Eve teasing: A social evil

EVE teasing generally means the making of unwanted sexual remarks or advances by a man to a woman in a public place. Eve teasing is a social evil. It is another name for public sexual harassment or molestation of women by men. Incidents of eve teasing in our society are on the rise and girls in increasing number are falling victims to this social evil. Sadly, incidents of eve teasing often lead to suicides and even murders. When girls are victims of teasing by wayward and unruly youths, the society, instead of standing beside the girl, blames her and defends the offenders. It is painful but such is the mindset of the society. We often read about a girl committing suicide due to regular harassment and teasing. It is unfortunate that the law-enforcing agencies also do not take the matter seriously and stand beside the girls subjected to eve teasing. As a result, eve-teasing incidents are increasing. Very few of such incidents are reported in the media and legal actions taken against similar offences leave a lot to be desired. There is a dire necessity of changing our mindset in respect of eve-teasing and law enforcing agencies should come down hard on the offenders to prevent the situation from deteriorating further. Eve teasing also leads to early marriages of girls as many parents marry off their daughters early before completing their education. Eve teasing also harms the victim psychologically and creates a sense of insecurity in their minds. The male members of the society must learn to show respect to women who constitute at least half of our population and make substantial contribution to our national development. In order to be developed we must make our society a safe place for our women.

Roksana Sultana

Dhaka University