Where Are We Safe?

 

Tanun Shahadat (22204254) and Genius Rabbani (22201924)

Women harassment has been going on for a long time but it is getting public attention in recent years. Even though some people are very concerned about it but the majority stays unchanged where they don't even show interest to eradicate it. Women not varying on their age are getting harassed everywhere starting from public places to their own homes. In all of these cases, women being molested in public transport is the most common one. 

Dhaka is one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world but it is not as advanced as it should have been. Women are being continuously harassed in every sphere of their life, not just in public transport. They get harassed in their workplaces even at home. Harassment starts with mocking, throwing negative comments, or expressing behaviors related to vulgarity. In addition, this left a deep scar in their mind for a long time.

The reason behind harassment is that most of the male population in our society feels superior to women as they lack moral and ethical values. Women are being disrespected, even children are getting raped and shockingly enough the rate is quite high. The victims of harassment mostly belong to the lower-class family but women in higher positions of society are equally victims of this phenomenon.

Most victims state that nobody raises a voice or comes forward to help them when such incidents occur. The victim left behind herself with fear and shame. Hence, the violent kept silent and got no treatment. 

In Narayanganj, a three-year-old girl was raped by her own uncle in her grandparents’ house when her mother left her alone for some time. Even if it’s not the age when you remember everything still this incident will cause trauma for the girl and her family. This is not a dishonor for the girl or her family but proof of how miserably we failed as a society where these kinds of men are roaming around freely. Sometimes a class of people with a poor mentality blame the victim rather than standing up for her. This heinous incident exhibits the level of safety and security women have in this country. Moreover, most of the victims don’t even file a complain officially because society makes them believe that it’ll only degrade their reputation. There is also another fact that these cases take a long time to get any judgment. As a result, the victim and her family either try to put an end to it within the neighborhood or don’t let anyone know about it at all. This is how the harassers get spared every time and the horrible incidents keep happening again and again. Eventually, they lose faith in society’s operational system.

Therefore, changing the mentality of society is very important. People need to be more open-minded and helpful towards the suffering people because the victim is never to blame. Rather, the perpetrator should be brought under the light and get punished. 

In conclusion, every person should be treated right and respectfully in society regardless of their gender. However, the question still remains unanswered, where are we safe?