who like other women IWPR interviewed
for this story asked to be identified only by her first name, did not tell her
parents because she was worried they might stop her working. She lives with
them.
“It isn’t just me who has faced harassment
from our bosses; most of my friends have as well. But we have no one to turn
to. An employee in
Elgun Safarov, who works for the State
Committee for the Family, Women and Children, said many women had complained to
his team about mistreatment at work.
If they alleged sexual assault, they were
directed to the prosecution service as this was a criminal matter. If the
complaint was of sexual harassment, he said, his committee contacted the labour
ministry’s employment department.
However, legal action in cases of
harassment is extremely rare. Matanat Azizova, head of the Women’s Crisis
Centre in
“There have been only two cases where women
wanted to take a case to court, and we didn’t manage to win them,” she said.
“First, they place little trust in the courts. Women here know that the courts
are corrupt and that the judges are mostly men. Secondly, there is no specific
law on harassment.”
Although sexual harassment is covered in
article 4 of the 2006 gender equality law, while article 7 obliges employers “to
take the necessary measures to prevent discrimination on a sexual basis and
sexual harassment”, these clauses are rarely enforced.
Khatira works for a major company in
Women who refuse to enter into a
relationship with their boss are mistreated and ridiculed.
“There was a case when a colleague turned
our down boss in front of everyone, and he never forgave her,” Khatira said.
“He just piled work onto this girl, and when she didn’t manage to do
everything, he was really rude to her until eventually she had to resign.”
Mehriban Zeynalova of Clean World, an
organisation that campaigns against sexual violence, agrees that few women are
prepared to file official complaints of harassment.
“As the victims in these cases tell me,
their bosses tell them they can complain if they want to, but that it will be
pointless,” she said. “Secondly, the women themselves are scared of publicity,
since our conservative society might conclude that the woman has given her boss
the come-on.”
“To avoid harassment, we can only advise
women to sign a contract that rules out on-the-spot dismissal.”
Gulnara, a 35-year-old accountant, says she
is regularly harassed because she is divorced and thus considered fair game.
She argues that the mere existence of legislation does not mean that any action
is taken to enforce it.
“If they find out that a divorced woman has
children whom she needs to support, then the employer is often convinced
they’ll have sex with him in exchange for having a job,” she said. “In our
country the laws don’t work. Who’s going to punish an employer who’s got money?
If you go and complain, then you yourself are [deemed] guilty. Everyone will
point their fingers at you and say you’re a slag.”