Advances in Consumer Research
Issue 7 : 391-400
Original Article
From Rights to Workplace Realities: A Critical Appraisal of Gender, Identity, and the POSH Act in India
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 ,
1
Assistant Professor, School of Law, Lingaya’s Vidyapeeth, Faridabad, Haryana, India
2
Lingaya’s Vidyapeeth, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
Abstract

The constitutional commitment to equality and dignity under Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution of India provides the foundation for protecting individuals against discrimination and workplace harassment. The enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) represents a significant legislative milestone in translating these constitutional guarantees into an effective workplace protection framework. Despite this progressive legislation, a considerable gap continues to exist between the legal rights guaranteed under the Act and the realities experienced by many employees, particularly those belonging to socially and economically marginalized communities.This paper critically examines the POSH Act within the broader context of gender, identity, and legal reform in India through a socio-legal and intersectional perspective. It analyses how factors such as caste, class, religion, disability, gender identity, and employment status influence access to workplace justice and the effectiveness of institutional redressal mechanisms. Although the POSH Act establishes preventive and remedial measures through Internal Committees and employer obligations, its implementation often remains inconsistent due to inadequate awareness, organizational bias, procedural shortcomings, and unequal power relations within workplaces.The study draws upon constitutional principles, judicial decisions, statutory provisions, policy documents, and implementation reports to evaluate whether the POSH framework has achieved its objective of ensuring substantive gender justice. It argues that legal protection alone cannot eliminate workplace harassment unless accompanied by institutional accountability, gender-sensitive administration, effective complaint mechanisms, and broader cultural transformation. Particular attention is given to the challenges faced by women from marginalized communities, contractual and gig workers, interns, trainees, and other vulnerable groups whose experiences frequently remain underrepresented within existing implementation practices.The paper further evaluates the functioning of Internal Committees and identifies concerns relating to independence, impartiality, confidentiality, and professional competence. Institutional inertia, inadequate training, fear of retaliation, social stigma, and limited legal awareness continue to discourage survivors from reporting workplace harassment. At the same time, the study recognizes the contribution of judicial activism, feminist advocacy, legal aid initiatives, and workplace sensitization programmes in strengthening the implementation of the POSH Act and promoting safer work environments.The paper concludes that meaningful workplace gender justice requires moving beyond mere statutory compliance towards a rights-based and justice-oriented implementation model. Strengthening institutional oversight, enhancing accountability, adopting survivor-centred procedures, expanding protection to diverse categories of workers, and integrating intersectionality into workplace policies are essential for realizing the objectives of the POSH Act. Such reforms would bridge the gap between constitutional guarantees and workplace realities, enabling the law to function as an effective instrument for equality, dignity, and inclusive justice in contemporary India

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