Violence against unmarried adolescent girls in Dhaka slums

1. Violence against unmarried adolescent girls in Dhaka slums Suborna Camellia, icddr,b NurNewaz Khan, icddr,b RuchiraTabassumNaved, icddr,b

2. Background • Studies have focused mainly on violence within marriage • Young age is associated with increased likelihood of violence, but little is known about unmarried adolescent girls’ experience in Bangladesh

3. Objectives This presentation will discuss: • Forms of violence • at home • in the community and • within intimate relationship • The perpetrators • The context in which violence occurs

4. Methods • Qualitative • Tools for data collection: • in-depth interviews with unmarried girls aged 15-19; • in-depth interviews of men aged 18-35 • key informant interviews • focus group discussions • Sites: 3 slums in Dhaka city • Timeline: June 2011-May 2012

5. Methods

6. Background characteristics

7. Findings: violence at home • Emotional abuse and controlling behavior by parents and elders are most common • Parents intention to control girls’ sexuality make them engage in constant surveillance and lead to • Restricted mobility of the girls; • Restricted interactions with men; • Emotional violence; and • Sometimes physical violence

8. Findings: violence at home • Parents frequently suspect that their daughter is going out with someone “Last year I went out with my female friends in the morning for celebrating the Bangla New Year…mother yelled at me, “Liar! Why don’t you tell that you were with a guy the whole day!” A16 yr old girl

9. Findings: violence at home • Parents sometimes mistrust and blame girls inappropriately when girls report sexual harassment by men on the street “Why do you need to go out so frequently then? If they find you walking around on the streets it’s very normal that they’ll tease you!” Mother of a 19 yr old girl

10. Findings: violence at home • Constant pressure for marriage “Girls are not safe in this area. There are so many mastaan (gangstars), bokhate (spoiled/derailed) boys out there. They harass the girls. Sometimes girls cannot go to school because of such harassment. Parents therefore want to get their daughters married off before anything bad happens to them.” A female key informant • Sometimes families marry off the girls ignoring their choice and disregarding their lack of consent.

11. Findings: violence in the community • The community controls girls’ sexuality through prescribing certain norms • Girls are not encouraged to wear trendy or western clothes, such as short kameez or jeans • Girls are discouraged- and often forbidden- to spend time with or talk to men in the community • If a girl does not follow these social expectations, neighbors complain to her parents, label her as a ‘bad girl,’ or make cutting remarks.

12. Findings: violence in the community • Sexual harassment on the streets is extremely common • Girls sometimes have to stop going to school or work because of sexual harassment • Community members believe that sexual harassment is invited by girls themselves: “Men do not tease good girls…nowadays girls wear revealing clothes…short kameez, jeans…that provoke men by their gestures and postures” Focus group discussion with Community Leaders

13. Findings: violence in the community • Leaders and mastans extort money from girls (and also from men) if they see girls talking with men • In case a girl or her boyfriend do not/cannot pay, they threaten with publicizing that they caught them engaged in sex. They also threaten girls with rape • Sometimes the girl and her boyfriend are brought under arbitration, get beaten publicly, and are charged fines by community leaders or their followers

14. Findings: violence in the community Different forms of arbitration exist in the slum by • Arbitrators ; and • Amount charged • Mamubichar is conducted by the top leaders involving sizeable charge • Teharibichar is conducted by mastans involving smaller fine

15. Violence in intimate relationships • Despite all restrictions, unmarried young women often have intimate relationship with men which may or may not be sexual • Relationships often start with violence and force, e.g., • threats of abduction; • acid throwing; and • rape from local young men • Sometimes men put pressure imposing threat of suicide

16. Violence in relationships • Contradictory perceptions of intimate premarital relationship • Girls’ perception: ultimate goal is marriage • Men’s perception: for sexual pleasureand satisfying one’s sexual needs • Men commonly offer false commitments of marriage and try to gain advantage (e.g., in sex)

17. Violence in relationships Girls told that their boyfriends constantly insisted on sex. “Whenever I see him, he asks for physical closeness…like a leech.. I don’t like it… it makes me feel uncomfortable. He keeps asking me to hug him, to do this and that.” 16 yr old girl

18. Violence in relationships • Men commonly reported sexually coercing their girlfriends, which they tried to justify. A 24 year old man told: “Her body and mind is mine…why wouldn’t she give it to me?…A man can’t control his urges. When he gets aroused, it’s not possible for him to consider if his partner is sick or getting hurt ” • If a girl does not want to give in, her partner suspects that she must have other relationships, makes cutting remarks, and watching her interactions with other men.

19. Violence in relationships Forced abortion: Girls gets pressured for abortion. “I had to beat her..otherwise she wouldn’t agree to abort the child.. I told her that I would leave if she keeps the child.” 24 yr old man

20. Violence in relationships • Men abandon girls without facing any social consequences I have four girlfriends at the moment (smiling)…will finally marry one of them…will ditch the other three. They can do nothing about it. They will just have to let this go. If they are really good girls and care about their ijjat (virginity) they will just keep their mouth shut and won’t tell anyone…ijjat is the most precious thing for a girl…losing it implies losing everything a girl has in her life” 18 yr old man • A girl’s resistance to such abandonment triggers further physical and emotional violence • If a girl wants to break off the relationship she gets threatened by her partner

21. Conclusions • Forms of violence are different across home, community and relationships • Key perpetrators are parents and elders in the family, neighbors, community leaders, mastans, local men, strangers in the community, and intimate partners • Repressive sexual norms combined with double standards about male and female sexuality increases the vulnerability of the girls, expose them to violence, curbs their opportunities, and pose barriers for conceiving and achieve their aspirations.