Co-authored by Amarpreet Kaur:
My name is Parul Mathur and this is my story and my petition.
I can never forget the day when the owner of the school where I got my first job, happened to visit the school and asked me to meet him where he was staying. I refused. He asked the principal of the school to force me to come and said that he wanted to discuss some official things. Along with my father, I went to meet him. Seeing my father coming along with me he got very angry and shooed me away.
Though I was saved, there are countless women who are constantly facing this harassment every day. I have joined hands to fight against sexual harassment of women at the workplace with my friend Amarpreet Kaur.
She was constantly mocked at and questioned about her capability because she is a woman.
It was her initial days as an entrepreneur with very less understanding of how to begin and where to head, her daughter was 4.5 months old, she ran from one office to other in search of her first breakthrough for getting business. But corporates were more interested in her marital status. Does she have no right to choose her profession because she is a woman?
Today we need your support. We need you to come forward and spread the word that women are not alone. Together we will fight back.
As per research, 70% women don’t report sexual harassment at workplace in India. Mostly because they are afraid to speak up. They have lost their voice.
We decided to fight for our dignity and ran a survey where we got heart-wrenching responses from women throughout India. We took the findings to the Ministry of Women and Child Development and they have now taken an initiative of putting up a nationwide survey for women to respond across sectors.
Today when the Government is listening, are we ready to act and lend support to suppressed voices by filling the survey?
Unless we speak up our woes won’t ever end ever. Support us at MahilaBol and fill the survey. It is completely anonymous and it is conducted by Ministry of Women and Child Development, your voice in the form of the survey will be heard at the right place.
You can reach us at our Twitter handles: @Parul_RajeevM, @amar_hrhelpdesk