AWARENESS AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT

10,000 stickers put on Dhaka buses

Campaign urging girls, women to call 999 for police help ends

Decked in a white T-shirt, the young woman waited patiently at Azimpur bus stand. When the buses stopped at this terminus and the crowds inside started thinning out, she entered and swung into action. She brought out a sticker from her bag and pasted it on the windshield. She repeated this several times on all the parked buses. The sticker read: “Call 999 if someone harasses you in the vehicle”, and underneath, there were a few instructions on what to do.

Her white T-shirt read, “hok protirodh”, which means “Let there be protests”. It has been difficult for commuters on public transport in Dhaka to miss those stickers over the past few days. Since March 8—International Women’s Day— volunteers like this girl in white T-shirts have been pasting those stickers on the windows and windshields of the buses.

“There are 10,000 of these,” said Eman Khan, chairman of Do Something Exceptional (DSE), the voluntary organisation that has taken this initiative. “We will finish pasting these on March 26, on our Independence Day”.

As Khan pointed out, sexual harassment of women has become prevalent on public transports in Dhaka. “You will see a Facebook post every now and then in which young girls complain about being sexually harassed,” said Khan.

DSE conducted a study and found that last year, two reported incidents of rape and 16 reported incidents of sexual harassment occurred on Dhaka’s public transport.

“These are the ones that were reported. In most cases, the women who got sexually harassed keep mum about the incident due to social pressure. We want to change the culture. That’s why we have taken this initiative to let women know that they can raise their voice if something happens to them,” he said.

Shazia Nirma, owner of the fashion brand Nayori, funded the whole campaign. She told The Independent how she herself has been harassed on public buses. “Before I started my own business, I used to work at a job and commuted by bus. On various occasions, the conductor or other passengers touched me in appropriate ways. The irony is that when I protested, some people even told me not to commute in buses because female passengers are not welcome there.”

“So when I heard about the DSE’s campaign, I expressed my interest to finance it,” said Nirma.

She said the reasons behind pasting 10,000 stickers with a message on buses were simple. “We now have the ‘999 helpline number’ where we can report sexual harassment to the law enforcement personnel. Unfortunately, however, very few women know that.”

Besides, the stickers also have messages which encourage women to raise their voices in face of sexual harassment rather than keeping mum about it, fearing social taboos. “If we all come forward, then this will stop,” she said.

Khan said after they started this campaign, they have received massive positive responses from people. “People from other cities and even district towns contacted us on social media and over phone and asked us to conduct such campaigns in their cities and towns,” he added.

“I believe if the government comes forward and patronises this kind of initiatives, we will be able to stop sexual harassment of women in public buses for good,” he said.

 

AWARENESS AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT

10,000 stickers put on Dhaka buses

Campaign urging girls, women to call 999 for police help ends

Decked in a white T-shirt, the young woman waited patiently at Azimpur bus stand. When the buses stopped at this terminus and the crowds inside started thinning out, she entered and swung into action. She brought out a sticker from her bag and pasted it on the windshield. She repeated this several times on all the parked buses. The sticker read: Call 999 if someone harasses you in the vehicle, and underneath, there were a few instructions on what to do. Her white T-shirt read, hok protirodh, which means Let there be protests. It has been difficult for commuters on public transport in Dhaka to miss those stickers over the past few days. Since March 8International Womens Day volunteers like this girl in white T-shirts have been pasting those stickers on the windows and windshields of the buses. There are 10,000 of these, said Eman Khan, chairman of Do Something Exceptional (DSE), the voluntary organisation that has taken this initiative. We will finish pasting these on March 26, on our Independence Day. As Khan pointed out, sexual harassment of women has become prevalent on public transports in Dhaka. You will see a Facebook post every now and then in which young girls complain about being sexually harassed, said Khan. DSE conducted a study and found that last year, two reported incidents of rape and 16 reported incidents of sexual harassment occurred on Dhakas public transport. These are the ones that were reported. In most cases, the women who got sexually harassed keep mum about the incident due to social pressure. We want to change the culture. Thats why we have taken this initiative to let women know that they can raise their voice if something happens to them, he said. Shazia Nirma, owner of the fashion brand Nayori, funded the whole campaign. She told The Independent how she herself has been harassed on public buses. Before I started my own business, I used to work at a job and commuted by bus. On various occasions, the conductor or other passengers touched me in appropriate ways. The irony is that when I protested, some people even told me not to commute in buses because female passengers are not welcome there. So when I heard about the DSEs campaign, I expressed my interest to finance it, said Nirma. She said the reasons behind pasting 10,000 stickers with a message on buses were simple. We now have the 999 helpline number where we can report sexual harassment to the law enforcement personnel. Unfortunately, however, very few women know that. Besides, the stickers also have messages which encourage women to raise their voices in face of sexual harassment rather than keeping mum about it, fearing social taboos. If we all come forward, then this will stop, she said. Khan said after they started this campaign, they have received massive positive responses from people. People from other cities and even district towns contacted us on social media and over phone and asked us to conduct such campaigns in their cities and towns, he added. I believe if the government comes forward and patronises this kind of initiatives, we will be able to stop sexual harassment of women in public buses for good, he said.