Gender Sensitization

In one line

Training the people who operate the law to notice that its subjects are not all the same, because a neutral rule applied by an untrained officer reproduces the inequality it was meant to remove.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: gender sensitization means the process of making those who make, apply and enforce the law aware of the different ways in which its operation affects women and men, so that facially neutral rules are not applied in ways that disadvantage women. Indian law requires it in several places without using the word: the guidelines in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1997 SC 3011, required employers to take steps to prevent and deter sexual harassment; the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 requires the Internal Complaints Committee to include members committed to the cause of women and requires employers to organise awareness programmes; the criminal law prescribes procedures such as the recording of a woman's statement by a woman officer; and the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 requires the National Human Rights Commission to spread human rights literacy.

What the term means

Three elements, and an answer should separate them because they are commonly run together.

Awareness. Knowing that a rule which does not mention sex may nevertheless operate differently on women: a promotion criterion requiring unbroken service, a night duty requirement, a rule that a complaint must be made in person at a police station.

Attitude. Recognising that the persons who administer the law bring assumptions to it, and that those assumptions decide how a complaint is received, how a witness is questioned, and how a case is assessed.

Practice. Changing the procedures so that the awareness has effect: who records a statement, where it is recorded, what may be asked in cross examination, how a committee is composed.

The third is the one that matters legally, because it is the one that can be written into a rule and enforced.

Where Indian law already requires it

MU's question is set in a law paper, so the answer must be made of law rather than of sentiment. Six places.

The Vishaka guidelines. They required the employer or other responsible person to take all steps necessary to prevent or deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment, which is a positive duty going beyond redressal, and required the notification of the prohibition and the provision of appropriate work conditions.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013. The Internal Complaints Committee must include not less than two members preferably committed to the cause of women or who have had experience in social work or have legal knowledge, and one member from a non governmental organisation or association committed to the cause of women; the Presiding Officer must be a woman employed at a senior level; and the employer's duties include organising workshops and awareness programmes.