Social Problem in Uttara

Our present residence area is Uttara, Dhaka. We are going to discuss about social problems in
our area, Uttara as our assignment task in respect of the course Introduction to Sociology (HUM
381). The most seen social problem in Uttara is Eve teasing what is currently a major concern all
over the Bangladesh. As there are so many schools and colleges in Uttara, Eve teasing is almost
a common matter here, specially near the Girls’ schools and colleges.

What is Eve teasing?

Eve teasing is a euphemism for sexual harassment. Eve teasing is a menace that has grown to
alarming proportions. Though, we are one of the fastest growing countries in world but we have
yet to ensure the safety of working women and students. Eve teasing is a huge issue in Uttara. It
depicts incidents of public sexual harassment, street harassment or molestation of women by
men. Eve teasing also involves sexually suggestive remarks, groping, making lewd gestures and
perverted teasing. These disturbing incidents usually take place in public transport, streets,
offices and public places.

There has been contrasting school of thoughts about incidents of eve teasing. Some traditionalists
blame it on females saying they provoke the culprits by wearing suggestive dresses. They
recommend old-fashioned dresses for women. However, going by the records; it is hard to prove
that conservatively dressed women have not gone through eve teasing. School girls, college
going students, working women etc regularly go through humiliating comments by the unruly
men. Eve teasing can leave a permanent psychological scar on women.

Analyzing various instances of eve teasing or sexual harassment it becomes clear that abuse of
all sorts, short of rape, fall within the purview of eve teasing. These include:

1. Stares
2. Comments or remarks
3. Verbal abuse
4. Suggestive songs, lyrics typically targeted at the girl in question
5. An unwelcome touch, sexual in nature
6. Physical abuse – beating
7. Flashing which is accompanied by masturbation – or an act of exposing one’s genitals
8. Peeping
There are other incidents that are of concern. These include stalking, harassing, over the phone
and with the advent of technology, electronically. According to descriptions provided by various
sources these factors are not addressed within the purview of ‘eve teasing or public sexual
harassment’.

Causes of Eve Teasing:

There are a number of causes behind Eve teasing. As female gender is considered the fairer and
the weaker sex, they are considered more vulnerable. Especially in places like Uttara, where is a
male-dominated society, it is considered a male’s fundamental right to behave in any manner
with females. It is in fact a way of showing male’s superiority over females.

Also, being a suppressed lot, females generally don’t always raise their voices against such
harassment, which makes the males bolder in their approaches. Due to social stigma for a girl,
less and less cases are reported. Another reason is the old laws existing in India over eve teasing.
First of all, the corruption doesn’t catch the real culprits, with they being let off on may be a
small favor or money. Even if they are caught, laws don’t have stringent punishments for them.
There are enough loopholes to go scot-free.

There have been very few convictions in such cases. Also, lack of education is also a
contributing factor to such a menace. Illiterate and uneducated people consider this as their
birthright and see nothing wrong in it. They are unaware of the trauma of the girl who faces such
harassment. But one wonders then what happens in the metro cities, good educational institutions
etc.

Incidents in such places make people wonder whether education contributes to controlling such a
problem. But we feel it does. Good and healthy environment at school and home makes a person
respect the other sex, and understand the limitations.
There are various theories that try to understand why this happens. In the theoretical context
public sexual harassment might as well be a result of:

1. The breakdown of the value system that we carry, which is understandable considering
our exposure to a rather sudden exposure to western cultures.
2. Technological changes result in change of the material culture while belief systems
remain the same. Holding on to the traditional Hindu “man is the lord’ patriarchal belief,
while the material or work culture recognizes women as equal.
3. When new values (women are equal and free) and old values (‘women are only fit to be
wife and mother’ and ‘their chastity speaks of their character’) are in conflict.
4. The problem maybe because “eve teasers” are men afflicted with mental illnesses.
5. There is a discrepancy between the ‘ideal’ scenario and the ‘actual’ scenario because the
members of the society simply fail to live up to them.

Solutions to fight Eve teasing

Understanding the problem doesn’t solve it, but it does help us imbibe the severity of the
problem and its cause. It gives us an opportunity to pick a place and start off, maybe not in the
external environment, but at least in our minds.

It is our moral duty, social obligation and legal right to fight against Eve Teasing. Education
Ministry initiated with the declare 13 June as the Eve Teasing Protection Day, which is
encouraged to protect this social evil. But it must be removed at any cost.

The first and foremost solution to fighting is a change in attitude. The attitude of male has to be
changed if this menace has to be eradicated. A general respect for the female gender will go a
long way in building a healthy society.

Otherwise, government needs to bring in stringent measures to curb this problem.People should
be given harsh sentences, and such cases should be brought in public domain for people to
understand and to fear doing any such thing.

We, for one, would say, that one of such people should be left to public punishment where they
are left to be tortured by people in public places. One such case would go a long way in scaring
the wits out of a lot of people.
Conclusion

So, in the end, we would say, eve-teasing is a menace for our society. It lets our sisters die, spoils
their life, their dreams. Eve teasing should be fought hard and an effort needs to be directed
towards this direction for eradicating it from the society and making it a healthy one, not only
Uttara, but also the whole country.