In today’s age of busyness, both men and women have to go out to earn a living. In this case, public transport is the main hope for most people. But a recent survey has revealed a terrible information. In the last six months, 47.5 percent of women on public transport in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, have been sexually harassed.
According to a survey by the social organization Aanchal Foundation, 75 per cent of women who have been sexually harassed have been attacked by their companions most of the time. And 20.4 percent said they were harassed by the driver’s assistants.
The study found that most of the perpetrators were middle-aged men. According to surveyors, such incidents are on the rise due to overcrowding in public transport. About 63.4 percent of young women reported being sexually harassed.
The organization conducted an online press conference on Friday titled ‘Harassment on Public Transport in Dhaka City: Impact on Mental Health of Adolescents and Young Women’.
Most of the affected women said that no one from the transport came forward to help her. However, 43 percent said they received help from fellow passengers. Surprisingly, only 2.5 percent took the helpline helpline 999 for help.
The Aanchal Foundation had earlier conducted a nationwide survey to find out the causes responsible for women’s mental health problems. The survey claims that 45.28 percent of women in the country suffer from mental health problems due to sexual harassment on public transport.
Tansen Rose, the founding president of the foundation, told Bangladeshi media at a press conference that the survey was conducted only on young women in Dhaka at this stage of the survey. Data has been collected through a combination of both online and offline methods.