Sexual harassment in conservation biology: Female researchers share horror stories

Sexual harassment in the workplace is common worldwide, and India is no different. Despite the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (PoSH Act) being enacted in 2013, women continue to face harassment, thanks to poor enforcement, administrative apathy, and social and other issues preventing women from lodging complaints. Now, female conservation biologists in India have come up with their stories of facing sexual harassment from senior male colleagues — mostly their supervisors who are “respectable” scientists themselves — on an Instagram account.

Akanksha Sood, a wildlife filmmaker, started the Instagram account Women of the Wild India last year, and many conservation biologists have since described their experiences on it. Sood told the journal Nature that she does not even make public all the harassment complaints she receives. She said not only women but some of their male colleagues also flag instances of sexual harassment they have seen but regret that they could not help the victim.

Horror stories

One female biologist narrated to Nature an incident from 2015, when she was a young graduate student doing fieldwork for her master’s thesis at an NGO’s turtle conservation programme. Her male supervisor had groped her during a somewhat raucous New Year party at his house, making her push him away and leave the party.

She was not the only one. Four other women among the 12 female conservation biologists who shared their stories with Nature were targeted by himbetween 2014 and 2023. He is a senior researcher with a turtle conservation programme run by a series of NGOs funded by the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Passing the buck

Their experience also brought to the fore one of the major factors that ensure that the perpetrators are never punished while they keep picking new preys with impunity. At least two of those victims had complained to TSA representatives in the US about sexual and verbal abuse in 2019 and 2020. However, the TSA’s senior management was apparently not informed about these allegations. The organization merely informed the Indian NGO that employed this senior researcher employer. It was not clear whether the NGO took any step against him.

Then, in March 2023 again, the TSA received a sexually harassment complaint from another female biologist in India. Once again, it advised her to file a complaint with its partner organization in India. The TSA told Nature that the partner organization said an investigation would be conducted but did not share any details with TSA. Two months later, TSA ended its partnership with that Indian NGO.

However, TSA denied shirking any responsibilities to Nature.

Same pattern

Finally, in 2023, two of these women spoke up on Women of the Wild India because they had moved abroad for higher studies. Also, one of them alleged that the perpetrator was hindering her research by making it difficult for her to get funding.

The female biologists who spoke to Nature shared their stories of facing harassment from two other men as well — all working in different organizations. They experiences included putting up with physical advances, receiving sexually explicit text and, in one case, being manipulated into a non-consensual sexual relationship. All these men are high-ranking officials in conservation science in India who take advantage of younger women in their charge.

Nature of work

The nature of their work also makes these women vulnerable. They often have to share close living quarters with their male supervisor and other colleagues far from their homes. Also, the field of conservation science is more competitive in India than some other countries, which creates a space for workplace abuse.

The power dynamics in the field are overwhelmingly skewed against women too. Even though women made up 74 per cent of graduate students and postgraduates in zoology, environmental science, botany, and other ecological subjects in India in 2020–21, most leaders in these fields are men. According to an analysis by BiasWatchIndia, a website on gender bias in Indian science, only 17 per cent of faculty members in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects in 2020–21 were women.

Why women avoid speaking up

These are also reasons why many women avoid filing a PoSH complaint against these sexual predators. Many women told Nature they feared professional repercussions if they complained. Some worried that their families would ask them to leave their profession — something they have worked for with passion over the years.

Some of these women spoke to Nature about make researchers who have been harassing their female colleagues for decades. They spoke about a prominent conservation biologist who harassed many of his female colleagues over 20 years. But none of his victims spoke out fearing “repercussions”, including a drying up of funding, because this man was on their funding committees or board of trustees.

Only three women lodged a formal complaint under the PoSH Act with his workplace in 2018.

Problems with PoSH Act

In theory, the PoSH Act is one of the strongest such laws in the world. But there are major problems with its implementation. For example, the confidentiality of all participants, including that of the perpetrators, is maintained, even if the accused is proven guilty. On the flip side, the law makes it easier for the victims to lodge complaints, because their identity will be confidential. But in reality, people would still hear and talk about it, one of the women told Nature.

The PoSH Act defines sexual harassment as any behaviour, direct or implied, that is sexual in nature and unwelcome. Under the law, all workplaces — including universities and NGOs with more than 10 employees — must set up an internal committee to investigate any claims of harassment. Those with fewer employees can use a local government committee.

However, the investigating committee can only make their recommendations only to the employer. If prove guilty, a perpetrator can face termination of contract at the most, and no criminal punishment. There is also a time limit for filing a PoSH complaint — three months from the date of the incident.

When SC noted “serious lapses”

Also, many women do not know who to approach with their complaints, and many do not trust the process or the outcome either, the Supreme Court concluded in an order in May 2023. The court also noted “serious lapses in the enforcement of the Act”.

Vrinda Grover, a New Delhi-based lawyer, admitted to Nature that “courts don’t treat sexual harassment with much seriousness” because “there is a constant panic in the legal process that, ‘oh, these are all false cases and the man is going to get defamed’.”

Impact of speaking up

Hence, many of these women still feel safest speaking out on social media and warning others. The revelations they have made on Women of the Wild India have had some positive outcomes too. Some conservation institutes have held workshops to educate employees and workplaces on the importance of reporting and preventing sexual harassment.

Also, an informal group of 19 wildlife ecologists and conservationists, called CEASE (Conservationists and Ecologists Against Sexual Harassment), has penned down some guidelines on its website so that victims of harassment know their rights.