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Published : 14 Jul 2025, 11:35 PM
Women and Children Affairs Advisor Sharmeen S Murshid has called for reflection on why many women who participated in the July Uprising are no longer coming forward.
Speaking at a briefing held to outline the upcoming events commemorating the July Uprising at Ganabhaban on Monday, she said: "Those who fought with such courage, why have they gone into hiding? This needs to be understood."
She noted, “Many injured women are now locked inside their homes, not stepping forward, and are in depression. It is our responsibility to see how they are doing.”
Highlighting the ongoing social and cyberbullying faced by these women, she said: “A lot of nonsense is said against them. But these women are brave warriors. I believe they will overcome this and stand tall with their heads held high.”
Sharmeen announced that the ministry has undertaken a research project to compile a complete picture and list of the female fighters of July.
“Through this, we hope to identify each woman fighter. The aim is to identify them, provide counselling, support, and preserve their contributions.”
“This scale of women’s participation in any movement is unprecedented in contemporary history. The activists themselves have told me that around 65 to 79 percent were women, which is astonishing.
They led the movement -- from the first slogans, the first to leave their homes and hostels -- it all became clear to us.”
Asked whether anything could be done to bring back the women who are now hiding after being subjected to bullying, Murshid said: “It took time for these matters to be addressed. It's been 10 months, but we still haven’t been able to reach every fighter. It’s easy to say, but implementation is far more difficult.”
She admitted the ministry has made limited progress on records of female freedom fighters and martyrs, but they have started working on this.
“We’ve made a short video on women martyrs, which will be part of the main programme.”
Describing the efforts taken by the ministry as labour-intensive and time-consuming, she said: “These women didn’t want to come forward. Now, we have recruited about 100 women to help find them.”
She added, “Now we must analyse why has this situation occurred in society? We must go to them, counsel them, and help bring them back to a place of normalcy. I don’t have all the answers. But what is essential is standing by them, extending a hand of support.”
Pointing to possible causes, she said: “One is the violence embedded in our political system where women are becoming targets.”
She reminded the audience: “Women also disappeared after the 1971 Liberation War. This time we will not let that happen. We are going door to door to find them. It will take time, but we will bring them out and reach every single one.”
Asked why the culture of bullying could not be eliminated even after the mass uprising, she responded: “Expecting July to change everything like magic is unrealistic. But our ministry is launching a cyber unit this month, to be operated by a team of our ‘July daughters’.”
She outlined a two-pronged approach saying the unit will monitor online abuse 24/7, especially language and attacks targeting women.
She stressed that these are criminal acts, and added, “We haven’t fully figured out how to ensure they are properly punished.”
The advisor said: “There is a police unit working on it, and we’ve decided to strengthen our efforts. We are setting up a dedicated unit at our ministry to bring it under constant monitoring.”
Condemning abusive language and online harassment as a long-standing political tool, she said: “We must introduce an alternative narrative and ensure strict punishment. We’ve started this work and are finalising a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with police and are committed to pursuing this firmly.”
Sharmeen also warned about bots spreading toxic content. “This new phenomenon of bots is being used aggressively to spread this culture. They are hard to trace, especially those operating from abroad.”
Chief Advisor's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam added: “The government has enacted a Cyber Safety Ordinance to ensure women and children are safe in digital spaces.”
He also pointed out: “After the Magura incident and the subsequent rape case, we’ve made some legal reforms on women and children's cases, which have been significantly strengthened.”
