Understanding varied perception on Gender Cell And how to (re)solve them


Alternative text - include a link to the PDF!

Related Projects


Creator/Artist: Akshata Khare

Category: Communication Design

Document: P2 Project

Batch: 2021-2023

Source: India,   IDC IIT Bombay

Period:  2019-onwards

Medium: Report pdf

Supervisor: Prof. Mandar Rane


Detailed Description

Any unpleasant or unwelcome behaviour or action that is sexual in nature or connected to the person’s gender and sexual orientation is considered sexual harassment. People who are the targets of sexual harassment experience a hostile atmosphere that affects their ability to learn, find work, and maintain their mental and physical health. IIT Bombay’s Gender Cell investigates sexual harassment complaints through the Internal Complaints Committee and conducts events to spread awareness. It is important that the students/staff/residents of IITB have trust in the organisation and approach when faced with sexual harassment or any sexual discomfort. This project aims to understand the various perceptions, especially among students (focus group), and how we can build the trust so that students can go to the right place run by the trained professionals and get access to resources like counselling and security when needed. It takes a lot of courage to stand up and speak for yourself and, more so, to launch a complaint and have faith in an organisation where you don’t know anyone. Perceptions of people around the victim play a crucial role in deciding what steps the victim takes. By taking interviews and being part of meetings and discussions with IITB gender cell members, I tried to understand the perceptions and how we can (re)solve them. What is the best way to talk about a sensitive topic? How can it be most effective? Do students/staff face sexual harassment on campus? How do they deal with it? Who do they first approach? Do they know about gender cells? Do they know how to approach it? Do they know about the process and the members? Do they trust the organization? If not gender cell, where do they go? Why do culprits do what they do? What happens when the victim gets wrong advice? Is it harmful? These are some of the questions that I tried solving for this project.