Stop Eve-teasing
Eve teasing or women harassment, as we call it, can be defined as a form of sexual or any
other harassment done by strangers towards girls and women. Eve teasing often becomes a
difficult crime to prove, as perpetrators devise ingenious ways to harass women. It usually
occurs in public spaces, streets and public transports, where the vulgar men tease women by
saying nonsensical stuff while women walk past them or they even try to assault them in some
way or another both mentally or physically. 

Due to the widespread practice of eve teasingmainly in the South Asian part of the world inclusive of India, 
Pakistan and Bangladesh, women who are considered as the vulnerable gender often find themselves facing severe 
difficulties while traveling to their workplaces or schools using public transports. Because of these taunts,
females often have to dress up in a conservative manner. Women are thus forced to have a
barrier on their path of “freedom of choice”.

The women get deprived of the scope of being able to dress-up and travel with utmost liberty,
even though these countries all regarded as ‘independent’. Yet my question still remains as to
why only the women of the so-called ‘independent’ countries are still lacking the words
‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ in their lives? Perhaps this question might be answered in a vague
manner by claiming that women are vulnerable and thus they need to keep mum or do things
that will help them to avoid eve teasing.
But the point to be noted is, such steps might help to avoid eve teasing but it will not contribute
to the end of this bad practice.

Protesting and rebelling against such offensive crimes will help to banish this terrible problem of
‘Eve teasing’ which holds back women from taking up certain decision in their lives freely.
In Bangladesh almost 90% of girls aged between 10-18 years are victims of eve teasing in the
form of either physical or mental harassment. According to the Bangladesh National Women
Lawyer’s Association, in most such cases physical or mental harassment are unreported and go
unpunished due to the young girls’ fear of further taunts and harassment, being socially
rebuked or becoming the subject of local social gossip.

In general when a helpless girl who is being continuously taunted is asked about why she
doesn’t protest, she says that she doesn’t protest because she knows that the consequences of
protest will have to be borne by herself only. This means the selfish society will not help her to
protest against the problem. Rather they will either watch the situation as though they are
watching a movie or they might fear the fact of getting their selves in troubles by protesting.
There are numerous reasons as to why eve-teasing is so common in this region. One of the
main reasons suggested by social scientists and psychologists is that eve teasing is a result of
the frustration that majority of the youth in Bangladesh suffer. 

These people are oftendissatisfied by indifferent parents and the inappropriate behaviour of teachers.
 Thus, they cravefor a means to display their depressions ultimately resulting in aggression in the form of eve
teasing. The case is also for those who fail to inherit proper values from their family.
On the other hand there are another group of people who feel that it is the direct outcome of a
gender repressive society in which women by tradition have no choice whatsoever, and do not
possess equal rights as men. Moreover there is a lot more to blame when considering why the
young men of our countries have become aggravated up to this level.

For the development of the economy of these nations, women must stand up for themselves
and rebel against such teasers. If needed, they must go and consult the government as well.
However an act known as the Women & Children Repression Act was passed in the year 2000,
where a remarkable provision was mentioned–men who tease women through vulgar gestures
and comments in public places would be imprisoned for 7 years or 2 years of meticulous
imprisonment.

Various law amendments have been done. Several actions have been taken by the
government, but all of these are somewhat vague and vulnerable to stop these notorious
treacherous people who are a disgrace to our society. These actions will only be successful
when we as a nation will change our character and attitude.
If a nation truly intends to get rid of this malpractice they must change the attitude of men and
engrave a self-generated respect for women from their hearts.