A current survey shows that in the country seventy percent of women have faced physical, sexual, psychological, or economic violence at least once in their lifetime. In the previous year (2024), 49% of women were experiencing such violence. Most women are abused by their husbands rather than their family members. The findings were highlighted in the “Violence Against Women Survey 2024.”
The survey was jointly conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The report of the survey was presented at an event organized in the capital last Thursday (February 27).This 2024 survey is the most extensive and simultaneous report on the nature, extent, and impact of this violence against women in Bangladesh. Based on the report, the prevalence of violence by a husband or partner in a woman’s lifetime is still 70 percent, and that is still not high. But in the last 12 months, this rate is 41 percent. This rate was 73 percent in lifetime in 2015.Spousal violence (IPV) has a higher prevalence than non-partner violence. In the survey, ‘partner’ refers to a current or former spouse, and ‘non-partner’ refers to any person with whom the respondent has contact at any time in life after the age of 15, other than the current or former spouse. Surveys show that women are three times more likely than anyone else to experience physical violence from their husbands and 14 times more likely to experience sexual violence. It appears that the risk of physical and sexual violence in marital relationships is extremely high. Research reports that women in disaster-prone areas experience higher levels of violence by their partners or husbands in their lifetime and in the past 12 months than women in non-disaster-prone areas. Although the level of violence by spouse or husband is high, about 64 percent of women victims of violence have never told anyone about the violence that happened to them. This silence stems from a number of reasons, including the desire to protect the family’s reputation, concerns about the future of children, and the tendency to view such violence as ‘normal’.
Sharmin S. Murshid, Advisor to the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, was the chief guest at yesterday’s event. Momtaz Ahmed, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, and Aleya Akhter, Secretary, Ministry of Planning, participated as special guests. Apart from that, acting representative of UNFPA Masaki Watabe and Deputy High Commissioner of the Australian High Commission Clinton Pobke were present as honored guests. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Director General Mohammad Mizanur Rahman presided over the event. BBS project director Iftekhairul Karim presented the main results of the survey on violence against women. In this house-based survey, 27,476 women were interviewed in cities, villages, disaster-prone, and slum areas.
Source: Prothom Alo
