According to media reports, a teenage housewife was allegedly beaten to death at Durbaganda village in Manirampur upazila on Thursday. This is just one more instance in a country where violence against women continues unabated. Cruelty and discrimination against women is an alarming problem not just in Bangladesh but globally as well. This restricts not only women’s basic rights and participation in society, but also the democratic, economic and social development of those societies. Strengthening women’s access to justice is one of the keys to a prosperous Bangladesh.

Domestic violence is a very common form of violence silently endured by many women in this country. It is a form of physical, sexual or psychological abuse perpetrated mainly (but not only) by men against women in a relationship or after separation. In Bangladesh since the joint family system is still common outside the metros, in-laws are also often perpetrators of domestic violence in relation to dowry or family disputes. The problem with this form of violence against women is that such cases are seldom reported, often treated as private household matters. Apparently the majority of the men folk here consider it their right to threaten or be physically violent to their wives as corrective behaviour when women are seen as being disobedient.

Let us also not forget that the violence is not only physical and sexual, but also psychological. Verbally berating a woman because she is easier to target, taking away opportunities from her, domesticating her and not considering her opinion — are all ways of psychological torture which inhibits the freedom and development of women and lead to a deeply fractured society. At the very basic level, women need to be treated equally — the absence of such equality is the root cause of abuse against women. The start of this equality begins at home.

Tolerating a litany of excuses to keep women backward is no longer an option. Closing legal loopholes and implementing laws stringently so that victims of rape and sexual harassment are not deprived of justice is imperative. We ask this question of the state: when women continue to battle patriarchy with their lives, why are perpetrators of heinous acts allowed to maim and murder with impunity? Refusing to change the status quo denies the nation of women’s full participation. If more women and men knew about the existing legal framework, more could claim the rights and support mechanisms that the law guarantees them.