As the opportunities are increasing for women, the problems and the challenges are also increasing the same way. The banking sector is one among them. Kerala state government has asked women bank employees to send their complaints via e-mail to the States Women’s Commission.
In a statement, commission chairperson M C Josephine said that complaints received over the next six months would be investigated and forwarded to the government with specific recommendations on the next steps.
M. C. Josephine is an Indian politician and activist. Since March 2017, she has served as the Chairperson of the Kerala Women's Commission. She is a member of the CPI(M) central committee and was the CPI(M) candidate in the 2006 Kerala Legislative Assembly election from the erstwhile Mattancherry constituency.
She said that recent events have confirmed the widely held belief that the banking sector is hostile to employees. Josephine cited many cases, including the suicide of a Canara Bank assistant manager and the firing of the bank's law officer for exposing the management's corruption.
“A large number of women employees are maintaining silence on the issues they face at the workplace. They can open up to the commission,” she said.
According to Josephine, the commission has opened an investigation into the complaint filed by P N Sheeba, an officer at the Bank of Baroda's Puthiyakavu branch. Sheeba claims that her pay was unfairly withheld after she got an abusive phone call from her superior officer.
The complaint was filed by Sreenath Induchoodan, state secretary of All India Bank Officers Confederation. Though the banking time has been restricted up to 2 pm in the wake of the pandemic, management are forcing the employees, including women, to take duty in violation of the directive. This is an anti-women and anti-worker move, she said.
