A game theory take on sexual harassment

Mains Paper: 1 | Society 
Prelims level: #MeToo
Mains level: Game theory and behavioural science can provide nuance to the wider discussion on #MeToo and gender roles    

Introduction 

• Over the past year, India has witnessed an upheaval of sexual harassment and assault allegations through social media and anonymous reporting. 
• The women from the media, performing arts and other professions have come forward with accounts of inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment at the hands of ‘powerful’ men. 

From the perspective of game theory 

• Consider a two-person sequential game, where a male in the first stage chooses between two actions: Harass (H), or do not harass (NH) a woman.
• In both cases, the woman has two subsequent choices—report (R), or do not report (NR). 
• To  reporting to be disclosing to the public, which could include posting on social media, filing a formal complaint with officials, or to an internal complaints committee. 
• Now, consider all four combinations: 
• The game terminates in two cases, both when the woman chooses NR.
• The simplest case (intuitively), is the one where the man chooses NH and the woman chooses NR, where they are both neither better nor worse off.
• However, when the man chooses H and the woman chooses NR, she undergoes significant emotional and mental damage, and therefore, a negative payoff.
• The man receives a positive payoff, as he is assumed to derive utility from harassing women. 
• It could be on account of pluralistic ignorance: A woman considering R is deterred because she wrongly believes that all other women also strictly prefer NR to R.

The man will always choose to harass women since the onus is on them to prove the allegations

• When a woman chooses R, preceded by NH (i.e. a false allegation), both face a negative payoff (more so for the man than the woman owing to the reputational damage); but when preceded by H, both face an equally negative payoff. 
• H followed by R damages potential economic opportunities for a man, but also costs the woman who is seen with suspicion, potentially deprived of employment, or stigmatized by reliving the incident ad nauseam. 
• When she chooses R, males can choose two actions: To either Admit (A), or to Fight the allegation (F). 
• The game continues if and only if the man chooses F, following which the game places the responsibility squarely on the woman to either Prove (P) or remain Unproven (UP). 
• Again, consider the two points at which the game terminates: When the male chooses to admit (A). 
• However, if he plays A when the allegations are true, then he faces the same negative payoff as he would if he chose F—i.e. the man is indifferent between fighting and admitting when he has actually harassed the woman.

Effect of the subgame perfect equilibrium

• The subgame perfect equilibrium of this game suggests a solution that resonates with what has been unfolding on social media. 
• For men, action H strictly dominates NH, since he knows that a woman will strictly prefer NR to R.
• Since the game assumes common knowledge, common and perfect information, all players know exactly how the game will play out and, hence, choose their dominant strategy. 
• The man will always choose to harass women because he knows that she knows the onus is on them to prove their allegations, which she will have to do.
• The man always prefers to fight allegations than simply admit to them, regardless of whether he has actually harassed her or not. 

Way forward 

• This analysis is aimed to be a bare-bones attempt at clarifying the gender roles at play while dealing with cases of sexual harassment. 
• Their elegant economic model explains repeat offences and delays in reporting of sexual misconduct. 
• It suggests using a novel online system called ‘Callisto’ to discretely and privately transmit reports of sexual harassment, applied to the case of academic institutions. 
• This must be considered in developing countries like India where stigma still remains the prime hurdle in reporting sexual harassment.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) Government of India implements the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) via
a) Anganwadi centres
b) Krishi Kiosks
c) Common Service Centres (CSCs)
d) Single Window Facilitation Centres (SWFCs)

Answer: A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) How Game theory and behavioural science can provide nuance to the wider discussion on #MeToo and gender roles?