About two months since Bangladesh's High Court prohibited sexual harassment, feminists are feeling all the more the opportunities and challenges of a long overdue measure. Although this policy remains temporary until a law is passed, the Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers Association (BNWLA) are already seeing some positive developments.

Immediately after the guidelines were released in May 2009, several discussions in the media are believed to have increased the public's awareness on the nature and context of sexual harassment. According to Salma Ali, Executive Director of the BNWLA, the High Court's guidelines have become a clear basis for any cases of sexual harassment. “There was a lot of speculation among the public regarding the judgement but once the copy of the judgement [was] circulated, the misconceptions [were] cleared and now it is widely acclaimed because of its emphasis on raising awareness and confidentiality.”

She also cited the commitment of the private sector in upholding the measure. “Company lawyers have shown a keen interest in the judgement and have expressed their willingness to implement the guidelines in their companies,” Ali said. Ali, with the support of her colleagues in BNWLA, Fawzia Karim Firoze, Seema Zahur, Rebeka Sultana and Sathi Shahjahan acted as the petitioner in this landmark High Court ruling.

One critical feature of the guidelines is confidentiality as the measure guarantees to protect the identities of individuals involved in a case until the latter is resolved. This, as women usually experience difficulty reporting their ordeal even with the authorities who are supposed to assist them.

As Ali pointed, “The deep-rooted patriarchal values of the Bangladeshi society will pose a formidable challenge. Society tends to look at women who come forward with complaints of sexual harassment as having a bad character. In such scenario, it will be difficult to convince and encourage women to come forward with their complaints as they might fear being victimised further.” Reporting cases may mean losing a term in school or a job.

Indeed such observation can be validated by the very case which encouraged the guidelines. In May 2008, four women students of Jahangirnagar University complained of sexual harassment against their teacher, Sanowar Hossain Sunny. Months later the University cleared its faculty of the charges but also placed the four women and two male students who stood as witnesses under suspension. The case generated a public outcry that by May 2009, the High Court deemed the university's decision unlawful.

Ali admitted that while the guidelines are progressive, it might be difficult to implement them in certain but common contexts such as the non-formal sectors or when the respondent happens to be a political figure. “Political influence can also be a deterrent in the implementation of the judgement. If someone from the ruling party commits an offense then proper justice may not be ensured because of political pressure.”

Yet BNWLA remains undaunted in their advocacy of building up the guidelines into a law and more importantly, seeing these implemented. Among the lessons of the ten-year anti-sexual harassment campaign of BNWLA and its partners include the need to “carry on political advocacy to generate political will and commitment for the implementation of the law; mass awareness campaigns to educate people; and sensiti[sation] of authorities in charge of implementing the law through trainings.”

In June 2009, BNWLA created a new programme that focuses on popularising the guidelines and monitoring their implementation. The programme will ensure that different school and workplaces receive a copy of the guidelines. It will also create a monitoring committee that will include representatives from the government. The committee will enquire whether schools and workplaces have set up grievance committees, where members must be mostly women and where two members must come from external organisations, preferably those working on women and gender issues.

Sources:
Interview with Salma Ali, Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers Association (BNWLA) (21 July 2009).
Agence France Press (14 May 2009). “Bangladesh introduces sexual harassment ban.” 
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (2 June 2009). “Bangladesh: University students' victory in sexual harassment case.”