Publish : 29 Nov 2021, 12:08 AMUpdate : 29 Nov 2021, 08:08 PM
On November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women was observed. This day has been celebrated since 1981 by women’s rights activist all around the world, and the day itself was selected to honour the Mirabal sisters -- three political activists from the Dominican Republic -- who were brutally murdered by the country’s ruler, Rafael Trujilo, in 1960.
Women have been subjugated and portrayed as the weaker sex since the dawn of man. It hasn’t been even a century that women have enjoyed the right to vote, and in many countries, women are still treated as second class citizens, commodities to be bought and sold in the open market and to be used in any way by the men of the family.
A far-away dream
So, it makes sense to dedicate an entire day to eradicating something that has been going on for eons. It makes sense to dedicate a day to this particular matter, because finding any kind of meaningful solution to this particular matter is still a far-away dream. And yet, in Bangladesh, nothing of importance will be observed. Actually, if we look at past trends, things will be worse for a class of citizens in Bangladesh, with each passing moment.
When one wakes up in the morning, one of the most common things that one does is take a look at the newspaper. While for members of a certain gender this represents no problem, for members of another gender, this might prove to be scarring or traumatizing, and it might end up depressing them for days, weeks even.
I have been going through the crime section of Dhaka Tribune for about a year. In total, there were 42 articles, and seven of them featured stories where women have been the victim of some sort of violence. I am sure that if the Iron Maiden were available in the shops of our country, then whenever a land dispute would arise, the enemy party would be attacked by their women being put in the casket.
If the gravity of the situation isn’t hitting you yet, let me give you some more statistics.
According to Ain o Shalish Kendra, from the period of January to October of this year, there have been 1178 rapes, 276 attempts to rape, 43 deaths after rape, and eight suicides after rape. There have also been 197 women murdered by their husbands in the same period, with 63 women tortured to death just for dowry -- something we should have already have gotten rid of. Another 101 have been physically tortured for dowry as well, with the sexual harassment numbers standing at 116.
Bear in mind these are the cases that we know of, as there is still social stigma and a lot of other problems that women face when they want to report these crimes. The fact that there have been no conclusive studies of this phenomenon of not going to the police is another way we have failed the women of Bangladesh.
It has been 50 years since the independence of Bangladesh, and while things have improved for the Bangladeshi men, they pretty much remain the same for Bangladeshi women. Actually, scratch that -- things have been worse for Bangladeshi women.
What has changed in 50 years?
During 1971, when women were abducted and tortured in the most heinous of ways, the whole country was under enemy occupation, and all of the culprits were the enemy of our people. And now, women live in a “free” country, but they suffer from the same oppression. What is worse -- to have one’s cage made out of steel, or have one’s cage made out of glass?
Why have things gotten worse for women? Why are so many rape cases swept under the rug? Why is the general disgusting behaviour that boys engage in -- generally termed as locker room talk -- justified as “boys being boys?” Why are women commodified so much that when a dispute arises in cities or villages, women are threatened and targeted in a sexual way as a method of injuring the enemy party? And why do we care so little about women that we can’t even criminalize marital rape -- something the women of this country have been suffering from for generations?
The answer is obvious, but most people will brush it off as a liberal boogeyman, and would want to focus on other things, such as porn and the media’s portrayal of women. And I agree with the latter. The way both porn and media portray women is guided by the founding principles of patriarchy, where women are presented as objects in order to please the male gaze.
Agnès Varda made a terrific documentary about this titled Women Reply: Our Bodies, Our Sex, in which she shed a piercing light on the French advertisement and media industry, a supposed “liberal” institution, where women were used as naked bodies in order to sell products. So yes, porn and media do share blame here, but these are just roots that have sprung from the ground. In order to get rid of this cancerous weed, we need to look at the root.
The root: Patriarchy
And that’s where patriarchy comes into play. It has been the dominant cultural structure in our world since the dawn of man, and it has dipped its insidious hands in all forms of institutions and cultures. This is why Hollywood still tries to sell films by focusing on the heterosexually attractive part of the body. This is why after marriage, from sex to cooking, men use their wives. This is why in order to attack a family, people defile their women. And because this has been pervasive for so long, it has become invisible to the normal eye.
But normalcy is relative, and those who benefit from the predominant state of affairs do not see the abnormalities in the reality around them. It is only those whom the shark attacks that recognize the environment that has bred the shark.
It should be clear by now that we have a pervasive problem on our hands, and this is not something that will be easy to fix. But we need to start taking steps. There have been talks about the implementation of sex education, but we need to see it implemented.
Despite our best efforts, kids are going to know about sex -- whether they learn it from school or elakar boro bhais. A cursory glance at the toilet walls of all boy’s schools should give one an idea of how bad it is. Kids are going to learn about sex either way, so we must make sure that they learn about it in the right way, and they are not led astray.
Throughout the years, there have been thousands of rape cases, and only a few of them have been properly investigated. A lot of high-profile cases have gone on for years, with no closure in sight for the grieving families. This culture of injustice has to stop, and it has to stop now. No matter who it is, people who have engaged in these heinous activities have to be brought to justice, and judged accordingly.
And lastly, the class-dynamics of Bangladesh has to improve. A huge portion of the country lives in a manner where clinging on to an archaic way of life that is dominated by patriarchy gives them a sense of control and power. There have been studies that link poverty with extremism, and if violence against women is not a form of extremism, I don’t know what is. Bangladesh has to lift people from poverty in general, but this just gives the government more incentive to hasten things.
If things continue like this, it won’t be long before Bangladesh becomes a living nightmare for women, and the harrowing dystopia presented in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale becomes a reality. If the government -- and society as a whole -- does nothing, then things will continue to stoop lower until there is nowhere left to go.
Nafis Shahriar is a student of business and Apprentice Sub Editor at Dhaka Tribune.
What is there to celebrate?
On November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women was observed. This day has been celebrated since 1981 by women’s rights activist all around the world, and the day itself was selected to honour the Mirabal sisters -- three political activists from the Dominican Republic -- who were brutally murdered by the country’s ruler, Rafael Trujilo, in 1960.
Women have been subjugated and portrayed as the weaker sex since the dawn of man. It hasn’t been even a century that women have enjoyed the right to vote, and in many countries, women are still treated as second class citizens, commodities to be bought and sold in the open market and to be used in any way by the men of the family.
A far-away dream
So, it makes sense to dedicate an entire day to eradicating something that has been going on for eons. It makes sense to dedicate a day to this particular matter, because finding any kind of meaningful solution to this particular matter is still a far-away dream. And yet, in Bangladesh, nothing of importance will be observed. Actually, if we look at past trends, things will be worse for a class of citizens in Bangladesh, with each passing moment.
When one wakes up in the morning, one of the most common things that one does is take a look at the newspaper. While for members of a certain gender this represents no problem, for members of another gender, this might prove to be scarring or traumatizing, and it might end up depressing them for days, weeks even.
I have been going through the crime section of Dhaka Tribune for about a year. In total, there were 42 articles, and seven of them featured stories where women have been the victim of some sort of violence. I am sure that if the Iron Maiden were available in the shops of our country, then whenever a land dispute would arise, the enemy party would be attacked by their women being put in the casket.
If the gravity of the situation isn’t hitting you yet, let me give you some more statistics.
According to Ain o Shalish Kendra, from the period of January to October of this year, there have been 1178 rapes, 276 attempts to rape, 43 deaths after rape, and eight suicides after rape. There have also been 197 women murdered by their husbands in the same period, with 63 women tortured to death just for dowry -- something we should have already have gotten rid of. Another 101 have been physically tortured for dowry as well, with the sexual harassment numbers standing at 116.
Bear in mind these are the cases that we know of, as there is still social stigma and a lot of other problems that women face when they want to report these crimes. The fact that there have been no conclusive studies of this phenomenon of not going to the police is another way we have failed the women of Bangladesh.
It has been 50 years since the independence of Bangladesh, and while things have improved for the Bangladeshi men, they pretty much remain the same for Bangladeshi women. Actually, scratch that -- things have been worse for Bangladeshi women.
What has changed in 50 years?
During 1971, when women were abducted and tortured in the most heinous of ways, the whole country was under enemy occupation, and all of the culprits were the enemy of our people. And now, women live in a “free” country, but they suffer from the same oppression. What is worse -- to have one’s cage made out of steel, or have one’s cage made out of glass?
Why have things gotten worse for women? Why are so many rape cases swept under the rug? Why is the general disgusting behaviour that boys engage in -- generally termed as locker room talk -- justified as “boys being boys?” Why are women commodified so much that when a dispute arises in cities or villages, women are threatened and targeted in a sexual way as a method of injuring the enemy party? And why do we care so little about women that we can’t even criminalize marital rape -- something the women of this country have been suffering from for generations?
The answer is obvious, but most people will brush it off as a liberal boogeyman, and would want to focus on other things, such as porn and the media’s portrayal of women. And I agree with the latter. The way both porn and media portray women is guided by the founding principles of patriarchy, where women are presented as objects in order to please the male gaze.
Agnès Varda made a terrific documentary about this titled Women Reply: Our Bodies, Our Sex, in which she shed a piercing light on the French advertisement and media industry, a supposed “liberal” institution, where women were used as naked bodies in order to sell products. So yes, porn and media do share blame here, but these are just roots that have sprung from the ground. In order to get rid of this cancerous weed, we need to look at the root.
The root: Patriarchy
And that’s where patriarchy comes into play. It has been the dominant cultural structure in our world since the dawn of man, and it has dipped its insidious hands in all forms of institutions and cultures. This is why Hollywood still tries to sell films by focusing on the heterosexually attractive part of the body. This is why after marriage, from sex to cooking, men use their wives. This is why in order to attack a family, people defile their women. And because this has been pervasive for so long, it has become invisible to the normal eye.
But normalcy is relative, and those who benefit from the predominant state of affairs do not see the abnormalities in the reality around them. It is only those whom the shark attacks that recognize the environment that has bred the shark.
It should be clear by now that we have a pervasive problem on our hands, and this is not something that will be easy to fix. But we need to start taking steps. There have been talks about the implementation of sex education, but we need to see it implemented.
Despite our best efforts, kids are going to know about sex -- whether they learn it from school or elakar boro bhais. A cursory glance at the toilet walls of all boy’s schools should give one an idea of how bad it is. Kids are going to learn about sex either way, so we must make sure that they learn about it in the right way, and they are not led astray.
Throughout the years, there have been thousands of rape cases, and only a few of them have been properly investigated. A lot of high-profile cases have gone on for years, with no closure in sight for the grieving families. This culture of injustice has to stop, and it has to stop now. No matter who it is, people who have engaged in these heinous activities have to be brought to justice, and judged accordingly.
And lastly, the class-dynamics of Bangladesh has to improve. A huge portion of the country lives in a manner where clinging on to an archaic way of life that is dominated by patriarchy gives them a sense of control and power. There have been studies that link poverty with extremism, and if violence against women is not a form of extremism, I don’t know what is. Bangladesh has to lift people from poverty in general, but this just gives the government more incentive to hasten things.
If things continue like this, it won’t be long before Bangladesh becomes a living nightmare for women, and the harrowing dystopia presented in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale becomes a reality. If the government -- and society as a whole -- does nothing, then things will continue to stoop lower until there is nowhere left to go.
Nafis Shahriar is a student of business and Apprentice Sub Editor at Dhaka Tribune.
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