By Anuradha Gandhi and Celina Gandhi
Mass feminist liberation of occupations occurred during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, it served as an opportunity for women to stray from the traditional ideals of womanhood. However institutional barriers of sexism in sports still exist ranging from pay gap and insufficient budgets for female athletes to disinvestment due to lack of marketability and low viewership of women’s sports including skepticism and tolerance of criticism of their athletic capability.
Recently, Divya Deshmukh (an international master in chess) sparked a conversation on sexism in the sport. The 18 year old called out the sexist attitudes that run rampant in this arena from interviewers commentary focusing on details such as her clothing, hair and accent rather than her performance to the audience on the YouTube livestream of the tournament. They left comments with laced sexual innuendos and a sexually suggestive flavor. Susan Polgar, renowned chess grandmaster opened up about her own experience with sexual harassment and predatory behavior in the sport mentioning how she was frequently hit on and sexually assaulted by men in the sport.1
Sexism is a precursor to sexual harassment
A common misconception when it comes to sexual harassment is that it is laced with sexual or romantic interest, however studies suggest that it has little to do with the former and everything to do with gender contempt. Sexual harassment is an age old technology of sexism historically used to suppress certain gender identities. Cortina’s iceberg theory2 touches on this concept and emphasizes that sexual harassment builds on the foundation of gender contempt, with sexist comments, jokes and innuendos and spirals into more ‘severe’ cases of sexual assault and sexual coercion. Thus it is important to tackle what may be considered ‘futile’ or ‘harmless’ comments by the public at first sight rather than letting it slide and enabling further perpetuation of sexist attitudes and predatory behaviors. Sexist remarks create a hostile work environment. Creation of a hostile work environment laces with sexual innuendos has been made actionable as a form of sexual harassment under section 2(n) of the POSH act.
Social Media and the Workplace:
The infamous case of Saurabh Mallick v Comptroller & Auditor General of India3 indicated a deviation from the traditional definition of workplace with regards to sexual harassment. The Tribunal declared that the definition serves as a guideline and was not a determinative factor indicating that the manner of interpretation of a workplace could occur on a case-by-case basis further implying that the essence of the POSH act extends beyond the traditional definition of workplace. Taking the above point into account, virtual workspaces also fall under the definition of workplace which includes social media intermediaries such as WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, X, etc.
Virtual Harassment can take the form of obscene remarks, sexual advances with messaging systems, inappropriate jokes and comments. In fact, virtual Harassment may be more pervasive in some instances than sexual harassment that occurs in person. Thus, the courts of India have taken a broad view to include the concept of virtual workplaces as an extended form of workplaces under the POSH Act.
In the case of SM v. Disciplinary Authority and General Manager, Bank, The High Court of Rajasthan held that virtual workplaces fall within the definition of ‘workplace’ according to the POSH Act.4
Third party harassment and women’s participation in sports
Harassment when conducted by individuals not working within your organization, could range from clients and employees to suppliers and independent contractors. In the case of DIvya Deshmukh interviewers and the audience on social media would constitute as the third party. In case of Sushmita Sen sexual harassment by third party.
Are women truly bad at chess?
Nigel Short, a famous English Chess grandmaster when asked to comment on the lack of active women chess players in the top 100 made the following claim: “men are hardwired to be better chess players than women” adding, “you have to gracefully accept that.”5
World Champion, Garry Kasparov famously quoted in a 1989 issue of Playboy Magazine stated “There is real chess and there is women’s chess.”6
Are woman truly bad at chess? Currently, only 37 of the 1600 chess grandmasters are women, the stereotype threat effect may serve as an explanation for this perceived performance gap. The stereotype threat effect is often characterized by an individual experiencing anxiety for fear of conforming to a negative stereotype. Studies suggest that stereotype effect often results in worse performance than expected.
According to FIDE (International Chess Federation),7 women are often underrepresented in Chess. A recent study8 found that when female chess players were matched with a male chess player of similar ability and were unaware of their gender they performed to the same ability as their opponent, however when these female players were primed with gender stereotype and were made aware of competing against a male, the study recorded a drop in the performance by the females. A similar study found that female chess players’ performance declined in real-life scenario confirming the stereotype threat effect9 The sexist remarks referred to earlier may not be directly actionable under the POSH Act but will create a hostile working environment for any woman and it is coupled by any act of sexual harassment as commonly understood will become actionable under the law.
POSH Act, 2013:
The Posh act was created to protect women in the workplace from experiencing sexual harassment. In a recent court judgement regarding the case of Tausif-ul-Hassan vs The State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) maintained that the term “f**k off” used by the complainant to ask the respondent to leave, stands as a sexually colored remark and the respondent would be held liable under IPC Section 354A/509 and Section 506 for outraging the modesty of the woman and criminal intimidation respectively.10
In another judgement of Global Health Private Limited v. Local Complaints Committee, District Indore and Ors.2020 the Madhya Pradesh High Court observed that the conduct of the supervisor, ie, comments on the complainants dress, outfits and suggestions that he would make work difficult for the complainant if she were to not good to him alluding to her chastity and modesty were to be characterized as sexual harassment under the POSH Act, 2013.11
That being said, the POSH act defines a workplace as any sports institute, stadium, sports complex or competition or games venue whether residential or not used for training, sports or other similar activities.
1 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/sports/chess-player-divya-criticises-sexism-in-the-game/articleshow/107271452.cms?from=mdr
2 https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/liliacortina-lab/wp-content/uploads/sites/970/2021/12/Cortina-Areguin-2021-Annual-Review.pdf
3 https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/5afc81254a9326672a89f4fb
4 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/49655315/
5 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/20/nigel-short-uk-grandmaster-men-hardwired-better-chess-players-women
6 https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-players/young-garrys-view-on-women-and-chess-and-other-less-known-facts-on-kasparov
7 https://ratings.fide.com/top_lists.phtml
8 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227849431_Stereotype_threat_The_effect_of_expectancy_on_performance
9 https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430213490212
10 https://lawbeat.in/news-updates/fuck-off-sexual-harassment-delhi-court
11 https://www.nishithdesai.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdfs/Research_Papers/Prevention_of_Sexual_Harassment_at_Workplace.pdf