Walking a tight rope

In 2009, the High Court Division of the Supreme Court provided a comprehensive directive on sexual harassment in educational institutions and workplaces in Bangladesh. The directive was the result of decades-long movement and advocacy by students, academics, and women activists.

It all began in the 1990s, when the students of Jahangirnagar University started protesting against sexual harassment incidents in the campus, demanding punishment of the perpetrators. For the first time in our history, women started talking publicly about their harrowing experience of sexual harassment. They started using the word dhorshon (rape) openly, disregarding the stigma attached to such a violation, or even the mere mention of the word. This movement prompted the universities to form a committee to which students could complain about sexual harassment and demand justice, maintaining anonymity; the committee was responsible for initiating investigation of the cases. The authorities of Jahangirnagar University also created a new platform for students, academics, and activists to talk about sexual harassment.

In this backdrop, when disturbing media reports in the wake of increasing incidents of sexual harassment in educational institutions and workplaces started to surface, Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) invoked the writ jurisdiction under Article 102 of the Constitution for prevention, protection, and redress against sexual harassment in educational institutions and workplaces. In response, a division bench of the High Court delivered a milestone judgment on May 14, 2009 by issuing definite directives in the form of guidelines to be treated as law and strictly complied with by educational institutions as well as public and private sector employers with immediate effect.

But even after a decade of enacting these directives, sexual harassment in both campuses and workplaces is rampant in the country. Recent news of sexual harassment incidents in secondary schools is particularly troubling. The nature of the abuses is horrifying in these cases. The brutal killing of Feni madrasa student, Nusrat Jahan Rafi, who was burned to death, sent a shockwave throughout the country. These incidents make us wonder about the effectiveness of the High Court directive.

Although the universities started following the directive, most of them do not have a written policy on sexual harassment till today. They have only formed a complaint committee as per the directive. As a result, most students and staff do not have a clear idea about what constitutes sexual harassment and what are the possible consequences of violations.

Brac University is ahead of the others as it has a comprehensive policy on sexual harassment and the administration is committed to implementing the policy. However, when the university conducted a study to strengthen its policy as well as the complaint committee, it found that most of the students and the staff do not know about the committee, nor do they know how to complain or where to complain; they just know about the existence of the policy. If this is the scenario at Brac University, we can easily assume the scenario in other institutions that do not have any written or formal policy on sexual harassment.

In other universities, students/teachers/staff often do not know about the existence of a committee for addressing sexual harassment in the institutions and their right to complain to the committee. In fact, when someone wants to complain, they are sometimes discouraged by the authority. Even when proven guilty, the perpetrators rarely get proper punishment; they are usually told to resign from the institution. As a result, their crimes remain undisclosed and they can even continue their career in other institutions.

People involved with Jahangirnagar University's movement against sexual harassment believe that the members of the sexual harassment committee are not gender-sensitive. The committee members often do not have enough orientation on sexual harassment. They also complained that there are allegations of sexual harassment against the members of the committee. How can we expect justice for sexual harassment when the members of the committee are not gender-sensitive and accused of sexual harassment themselves?

If this is the scenario of our universities, where students are more sensitive and raise their voice against sexual harassment, what is happening in the secondary and higher secondary-level education institutions? The High Court directive is also applicable to these institutions. Is the directive being properly followed? The case of Nusrat tells us that the answer is NO!

After the murder of Nusrat, the Ministry of Education and the Madrasa Education Board are finally recognising the necessity of having an anti-harassment policy in these institutions. The ministry is considering taking measures for strict application of the directive in schools, colleges and madrasas. This is a commendable initiative.

But before we think of policy application, we have to consider some related issues or else this initiative will fail. First, the teachers and the authorities of schools and colleges need to be sensitised on gender and sexuality-related issues. They have to have a clear knowledge of sexual harassment. Second, students should be made aware of sexual harassment issues and available support system through a campaign. They need to know where and how to complain. Third, a system must be developed for monitoring the activities of the anti-sexual harassment committees. The nature of the complaints, identification of the perpetrators, the nature of punishment given, etc. should be monitored as well.

Finally, we have to remind ourselves that sexual harassment is not just a women's issue. Men can also become victims of sexual harassment. Some recent news reports—including the news of the suicide of a male student in his madrasa and the murder of two students after torture—remind us that sexual harassment is inflicted upon males too. We also must not forget that sexual harassment is not always perpetrated by the opposite sex. It can be committed by the people of the same sex. These factors should also be integrated into our measures and agendas.

In brief, mere presence of a policy is not enough to safeguard our people against sexual harassment. An institution may have a sexual harassment policy, but if proper monitoring measures are not in place, the committee members are not trained, and the students are not made aware of the scenario, the policy is unlikely to work. We urge the government and the educational institutes to consider these recommendations to make the sexual harassment policy effective.

Sahida Islam Khondaker is a Research Associate at Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), Brac University. She has been working in national and international research projects for last 10 years and has research experience in areas such as women's empowerment, culture, sexuality, religion, local governance, women's unpaid care work, gender norms and work etc.