Feminists Across Generations Group Rivals Bangladesh’s Gender Based Violence

A group of women have banded together to create an alliance called “Feminists Across Generations” in reaction to a string of rapes and sexual assaults in Bangladesh within the past two weeks. Bangladeshi culture often holds the traditional view that when a woman and her family lose ‘honor’ when she is raped. The growing number of cases nation wide has come to a boiling point, causing protests against the gender-based violence.

Feminists Across Generations protested to question the social and cultural practices that have allowed the violence to continue. Their focus was on the victims, but also on the systemic discrimination against women. The group stated, “We are angry. We are angry at families, schools, and at the government for blaming the victim and for forcing them to change instead of holding perpetrators to account. Those who continue to ask what the victim was wearing, where she was, who she was with and what time it was. Those who continue to say that she was asking for it.”

An example of the systemic failures is the Character Evidence Law, which allows survivors of sexual abuse to be questioned on their ‘character’ in a court of law. Laws such as this one are old and outdated, proving that rape culture is not a topic the government wishes to change. The Feminists Across Generations group also fight for a forum to have open discourse around toxic masculinity and a strategy to bring about an end to the culture of rape and sexual violence. Sadly, many live in fear and this is no way to survive, but with political activist groups pushing hard against the traditions there is a glimpse of hope. 
 

Up Next, Time To Step Beyond The Pink Ribbon