What is the Hema Committee Report?
Recently the Justice Hema Committee report on the working working conditions of women in the Malayalam film industry was made available to the general public. The report was submitted to the government of Kerala in 2019.
The Kerala Government formed an expert committee to study and report on various issues women face in cinema and suggest solutions for such matters.
The source of this article is the Justice Hema Committee Report PDF which is available to the public now.
In this article, we will cover the important parts of the Hema Committee report which will be useful in the aspect of current affairs.
Chairperson and Members of Justice Hema Committee
Chairperson: Justice K. Hema, former judge of Kerala High Court was the chairperson of the committee.
Members of Committee: Cinema Artist T. Sarada and Retired IAS Officer K.B. Valsala Kumari were the members of the Committee.
Formation of Hema Committee
The Government of Kerala formed a committee to study the issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry of Kerala, focusing on their working conditions and suggesting solutions.
The committee was formed after a group of women working in Malayalam cinema established an organization called the “Women in Cinema Collective” (WCC) in 2017 and met with the then Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan.
Then the committee was constituted by the Kerala Government.
Primary Objective of Hema Committee Report
The Hema committee was directed to study and make a report on the following points which were related to women’s working in Cinema:
1. Issues faced by women in cinema (like security etc.) and solutions to the problems.
2. Service Conditions and remuneration for women in cinema.
3. Measures to enhance the participation of women in all fields connected to cinema.
4. How to bring more women into the technical side of cinema, by giving concessions including scholarships, etc.
5. How to help women in cinema when they have to remain out of work due to delivery, child care, or other health issues.
6. How to ensure gender equality in the content of cinema.
7. How to encourage cinemas in which 30% of women are engaged in production activities.
Forms of Exploitation faced by women in Cinema as per Hema Committee Report
For the study, the Justice Hema Committee categorized the women working in cinema into 30 categories. The Hema committee found the following forms of exploitation faced by women working in cinema:
- Sexual demands made to women for the very entry into cinema and for getting chances to work in cinema.
- Sexual harassment, abuse, assault against women at the workplace, transportadión, places of accommodation, etc.
- Torture of women, if they express their resentment and unwillingness to sexual demands.
- Violation of human rights of women in cinema by not providing basic facilities like toilets and changing room on the set of cinema.
- Lack of safety, security in cinema, in accommodation, transportation, etc.
- Unauthorized and illegal banning of individuals working in cinema, in different categories.
- Silencing of women under threat of ban from work in cinema.
- Male domination in industry, gender bias, gender discrimination.
- Gross indiscipline in cinema – consumption of alcohol, use of drugs, disorderly conduct/ misbehavior at the workplace.
- Making demeaning and vulgar comments at the workplace, over the phone, etc.
- Non-execution of contract in writing between employers and employees, to suit individual requirements.
- Failure to pay even consented remuneration.
- Disparity of remuneration between man and woman and gender discrimination in remuneration
- Resistance/reluctance to allow women into cinema, especially on the technical side and lack of opportunity
- Online harassment (cyber-attack).
- Lack of legal awareness of women about their own rights.
- Absence of any legally constituted authority to redress the grievances.
Hema Committee Report PDF
The Hema Committee Report is now in the public domain, however, some pages have been removed from the original file. Here is the Hema Committee Report PDF file to download.
FAQ’s
Who is Hema in the Hema Report?
Justice K. Hema, former judge of Kerala High Court, was the Chairperson of the Hema Committee Report.
When was the Hema committee report submitted?
In 2019, the Hema Committee Report was submitted to the Kerala Government.
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