Gender-based Street Harassment Break The Silence To Stop It

Alaul Alam :
The recent data from the World Health Organization stated that one in three women globally experience different sorts of violence which take a heavy toll on their life. According to the World Economic Forum, Bangladesh ranked the 65th position out of 156 countries in case of the Global Gender Gap Index 2021. The report also stated that Bangladesh ranked the highest position amid the South Asian countries in regard to reducing gender gap. But the question is pertinent; how far gender equality has checked violence and harassment against women?
It is evident that in Bangladesh women and girls are vulnerable to enduring various sorts of violence and harassment. Over the last some years violence and harassment in the street has been taking a great toll on women in the country. Undeniably, women’s participation in outdoor work force has increased significantly these days. Not only that, they are proving their worth working together with the male counterparts.
It is obvious that girls and women face mental and physical violence inside their houses by their intimate partners. However, it is found that growing concerns are all around against domestic violence but in many cases we overlook the intensity of street violence or street harassment which is so pervasive in the country.
Street harassment is a unique overlap of sexual harassment. There may be different forms of street harassment such as unwanted comments, gestures, sexual expression and many more unwanted attitudes of the males against the females in the public places. It is another episode of gender based violence in the society.
A study conducted by BRAC found that ninety four per cent women experienced various sorts of sexual harassment including verbal, physical and other forms of violence while they travelled to the street on public transports. The study revealed that sixty six per cent harassing incidents were done by the males relatively in older age group ranging from 41-60 years. It also stated that factors such as lax implementation of laws, excessive crowds in the buses and weak or no monitoring or absence of close circuit cameras were the major causes of the harassment for women in the street and on public transports.
Reports say that sexual harassment against women especially on public transports are in different forms. In many cases the perpetrator touches the victim’s body with chest and other parts of his body. Not only that, he pinches, stands too close to the victim, pushes and touches the hair of the victim, puts hands on the shoulder and touches private parts of the victim. Some women respondents in a study were asked what actually they did while they were undergoing such harassment in the street. In most cases they said that they kept silent and moved away from the place of harassment.
It gets so frustrating when we see that many blame women for enticing rape culture. Victim blaming is so pervasive in our male-dominated society. Again, they argue that there is a connection between harassment and lack of modest clothing of the women. But how can we define the logic when we see that a seven -year female child is being raped? Sociologists think that the most apparent cause of any harassment towards women is to consider them inferior and weaker sex. Social and religious misinterpretation make women silent for which many see scopes to harass the them in many ways.
Again the question is pertinent to raise how far we have been successful to teach our children to be respectful to the women? It is obvious that at educational institutions, girls in many times do not feel secure as sometimes they experience many derogatory remarks from their classmates and the seniors. If all the male students were respectful to their female fellows, no girls would face abuse at the educational institutions. Experts opine that being disrespectful towards women is the prime cause of gender-based abuse. Patriarchal attitudes of the adults make the young people think that disrespectful and aggressive behaviors against women are normal.
It is evident that street harassment poses severe effects on women phycology. The frequent harassment of the women in the street makes them feel insecure in life. Studies show that the women subjected to enduring street harassment feel more anxious and have a higher fear of sexual assault and experience higher self-objectification. On top of that, any abuse against women causes long-term physical and mental health problems. Not only women are affected due to facing gender-based abuse but also there have the impacts on their children and families. Again we see that in many cases, to escape violence many girls and women commit suicides.
In this regard, educational institutions have enormous responsibilities to equip students with values and work for building a gender friendly society. It is more important to ensure gender equity than to reduce gender gap.

(Alaul teaches at Prime University. He is also a research scholar at the IBS).