Men must take the lead in tackling violence against women, a group of journalists, bloggers, actors and NGO officials have observed at a seminar.
Published : 09 Sep 2017, 08:23 PM
The observation came up at a discussion titled 'Redefining masculinity', held at the BRAC Centre in the capital on Saturday.
A pervasive culture of impunity is mostly responsible for the recent increase in sexual violence and other forms of crimes perpetrated against women, the speakers said.
Syed Ishtiaque Reza, director of news, Ekattor Television, said: “Many mass media reports describe vivid details of the most horrible crimes and focus on the dress or demeanour of the woman. We must get rid of such terrible journalism.”
Nabonita Chowdhury, the editor, DBC TV, observed that "backward social values are at the root of all issues."
Asif Saleh, senior director, strategy, communications and empowerment, BRAC, moderated the discussion.
He highlighted the brutal gang-rape and murder of Zakia Sultana Rupa that recently shocked the nation.
“We are once again awakened to the reality of increasing acts of sexual violence against women. The perpetrators are males or mostly males.
BRAC Director Anna Minj, while analysing data of violence against women in different years, said in 2016, BRAC received on average 10-12 complaints per district per month, but in 2017 the number has risen to 16-17.
Supriti Dhar, editor, Women Chapter, shared how she had been under constant threats since starting the portal.
“Every day I feel like giving up. Our writers are also victimised. Many of them are quitting as they are being termed as ‘prostitutes’,” Dhar said.
Actor Iresh Zaker said: “We need to start working at the ground level. The rise of women causes fear in men. To solve that situation we need to move through forming working groups.”
Zafar Sobhan, editor, Dhaka Tribune, Towhida Shiropa, staff reporter, Prothom Alo, Sushmita S Preetha, editor, Star Weekend, The Daily Star, actor Rafiath Rashid Mithila, and blogger-activist Arif Zebtik, among others, also spoke at the event.
bdnews24.com was the media partner of the roundtable.