Awareness Talk : “Sexual Harassment: How to Avoid It”

By Umdatul Mujahidah, ME

Tronoh, 18^th July- Aimed at increasing awareness on sexual harassment, International Student Council collaborated with Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga and Masyarakat to organize a talk entitled “Sexual Harassment and How to Avoid It”.

President of Women for Women Society Perak, Dr Sharifah Halimah Binti Jaafar, was invited to be the speaker. She started off by defining sexual harassment and emphasized that both parties consenting to sexual misconduct should not be confused as sexual harassment.

Dr Sharifah explaining about sexual harassment

 She went on to share how to avoid situations that could put us at risk of sexual harassment. Even though victims of sexual harassment are usually inferior to the perpetrator, she/he should not get help in the case of such incidents. They are advised to firmly say no, keep evidences if possible and report to authorities immediately.

Sparse but attentive attendees!

Open to all, the talk was also graced by presence of officers from Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga, and Masyarakat and the President of International Student Council which livened up the talk. The lecture hall came to live especially when an international student shared his story of how he was sexually harassed back in his country.

There was definitely no lack of interest from the male side as there were male students who attended the talk too. Mbiko from South Sudan said that he went to the event because he was interested to know the status of women issues in Malaysia compared to how it is in his country.

According to the project manager of the talk, Vikri Januarisma, this is the first event organized by the Department of Women’s Affair, a new department introduced in the International Student Council. Overall, she thought the event went well although the attendance was less than expected.