Bridging The Gap Between Sexual Harassment Laws And Awareness: A Study Of Female Students Of Gujarat University
- IJLLR Journal
- May 12
- 2 min read
Ms. Durga M. Ghanchi, Research Scholar, School of Commerce, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India
Ms. Tejal Sharma, Research Scholar, School of Commerce, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India
Dr. C. R. Marvadi, Professor, School of Commerce, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India
ABSTRACT
This study attempts to assess the awareness of female students of Gujarat University about the laws and guidelines relating to sexual harassment. In India, despite the presence of many legal provisions such as the POSH Act 2018, the Vishakha Guidelines, IPC Sections relating to Sexual Harassment, sections of the BNS Act, UGC Regulations, and many others, the issue of Sexual Harassment remains unresolved. A lot needs to be done to create awareness about these provisions. The present study is an endeavor to locate the gap between the provisions existing in law and the awareness of the female students of Gujarat University. A total 110 female students from various faculties like Commerce, Law and Management of Gujarat University were covered under the study. The data thus collected was subjected to various analysis like descriptive analysis of data as frequency count and percentage, and inferential statistics like Chi-Square test, Independent t-test and One-way ANOVA. The findings of the study reveal that there is a moderate level of awareness amongst students of GU regarding sexual harassment laws and it is fairly uniform across all the faculties of the University, with law students demonstrating comparatively higher awareness. Additionally, Urban students are more aware than rural students regarding the said issues. The POSH Act, 2013 emerged as the most recognized law (45.5%), whereas awareness of other legal frameworks remained comparatively low. The conclusion of the study reveals that despite of having general awareness of the laws related to sexual harassment the students suffer from deficiency of knowledge relating to the law and procedures to be followed.
Keywords: POSH Act, Sexual Harassment, UGC, ICC
