Making public transport safe for women

A city cannot be complete without ensuring women's safety in public transport. However, Dhaka has not yet become a city whose public buses can guarantee women a minimum level of safety and comfort. Instead, they have to face embarrassing situations like verbal harassment, stalking, physical abuse and discriminatory treatment by transport workers, and even gender-based violence. A BRAC study shows that around 94 per cent of women using public transports have experienced sexual harassment. Some years ago, a university student injured herself when she jumped off a running bus to escape sexual harassment. However, just a few days earlier, a female college student while travelling with her mother in a city bus beat up a man who allegedly tried to sexually harass her.
Not all girls are brave like the abovementioned one. Many silently tolerate sexual harassment in public buses due to lack of an effective mechanism to punish the perpetrators. Women are still not safe in public transport as perpetrators rarely face any legal action. The government must ensure that there are safety and protection laws for women in public transport. Women must be accorded the same respect as their male counterparts. Otherwise, we will continue to lag behind in terms of progress and growth.

Afroza Sheikh,
Dania, Dhaka,
ilcbd2008@gmail.com