A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to facilitate a Young Women's Protection Leadership Bootcamp that brought together 22 young women from different parts of Bangladesh and neighboring countries. Over several days, we discussed leadership, advocacy, protection risks, and the challenges young women face in their communities.
I expected to learn a lot from the participants. What I did not expect was how often I would hear the same sentence: "This happens in my community too."
As we discussed real-life cases from Kurigram, Naogaon, Cox's Bazar, Bhubaneswar in India, Nepal, and elsewhere, the details changed but the stories felt remarkably familiar.
A girl leaving school because she was married off too early. A young woman excluded from community decision-making. A survivor struggling to access support services. A family considering a dangerous migration journey because poverty leaves them with few options. A young activist facing online abuse for speaking out about women's rights.
Violence against women and girls remains one of the most widely reported protection concerns in Bangladesh.
Different places. Different circumstances. Yet the same patterns kept appearing.
What struck me most was that these situations rarely emerged overnight. The warning signs were often visible long before the harm occurred.
Yet many individuals, families, and communities did not recognize them as protection concerns until the consequences became severe.
That realization stayed with me long after the bootcamp ended.
Why do we teach children mathematics, science, and language from an early age, but rarely teach them about protection?
By protection education, I do not mean specialized humanitarian training. I mean helping children and young people understand personal safety, rights, consent, gender equality, online risks, discrimination, help-seeking pathways, and how to recognize and respond to abuse, exploitation, and violence.
These are not advanced concepts reserved for lawyers, social workers, or humanitarian professionals. They are life skills.
Yet many young people grow up without ever learning them.
The consequences are all around us. Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in education, health, and poverty reduction. Yet many protection challenges continue to affect the lives of women and girls.
According to Unicef, Bangladesh still has the highest child marriage rate in Asia, with 51% of women aged 20-24 married before the age of 18.
At the same time, violence against women remains widespread. UN Women reports that nearly three out of four ever-married women in Bangladesh have experienced some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
These figures remind us that legal reforms and economic progress alone are not enough. Prevention must begin much earlier, through awareness, education, and changes in social norms.
Many of these risks are rooted in social norms that children absorb from an early age. In many communities, boys are encouraged to be confident, independent, and outspoken. Girls are often expected to be careful, obedient, and mindful of family reputation. While boys are encouraged to explore the world, girls are often taught to navigate its limits.
These expectations may seem small at first. Over time, however, they influence opportunities, choices, and power. For many girls, this can mean fewer opportunities to continue education, participate in leadership, access services, or make decisions about their own lives. It can also increase their vulnerability to violence, exploitation, and discrimination.
This is precisely why protection education matters.
Protection education cannot eliminate every risk. But it can help people recognize risks before they become crises. It can teach young people how to identify unsafe situations, seek support, understand their rights, challenge harmful norms, stay safe online, and support others facing violence or discrimination.
Most importantly, it can help young people see themselves as part of the solution.
I witnessed this firsthand during the bootcamp. The young women participating were not waiting for someone else to solve the problems affecting their communities. They were analyzing protection concerns, mapping risks, identifying barriers, and developing practical action plans.
They discussed child marriage, trafficking, gender-based violence, climate-related risks, and social exclusion with remarkable insight and determination.
Many had experienced some of these challenges personally. Others had witnessed them in their communities. Yet they were not defined by those experiences. They were transforming experience into leadership.
Too often, young women are viewed primarily through the lens of vulnerability. We describe them as victims, beneficiaries, or people in need of support. While support remains essential, this perspective overlooks something equally important.
Young women are leaders. They are advocates. They are changemakers. When given knowledge, space, and opportunity, they do not simply protect themselves. They help protect others, strengthen community resilience, and contribute to safer and more inclusive societies.
This is why programs that invest in young women's leadership are so valuable. They build confidence, strengthen networks, and create local leaders who can identify risks and drive solutions. However, these opportunities should not be limited to those fortunate enough to participate in specialized workshops.
Protection education should become part of how we educate and prepare all young people for life. Protection education does not require a new subject in the curriculum. It can be integrated into existing lessons through discussions on rights, gender equality, digital safety, consent, safe migration, bullying prevention, and help-seeking mechanisms.
Schools, families, community organizations, and youth groups all have a role to play. We teach children how to cross a road safely because we want to prevent harm before it happens. Teaching them how to recognize violence, seek help, understand their rights, and protect themselves and others deserves the same priority.
Protection is not only a humanitarian issue. It is a life skill. And every child should have the opportunity to learn it.
Fariha Hossain is working on humanitarian and refugee issues.