Eve-teasing

In a letter published in The Daily Star on 7 August 2007, Taylor Cook stated that “Eve Teasing” is an undesirable manifestation of South Asian patriarchy. It adversely affects development, growth and has harmful social, cultural, psychological impacts on women. However, the concerned individual's perceptions about gender, development, society, culture, magnitude of the problem in Bangladesh are biased and uninformed. Taylor Cook has ambiguous views of the term verbal harassment; women can commute safely in Bangladesh and men who grope women publicly would be lynched. In developed countries, women may be assaulted indecently, but this does not imply that these societies are unstable or their economies are not prosperous. Hence, contrary to Taylor Cook's view, eve-teasing does not take place unabatedly in Bangladesh. Legislations, policies, strategies, development interventions, institutional mechanism, social reform movements and systems have been instrumental in curbing eve-teasing and other forms of gender based inequalities, discrimination, violence.
They have generated awareness and mobilised socio-cultural resistance towards these trends, perceptions and practices!