Eve Teasing in Bangladesh

Our Society is suffering from many social evils at the moment. One of the worst evils is the Eve Teasing. Now Eve teasing is one of the main threats for Bangladesh because it is destroying the social balance.
Eve teasing is a euphemism used for public sexual harassment, street harassment or molestation of women by men, with Eve being a reference to the biblical Eve. It usually involves young men annoying girls or women by making sexual innuendos in public or in work places. School and College gates or the street is the main target of the wayward young men to disturb girls and women. Eve teasing begins as an attempt to irritate a girl or catch her attention. A lewd stare, a sly whistle, a well-timed clap, an unwarranted bump, a seemingly causal touch, a lingering look at a vulnerable time, the humming of suggestive song, passing downright uncouth comments, cheap gestures, display of indecent snaps or videos, giving “unwelcome call” or “missed call”, sending indecent texts …., all these are typical examples of eve teasing.

Eve-Teasing Problem, Negative Effects of Eve-Teasing in Bangladesh:
These days there has been raised one more concern in Bangladesh. The concern is termed as “Eve-Teasing”, which could blast out through the country in an alarming rate, if it is not protected in a proper way.
What is eve-teasing?
Eve-teasing is normally meant as teasing a girl or woman. “Eve-teasing” refers to public sexual harassment or street harassment to a girl by a boy, when it turns into a serious issue. Eve-teasing is a very common term in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

Eve-Teasing in Bangladesh:
Eve teasing is not a new problem in Bangladesh. It is a concern since many years. Almost every young girl is a victim of teasing, especially by the local young teaser. The most of the people may avoid it as a common matter with young generation. Yes, it is. But it is not every time. It can be tolerated until no girl is being attacked. But when it crosses the line, it will raise as a problem to us.

It is surely a social problem. These days, many girls have committed suicide only to safe themselves from eve-teasing. That means, eve-teasing in Bangladesh has reached its maximum range. This is against the women rights without any doubt. Those who are involved with this kind of embarrass stuff can be named as a terrorist.

The teasers wait in schools, colleges or outside the house gate and as soon as girls walk passed by them they start teasing with ribald comments, smutty jokes, coarse laughter, sly whistles and even indecent exposure.

According to a daily newspaper, two girl committed suicide only in October 2010. In the last 7 months there 4 girls were killed and 42 were injured. Well, this is just a ruff measurement, which came across the people’s attention. There happened many occurrences like this, which were not published in the newspaper. In most of the cases, the victims shy to exposes these incidents.

Impact of Eve teasing in the society of Bangladesh:
Now Eve teasing is one of the main threats for Bangladesh because it is destroying the social balance. Eve teasing might seem harmless 'fun' to some, but gets the nerve of the victims. The severe impact of eve teasing is taking away the lives of young girls as Bangladesh has witnessed recently. Based on empirical study (2008) the Hunger Project has identified some impacts of eve teasing in the society of rural Bangladesh.

These are:
a) Curtailed education: Sexual harassment increases girls' drop-out rate from school. Parents concerned about their daughter's honor or safety sometimes keep their daughters home and/or marry them off at an early age.
b) Early marriage: Girls who are teased or harassed are also pushed into marriage, before they are physically or mentally prepared.
c) Hindered development: Eve teasing contributes to maintaining the low status of women. It also hinders women in participating in the formal employment sector. As nearly half of the population of the country are women, for the economic development of the country their participation in employment is a must.
d) Eve teasing” leads to young woman’s suicide in Bangladesh:

SURVEYINGthe newspapers over the last few months we must have to be shocked realizing the unprecedented rate of suicide cases among the young girls due to eve teasing. As reported in the newspapers in the recent past Nurina, Elora, Simi, Trisha, Tonni, Swapna, Tithi, Rumi committed suicide to escape the cruelty of stalkers' repression. Over the last four months, as reported in The Daily Star, fourteen girls, due to repression of stalkers, opted for ultimate destiny of their lives finding no other alternatives.

The effects of “Eve teasing” on development in Bangladesh

Sexual harassment, often known as “eve teasing”, is a regular occurrence for the women and girls of Bangladesh. A recent study by the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA) showed that almost 90 percent of girls aged 10-18 have undergone the experience. The harassment can take a variety of forms and the perpetrators come from multiple walks of life; they are rich and poor, educated and uneducated; according to the BNWLA study, teenage boys, rickshaw pullers, bus drivers, street vendors, traffic police and often supervisors or colleagues of the working women had all been cited as “eve teasers". For the girls and women who are subject to sexual harassment, the experiences are traumatic and can leave deep psychological scars. The BNWLA study also noted that in the past two years, at least 12 girls have committed suicide in circumstances stemming from “eve teasing”. And the harmlessness of the victims often leads to further violent implications. It is often associated with rape and murder. Rape is the most common form of violence against women in Bangladesh. Between 2002 and 2006, there were over five thousand reported incidents. Almost two thousand of those rapes were of girl children. 625 of the victims were killed after they were raped and 69 killed themselves. One has to wonder how many of these crimes could have been prevented if society took sexual harassment more seriously and did not wait until girls were raped and murdered to take action. No one should have to suffer the experience of sexual harassment or the physical and sexual assaults that often come with it. Though sexual harassment is vicious and tormenting for the girls and women who endure it, the implications extend to the entire nation.