Project Introduction

This project addresses a critical evidence gap on workplace sexual harassment (SH) training in low-income contexts, where most firms are small and informal and awareness of SH is limited. By systematically testing the role of different motivational framings — gender equality, legal compliance, and peer influence — the study aims to generate insight into how employer participation in SH training can be maximized and its impact strengthened, focusing on the urban retail sector of Delhi and small and medium enterprises.

Project Methodology

The study spans hundreds of markets, where an initial listing exercise identified several thousand shops, filtered down to a sample restricted to three sectors with higher female employment — restaurants and cafés, apparel stores, and salons — yielding a total sample of over ten thousand respondents split between employers and employees. A baseline survey captured demographic profiles, gender attitudes, and SH awareness, and employers were randomly exposed to one of three motivational pitches — gender equality, legal compliance, or peer influence — or no pitch at all. The training itself, developed with Safecity and the Martha Farrell Foundation, is a 30-minute video module delivered on tablets with separate tracks for employers and employees, supplemented by informational booklets, zero-tolerance posters, and QR codes for anonymous reporting. A midline survey three months later measured shifts in awareness, workplace culture, and hiring preferences using an incentivized resume rating exercise to test for gender bias, and an endline survey six months on revisits these outcomes alongside harassment incidence and diffusion effects across market networks.

Impact

Findings are expected to inform both academic debates and policy discussions on women’s labour force participation in India. If effective, the training model — being low-cost, video-based, and easily replicable — holds significant potential for scaling through government and non-governmental channels. The project is expected to yield research papers, policy briefs, and workshops that disseminate lessons for both practitioners and policymakers working to improve workplace safety for women.

Documentation

This project is currently in progress, and will be updated with findings as results arise.