The “extremely creepy” experience of a female online job applicant in India has underscored growing cases of cyber harassment on the labour market despite strong laws, after the woman said she was questioned about her marital status by a recruiter and asked to send over a photo of herself.
She shared her ordeal on Reddit last month, expressing how the encounter left her “disheartened”.
The post sparked several online comments, including one user who shared her own experience of how she “kept ignoring the red flags because I was so desperate for the job”, resulting in her getting molested and having to run for her life.
Another user advised the woman in the latest case to file a complaint against the company and recruiter, saying “he’s probably done it before and he’ll do it again”.
The trend of online recruitment that increased during the Covid-19 pandemic has also brought to the fore different forms of harassment for women not only in India but also other parts of the world. Cyber abusers are lulled by a false sense of anonymity, with many being unaware that they can be tracked down digitally, experts warn.
Millions of women worldwide encounter online abuse such as sexual harassment and stalking, which needs to be tackled not only through laws and addressing data gaps, but also efforts to establish a culture of respect and empathy, according to a UN Women report in February this year.
