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Are We Serious about Eradicating Violence?

by Gemini Wahhaj
ARTICLE 3 of the National Policy for the Advancement of Women, declared on March 8, states clearly. "Eradicate all kinds of violence against women". But how? Through police action and protection? If Yasmeen and Sheema Chowdhurys stories are to serve as any kinds of examples of police behaviour, then police protection is the last solution to a woman's safety.
Tne police force is an overwhelmingly male tight-knit community, which has been armed and mandated to exert its force over the female population. At a Daily Star conference on the subject. Sigma Huda said, "When a women is raped, they think it is the right of the male over the female because of male power." Moushumi Nasser says in her article Puberty and Problems. A man . . . considers his relationship with a female to be a game of power and obedience (Star. April 11,1997). What this means is that, a gender insensitive. male police force is likely to be more of an aide to 'violence against women’ than a deterrent. In fact, to put it very strongly, having giving these men the legal and administrative power over the female population. we have ensured that women should be unsafe and at the mercy of the police. If women had been given guns and knives and allowed to use these with impunity against their aggressors, then they would have been much safer.
So what is the solution? There are two — gender sensitisation training of the police force and recruitment of female police. In fact, the national policy states this as one of the strategies to eliminate violence : 'Ensure the participation of women in the judicial system
and at all levels of police force in order to implement laws properly.'
Women have not been recruited in the police force since 1990, after a gazette order against this. Not having women in the police force has had very clear implications for women — it has meant that women have essentially been disempowered in society, or in other words, that only the male have the mandate to protect women. Given that most acts of violence against women are committed by men. this is laughable. In fact, we may argue that the only reason women are unsafe, the only reason there is any kind of violence against women, is that women have not been allowed to fight for their own security, either through self-protection or through appointment of female law enforcers. The objection against women police was that women cannot undergo the vigorous training for police. But such a reason is unacceptable, and serves merely as an excuse to keep women weak and at the mercy and protection of men. The government of Bangladesh recognises that such a situation is no longer acceptable, and The Ministry of Home Affairs has already repealed the order to allow recruitment of female police.
However, this does not solve any immediate problems for the women of Bangladesh. Recruitment of female staff in the police will probably be slow and inadequate, and heavily subject to budgetary constraints. Meanwhile, women continue to
be subject to every kind of violence at the hands of men. including domestic violence, rape, sexual harrassment, and trafficking. so visible and widespread that it has become an accepted norm of this society. (718 violence cases were reported in 1997 as collected by Aino Shalish Kendra, while 2,983 complaints were lodged with the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs). There is an urgent and immediate need to make drastic changes in the structure of the police force to stop this situation. Clearly, having enough women police, armed and empowered to intervene on behalf of women, is the only solution.
So what are the costs involved? Let us say that we want to place women in every thana in the country. There are about 460 thanas in the country. Following the model of the Women's Investigation Cell in Mir-pur thana, let us say we want to place two women Sub-Inspectors (Sis), two Assistant Sis, and two women constables in every thana. Calculating basic pay and other benefits, an SI gets a salary equal to Tk 4.000, and a constable Tk 2,000. Therefore, recruitment of a female force in each thana will cost us Tk 9.2 million per month (assuming Tk 4,000 for each ASI as well). Translating this number to a five — year budget, the government would need about Tk. 552 Million ($ 13.1 million). If we add logistics (arms, a car and a phone line), and ring up the total, we have Tk 267.7 million ($ 6.3 million). Add training, worth about Tk
84.4 million ($2 million ). and that brings us to a grand total of $ 21.4 million.
As the government prepares its annual development budget, this is an allocation it should bear in mind, if it is at all sincere about making real changes in the situation of women. And if all the donors working in the WID and gender sector would like to make a real, meaningful and drastic response in their programmes to 'eradicate violence against women', then here is their answer — commit US$ 21.4 million to truly allow women to eradicate their own violence.
Many people feel that recruitment of women in the police is too simplistic a solution. After all, women police are themselves women, with their own safety and provisions at stake. Can we justify such 'token gestures' as having women police, when we may be endangering the situation of these women by assigning them to remote and dangerous thanas? The only acceptable response to such concerns is that women must be recruited at all costs and no cause for the safety of women should ever stand In the way of placing them in positions of power where they should have been centuries ago. If women need additional provisions, then these must be provided. If safety is a concern, then this concern must be dealt with. But these problems cannot be an excuse to keep women out of the police force.
The Women's Investigation Cell at Mirpur thana provides some insights into what may be needed. The cell has made a significant difference in the number of complaints lodged, and the quality of services provided by the thana. However, the women police in the cell have no arms and no logistic facilities (they borrow the thana car and use an extension of the thana phone). They also complain that links with medio-forensic facilities are very weak and get in the way of speedy investigations. Also, the Cell, effective as it is. raises a real question about the marginalisation of women police. While such Cells should be installed in every thana, women police should continue to be visible in the mainstream force, and not assigned to these adjunct cells only (which means, again, that more recruitment of more women police is the only answer).