The New Nation - Internet Edition

Eve teasing - a social offence

Samsuda Akter Lina

Bangladesh was born out of conflict thirty-seven years ago. However, there is no figure available on how many women become victims of eve teasing in Bangladesh. However, numbers are available in other forms of sexual violence on Bangladeshi women. As eve teasing does not involve any physical harassment the law refuses to recognize it as a violent act. What is discerned here is that women becoming victims of eve teasing is not seen seriously even by the police. Yet eve teasing can be as cruel and as violent as physical assaults only a handful of the women have the courage to become rebels and to break the norm of the society. These women realize that there is a vast world outside their homes in which women should have their footsteps. Begum Rokeya was one of these women who realized It is not easy for most men to break the male chauvinistic attitude of thousands of years in one life and understand the message. It is not easy for them to realize the pain and agony a woman goes through during her lifetime for not being able to take full control of her life.

The problem of eve teasing is not new. Eve-teasing or non-euphemistically sexual harassment or molestation of women in public places is a growing concern in Bangladesh and throughout this sub-continent at present. It is appalling and in some cases an extremely perilous practice. This is something that the women are supposed to either just tolerate or are even accused of bringing it upon themselves. However, the fact is that the act of eve teasing is widely condemned and considered a nuisance by the public and is punishable. Lack of police officers' awareness is also a reason for eve teasing, as they are not conscious about this matter. The problem also lies with the conservative set up of the society. Education, family rearing and way of living are some of the factors that influence everybody's mind.

The change is fuming the women rights activists. The change has come at a time when harassment of women has increased in Bangladesh. But one can enforce her right under section 509,of the Penal code where it is clearly stated that, if anybody intending to insult the modesty of any women, utters any word, make any sound or gesture or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen, by such women, or intrudes upon the privacy of such women, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

Not only that in Metropolitan Police Ordinances, 1976 it is clearly described that whoever willfully and indecently exposes his person in any street or public place within sight of and in such manner as may be seen by, any woman, whether from within any house or building or not, or willfully obstructs any woman in a street or public place or insults or annoys any woman by using indecent language or making indecent sounds, gestures, or remarks in any street or public place, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year , or with fine which may extend to two thousand taka, or with both. There is no figure available on how many women become victims of eve teasing in Bangladesh. However, numbers are available in other forms of sexual violence on Bangladeshi women. A recent media report said more than 12,000 women have been victims of sexual harassment or violence across the country during January-July period. These included about 2,600 cases of rapes. The figures are high even though many victims do not go to police for shame or fear of reprisals by the attackers.

The government says eve teasing is still punishable under Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance. The penalty is up to one-year imprisonment plus fine up to Tk. 2,000. But this has rarely been enforced and that's one of the reasons why the original law against repression of women included eve teasing as an off.

Stopping abusive marriages

Elayne Clift

In Kenya, reluctant women find strength to tell their stories of female genital cutting. Israeli and Palestinian women share tales of terror and trauma - and acts of resistance. Indian sex workers talk among themselves of their experiences in Kolkata and elsewhere, gradually sharing their stories with wider audiences. In Europe and North America, women reveal their acts of courage in the face of discrimination, disability and domestic violence. The world over, women are taking to the stage to share stories of oppression and subsequent empowerment. And the impact is measurable and profound.

The movement toward women's use of theatre to raise awareness about their psychosocial issues and to raise money for the advocacy organizations that support them is most frequently symbolised by Eve Ensler's now iconic play, 'The Vagina Monologues', and its related annual V-Day events.

Ensler's audacious play in which performers read stories of women's sexuality, and their sexual abuse, led to the birth of 'V-Day', a global movement to end violence against women and girls. Awareness and funds are raised through benefit productions of the play every February (for Valentine's Day) or March (marking International Women's Day). Last year, more than 3,000 V-Day events were held around the world. So far the movement has raised over US$50 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it. Funds are used for educational programmes, media campaigns, safe houses/ shelters, and community-based programs.

In fact, in April this year, which marked the tenth anniversary of V-Day, a celebration, 'V to the Tenth', was held in New Orleans, a venue chosen to highlight the strength of women in the region as they struggle to survive Hurricane Katrina. "What happened in New Orleans and the Gulf south after the flood and storm represents the challenges that women face worldwide - violence, global warming, racism, lack of healthcare and education, financial insecurity, and the failure of local and national governments," says Enslers.

Another well recognized catalyst is 'That Takes Ovaries!' (TTO), a book, play, and open-mike event launched by Boston-based activist Rivka Solomon.

Published by Random House in 2002, TTO-a collection of women's and girls' stories captures a wide range of what, editor, Solomon calls "gutsy acts"-is now in its fifth printing. It has inspired a worldwide movement in which an adaptation is performed either as a play or an open-mike event in which audience members of all ages and both genders are invited onstage to share stories of courageous girls and women. To date more than 500 TTO events have occurred worldwide. According to Solomon, the aim of TTO performance pieces is to showcase real women who have thrown off the yoke of "internalized social messages and conditioning by a sexist, often violent society".

One of TTO's most active countries is India, thanks to the efforts of Kolkata-based Mira Kakkar, national TTO Coordinator. Kakkar works with government and women's organizations, colleges, media and others to mount TTO events at venues as diverse as five-star hotels and centers for prostituted women.

Ironically, before engaging with TTO, Kakkar says she was terrified of public speaking even though she is a self-made career woman who founded an advertising agency as well as the NGO Thoughtshop Foundation. "Today, when I tell (someone) my voice used to tremble, they look at me in disbelief. I still fear public speaking but I have learned to walk through that fear because of TTO. I've conducted more than a dozen TTO sessions now and made a difference in hundreds of women's lives. That's the power of TTO." The TTO open mikes have also, Kakkar says, changed the lives of many other women, "helping them look at themselves differently, loving themselves, respecting their individualism."

Bobbi Ausubel, a drama therapist, artistic director of the TTO organization and contributor to 'That Takes Ovaries!', has joined TTO efforts in India. She works with Mira Kakkar and Apne Aap Women Worldwide (A2W2), an NGO with community centres in Mumbai, Forbesgunge (Bihar), Kolkata and Delhi. The A2W2 was founded by Emmy award-winning journalist Ruchira Gupta whose film 'The Selling of Innocents' documents the lives of women in prostitution. Ausubel has travelled twice to India at Gupta's invitation to work in centers where sex trafficking and prostitution take place and where women are particularly vulnerable. Women share compelling stories with Ausubel who then helps them tell their tales to a wider audience. One prostitute, Mina, related a time when her room was invaded by 10 police officers demanding free sex. She chased them out with a broom. Another woman, Pira, said that in her village women were not supposed to ride bikes. Still she learned to ride so that she could attend middle school in a neighbouring village. The first female in her village to do that, she became a role model for others, several of who went on to higher education.

Many of the women are outcasts. Getting them to tell their stories can be challenging, she says. In Kolkata an actress was brought in to help women act out their stories. After her first visit, she declined to return, revealing the negative attitude many people hold towards prostituted women, "as if they caused the problem themselves," says Ausubel. Working with these women, many of whom are trafficked from Bangladesh and Nepal and all of whom are isolated and ostracized, has given Ausubel new purpose. "Trying to help people understand that they are courageous is very complicated," she says. "Hearing other women's stories and the idea that each one of them has value can be very powerful. We try to help them understand that what they are doing, how they are doing it, how they are taking care of their kids, reflects their courage."

The experience is equally powerful for women who participate. Kakkar recalls the lives of several participants, among them a scientist who left her abusive marriage to take up a law degree specializing in women's rights and a traditional woman who went to the police after years of spouse abuse and then became a counselor herself.

Kakkar leads events year-round, including on International Women's Day, Human Rights Day, Friendship Day and other commemorative holidays. In recent years, she has helped draw attention to women living with HIV/AIDs and to members of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-gendered communities. For International Women's Day this year, the open mike featured two young Muslim women boxing champions at a performance hosted by the U.S. Consulate in Kolkata. "Every session has seen women and girls in many emotions, sharing their fun and happy times, sharing tearful and intimate stories and moments. Some of these are spoken for the first time. Each session has been inspirational and a personal triumph for the women," Kakkar says. But perhaps it is the women themselves who are the best testimony of the success of the project. As one participant put it, "It helped me open up like I never could have imagined." Added another, "Courage, guts and strength. That's what girls are made of. Forget sugar and spice and all that's nice!"

Alternative earnings help women empowerment

Noa Cohen

Ethiopian Jews had since ancient times harboured the dream of returning to their 'homeland' - Jerusalem. In the 20th century, this dream was realised. Ethiopian Jewish immigrants came to Israel in large numbers in two major waves: Operation Moses in the early and mid-1980s and Operation Solomon in 1991. Today, Israel is home to 56,000 Ethiopian Jews.

But, despite ambitious plans to smoothly integrate them into the mainstream, the results have been disappointing. The lack of a lucrative livelihood has been a major problem. In Ethiopia, the community had lived in small villages and had practiced subsistence farming, a vocation that did not equip them for gainful employment within an industrialised nation.

This resulted in the social segregation of the community, with women being the worst sufferers. From looking after large families with the limited income at their disposal to facing discrimination from within the community as well as from the local population, Ethiopian Jewish women have had to face tough challenges.

"Discrimination of women of Ethiopian origin in Israel," explains Lauren Lyons, 28, an activist working with Sisters, a Tel-Aviv-based, non-for-profit NGO that works with immigrant women, "could be a result of Israelis fearing immigrants and the change they bring. Each wave of immigration has brought with it a period of unrest - the local population have needed to adjust, the newcomers have needed to adapt. Transition for the Ethiopian Jewish community has not been entirely easy. Just like other groups of immigrant Jews, who made 'aliyah' (refers to Jewish immigration to Israel since its establishment in 1948), Ethiopian Jews have faced obstacles in their integration into the society because of racist attitudes, cultural differences, and lack of education. As is the case almost everywhere in the world, skin colour is the starting point of the discrimination. Then follow language barriers and cultural differences. The arrival of a black African group to a country with predominately white- or olive-complexioned people who have had no previous experience of interacting with such communities led to situations rife with tension. There were other sources of conflict too. The Ethiopian Jews knew little or no Hebrew and spoke mainly Amharic. Culturally, they also tended to be a very intimate and closed society. All this made it more difficult for them to be absorbed into Israeli society given the lack of opportunities for the two communities to interact with each other. The financial strains Ethiopian Jews routinely experience only made matters worse."

The women face discrimination from within their community as well, probably the result of living in a patriarchal society where women are subordinate to men. They mainly work at home and if they want to engage in activities that take them outside the home, they would need to seek permission from their husbands.

In an effort to counter the discrimination from within and outside, Sisters helps these women use their traditional craft of embroidery, or 'rikmah', and coiling as a tool for empowerment. The Rikmah Project, which began in 2005, gives the women an opportunity to stay connected with their roots and, at the same time, convert their domestic talents into income-generating skills.

The idea came from Esther Eilam, 65, one of the founders of Sisters and a prominent Israeli feminist, who drew inspiration for this venture from a somewhat similar programme initiated for the tribes of Bedouins living in the Negev Desert.

"The women from the Rikmah Project are using an aspect of their culture to improve their lives in Israel. The idea is that they do not completely lose their identity and blend into the larger culture by forgoing their traditions and forgetting where they came from. Instead, they should utilise their traditional talents to generate income for their families."

The project is open to all Ethiopian Jewish women in Israel although the community is generally concentrated in the southern part of the country. Currently, 200 women are part of this economic initiative, most of them learning about it through word of mouth. It is easy to join the group as there are no lengthy forms or bureaucratic procedures involved.

The women do fine embroidery on clothes - mainly dresses and blouses - and create ornaments for the synagogues. All the raw material is provided by the NGO. The ready merchandise is sold in three high fashion stores in Tel-Aviv, Haifa and Ra'anana - the three major cities in Israel. The products are priced between 50 and 200 NIS (New Israeli Sheqel). Each woman earns about 600 NIS a month (US$1=3.30 NIS). This is not substantial, but, according to the women, it's better than being unemployed and penniless.

Lakia, 40, believes the project has given her the feeling of being a part of something greater. "I have got a place to come and interact with other women like me. Not only am I engaged in a creative craft, I feel I am being respected, valued and recognised. Also, I have an opportunity to work and contribute to the household income," she says.

Besides providing an opportunity to earn, this project helps to showcase authentic Ethiopian Jewish culture and fosters in these women a sense of pride in their heritage. According to Eilam, the project eventually aims to create a Mutual Exchange Network of Women.

"By creating a link between the women," says Eilam, "the embroidery project aspires to develop a feminist community and create a social and economic network through mutual learning and social and economic action. The idea is to offer the participants both 'life changing knowledge' and sound professional knowledge."

(Courtesy: Women's Feature Service)

Kashmir sex-workers exposed to HIV infection

Anju Munshi

groomed. At 18, she is aware of the financial constraints of her large family comprising two siblings, parents and a grandmother. Living in one of the 12 refugee camps for displaced Kashmir is in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Aanchal knows that the dole the family gets just cannot make ends meet.

But Anchal has found a quick solution to her financial crisis: she is now a sex worker. The young woman is one of the estimated 2,000 migrant women of the relief camps, home to the victims of the wave of terrorism and ethnic cleansing of the 1990s, that have poor healthcare facilities and few livelihood options. While reports of sex scams occasionally turn the spotlight on these settlements, the residents are in need of more sustained attention in the form of health awareness campaigns and better facilities. Malini Raina, 38, has been living in the Muthi camp in Jammu for some years now and has come to the conclusion that the women of the camps are victims of financial crisis, mental trauma, social stigma and the flesh trade. "Sex scams are reported to create a sensation but if you go a little deepert it may be the family's needs that pushes young girls into them. Health, education and marriages need money and how much do rehabilitation packages offer, anyway?" asks Malini. In the settlements, opportunities to earn a living and information about better healthcare are hard to come by, despite the prevalence of high-risk behaviour among some of the inhabitants. The conspicuous absence of any awareness and intervention campaigns in the camps only makes people like Aanchal more vulnerable. Quiz Aanchal about HIV/AIDS and her unperturbed expression is rather telling. "Have heard of it but isn't it curable?" she asks, rather innocently. Dr K.L. Chowdhury, a social activist associated with the Shiriya Bhatt Mission hospital in Jammu, says, "Over the last 18 years no NGO has bothered to come and sensitize the community on various health issues." Neerja Mattoo and Dr Shakti Bhan of 'Daughters of Vitasta', the women's wing of Panun Kashmir add, "These camps are unsafe for women. Women have been raped and killed and many girls have committed suicide." (Panun Kashmir meaning 'Our Own Kashmir' in Kashmiri is an organization of displaced Kashmiri Pandits founded in December 1990 in Jammu.)

Ironically, even as the threat of HIV/AIDS looms large over the camps, and even as the state has its share of AIDS cases and mortalities - last year the government reported 42 AIDS deaths and between 2006 and 2007 there was an approximate six-fold increase in the number of cases - residents of the camps are still victims of ignorance and neglect.

While Maharashtra has its share of Ashley Judds and Bollywood stars sporting the red ribbon; West Bengal has the inspirational 'Bula Di' (elder sister) awareness campaign; and Chennai benefits from the red ribbon express steering into villages. J&K, in contrast, witnesses no initiatives of this kind, although it possibly needs them more than any other state, given that many in the state are extremely vulnerable to the disease.

There are several reasons for this vulnerability and high-risk behaviour in the camps is just one. According to Survival International sources, a human rights organization headquartered in London, HIV/AIDS spreads among displaced migrants due to increased contact with outsiders and dramatic social change. The growing number of intravenous drug users and sex workers, low literacy levels, the ongoing militancy, a variety of local languages - Kashmiri, Urdu, Dogri, Punjabi, Ladakhi, Pahari and Gujjari - and the constant demand for blood transfusions only add to the problem and underline the need for concerted health awareness.