Shagufe Hossain

We are all commodities. Different parts of us are up for sale, as and when demand dictates, all the time. But it causes significant discomfort in me when vulnerable bodies are transformed into commodities.

November has arrived. I have been looking forward to November since I came back mid this year. It is the month when rays of light fall differently on your face, sound travels differently, sunshine thins, and the mist thickens.

The University of Dhaka has long prided itself as the premier educational institution of our country. Since its establishment in 1921, it has come to be known as the oldest modern university in Bangladesh, making significant intellectual contributions to the country providing education to over 30,000 students.

My five-year-old niece and I were practising drawing. She drew a sun and a moon and extended the rays of the sun a little further than necessary. I asked her what the rays were falling on and she drew a street.

There is something very beautiful about being in transition, being stuck in between. Whether it's in transit at an airport, a city that's somewhere between the east and the west, dawn or dusk, when the day is either deciding on a beginning or an end, or a woman in her adolescence, on the journey to transforming into a woman from a child.

The goal in genocidal rape is not simply to hurt people or to have sex. The goal is Group Destruction. Sexual violence is not simply an auxiliary tool employed to advance this goal, but given the nature of rape and sexual torture, it is the ultimate weapon.

“I am at Balukhali camp in Ukhia, the situation is far, far worse than what I have seen on the media, I just talked to a woman who is 9 months pregnant, no idea where her husband is, had not one thing to eat today."

Raped on a bus, killed and thrown off on the street. Raped on Eid. Raped at a party. Head shaved by family members after rape. We read, we vent, we discuss, we forget, we are reminded again the next day. And worse things keep happening.

Maybe 15-year-old Rima will not be seen as a child by some, given the ambiguity that surrounds the legal age of consent. Maybe her suicide, after being accused of immoral behaviour, will not be seen as a crime perpetuated by society but rather something she did to herself.

One of the most pressing and least addressed problems facing the nation currently is the increasing violence against children. Some children, such as those engaged in domestic work, are more vulnerable to abuse than others. Shagufe Hossain of The Daily Star talks to Salma Ali, Executive Director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association, to further explore the issue.

The perpetrators would not be held accountable because as soon as the deed was done, they had the luxury of leaving the area. Their job gave them mobility, a freedom that was paid for by others.

Interestingly though, most people in Bangladesh would not consider mental health a disease. It raises hope, therefore, that the conversations about mental health, are beginning to occur in the context of general health issues as has been on the occasion of World Health Day on the 7th of April this year.

Since the World Conference on Women in Mexico in 1975, Bangladesh has been at the forefront among the least-developed countries (LDCs) in addressing gender disparities. The country's achievements in education and gender parity in education, has also been remarkable. However, despite its success in achieving gender parity in many areas, some sections of the population have been left behind. One such section is female students in madrassah schools.

The world has made it so that existing as a woman has become an act of political warfare.