SAFE, EMPLOYED AND EQUAL

When a woman joins the Indian workforce, she doesn't just fill a job opening; she upsets a centuries-old status quo. It was never about the money. It has been a contested space, shaped by who has the office, who sets the rules of entry and, crucially, who decides what biological realities are acknowledged and which are weaponised. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is the most important legislative attempt to answer the first two questions. The emerging debate over statutory menstrual leave now forces a reckoning with the third, and the answers are far less straightforward than either side acknowledges.