Hints: Introduction, What Is Eveteasing? The Present Situation of Eve-teasing, Dreadful Bad Effects of Eve-teasing, Causes of Eve-teasing, Doings in Protesting Eve-teasing, Recent Steps to Protest Eve-teasing, Conclusion.
Introduction
Nowadays, modern civilization, knowledge and wisdom, and superhumanity are much-talked terms. It is often heard from the specialized figures that the world has gone a long way and we have also developed much. But when a ten-der-aged girl or young girl commits suicide falling victim to eve-teasing, not only the victim commits suicide but also the father or the mother of hers has to die cruelly. Then the question of the progress of knowledge and wisdom, education, or humanity makes the conscious people think. Society is tormented in the cruel and terrific grip of eve-teasing. A noble teacher, the maker of mankind, has been brutally killed by the vagrant boys while protesting eve-teasing. Eve-teasing, therefore, has now turned into a social plague. Society and the country are deeply worried about this plague and so the rescue from the heinous problem of swallowing social values, ideals, and ethics of life is not a demand of time, the demand of the situation.
What Is Eveteasing?
`Eveteasing’ is a term related to sexual harassment. It is an unrefined or unpolished language. Its literal synonym is ‘to eve tease the girls or the women’. But it does not give the real meaning of eve-teasing only. It can be said, it is is a euphemism, that is, under the cover of violence against women there lies an evil desire for sexuality. In Europe, `eve-teasing is termed as ‘sexual harassment.
In the present context, `eve-teasing means falling victim to sex-related unpolished language delivered by the vagabond males to school and college-going girls and teachers including employee pedestrian women. Here, the matter of sex is expressed through beckoning, gesture, and posture, nod, etc. `Eveteasing’ therefore, is considered as one kind of women violence. Eve-teasing may be of different sorts, for example, eve-teasing may be over the mobile phone, through the internet, verbal or non-verbal means, or physically. Eve-teasing involves vulgar remarks, sounding through lips, to encourage or request to make a deliberate sexual relation. Sometimes, eve-teasing also involves objectionable looks and inspiring women towards sexuality through vulgar or unpolished body language.
The Present Situation of Eve-teasing
Statistics show the recent incidents of falling a victim to eve-teasing have broken all the records. Every day, almost in all areas of the country at least one person is being a victim of eve-teasing. Now, eve-teasing transcending various problems has turned into a chief problem. Of the disdaining events like eve-teasing, 65%-70% occur in the surroundings of educational institutions. In this respect, the very school-going girls are the worst victims. Consequently, to be saved from eve-teasing, a notable number of girl students drop out of educational life in a premature time.
Dreadful Bad Effects of Eve-teasing
Eve-teasing is mental and physical violence against women in society. Its effect is so acute that extreme despair appears in the usual life of women. And this despair is contaminated into another woman. The bad effects of eve-teasing invite extreme dismay, anxiety, and disquiet in a family. At present, the plague of eve-teasing not only torments a family but also for its evil influence the society is becoming venomous, socio-economic development of the country is impeded. For fear of eve-teasing, the guardians are compelled to marry off their daughters during childhood, the educational life of the school and college-going girls comes to a standstill. Not only the learners are the victim of this situation, but also the employee women are facing a bad phase. Sometimes on the way and sometimes at the workplaces, they are confronting with such situations created by their male colleagues. And a result, women being obliged to retreat from the respective position for which almost half of the women of total people of a developing country is cast away from the mainstream of social development, and they become a so-called burden to the society and state instead of being self-reliant. For the acute effect of eve-teasing women often go to the way of suicide.
Causes of Eve-teasing
In consideration of manifold sides, there are various causes behind eve-teasing. For example: –
- Unawareness of the guardians,
- Want of respectful outlook towards women,
- Want of social, cultural, family, and ethical values,
- Free and uncontrolled exhibition of satellite TV,
- Social management based on gender disparity.
- Considering the women enjoyable goods,
- Exhibition of pornography and absence films,
- Toxic dress and uncontrolled movement of women,
- Absence of separate laws subversive to eve-teasing, and
- Absence of appropriate religious teaching suitable for molding character in the textbooks.
Doings in Protesting Eveteasing:
Now, anti-human deed like eve-teasing is a threat to the society and the country. So, everybody has to come ahead to protest it. Alongside Govt, social, family, and state steps should be taken. Respecting this, the following measures can be taken:
- To increase public awareness.
- To raise religious values.
- To exercise ethics and ideals.
- To enforce social movement and obstacles.
- To hate the vagabond people’s hearts and souls.
- To abandon the criminals socially.
- To create a positive outlook for the women.
- To control the obscene activities encouraging the sex-related job with an iron hand,
- Performing active and proper role by the local administration and law enacting agencies.
- To enact and implement separate effective laws for protesting eve-teasing.
- The wearing of political and modest attire by the women and,
- Performing pioneering role by the organizations related to social development work.
Recent Steps to Protest Eve-teasing:
In Bangladesh, there are some sections of laws connected with eve-teasing, but there are no specific laws about it. But, at present, given the dreadfulness of eve-teasing, the Govt. has taken some lawful steps. For example;
- Mobile Court: By offering judicial power to the executive magistrates, a new section of the penal code has been added to the Mobile Court Law. It has been in force since 9 Nov 2010. Through the court, the eve-teasers are punished then and there. The magistrate judges the merit of the section and punishes the eve-teasers with a maximum of one-year imprisonment or fine or both penalties.
- Forming Protest Committee: For protesting eve-teasing, an order has been passed by the Ministry of Education. Every educational institution, in collaboration with the representatives of different levels of society, has to form a protest committee.
- Complaint No. 7373: To take rapid disciplinary measures against eve-teasers Bangladesh Police Headquarters has brought complaint No. 7373 under circuit in the said quarters. Here the women can contact over the phone.
- Sexual Harassment Act, 2010 in Educational Institutions and Workplaces: About it, the Law Commission has compiled a rough article. In it, disciplinary measures have been preserved for major and light criminal activities.
Conclusion
In our society, eve-teasing has taken an evident form like any other terrific dis-ease. Villages and cities – everywhere the women society is being tormented and trodden by the sharp claws of eve-teasing. Now in society, the victims of this killer disease are not only the women but also the protester teachers, mothers, or guardians who are not out of the vicious circle of eve-teasing. In the circumstances, we have to raise our voice against eve-teasing. We have to put up barriers against eve-teasing.