Shwapno launches a safety initiative, offering women refuge in its stores against harassment. Trained staff provide immediate assistance and contact authorities, fostering societal change. This bold move challenges norms, urging businesses to actively protect women and promote collective safety.

International Women’s Day highlights progress, but safety remains a crisis in Bangladesh. Weak law enforcement, victim-blaming, and moral policing enable violence. Real change demands stronger laws, faster justice, safer spaces, and an end to impunity for harassers.

I am only asking—have we stopped standing by women?

In a city like Dhaka, women often face added difficulties when it comes to finding safe and reliable transportation. For many, commuting daily in the city can feel like navigating a minefield! Moving around is always an ordeal for a large portion of the population.

Here are 6 easy, yet highly effective self-defence techniques that anyone can learn, complemented by insights from Humaira Akhter Antara, a seasoned karate practitioner.

Despite the celebratory atmosphere of Women’s Day, young women in and around Dhaka have some dark stories to share, when it comes to living alone in Dhaka. Rife with discriminatory attitudes and security challenges, securing homes for single ladies in Dhaka continues to be a harrowing experience for all those who choose to live alone.

The social scenario of our country offers a disturbingly grim picture to us and the number of sexual violence cases is on the rise. It is distressing and proves that we have not progressed much as a nation. To help women fight back, teach basic self-defence strategies and rewire their mindsets to end the cycle of abuse and trauma, the Warrior Women Bangladesh project began its journey in September 2017. The project took its shape under the guidance of Mashroof Hossain, a Bangladeshi police officer and Abdullah Mohammad Hossain, the chief instructor at KO Fight Studio and the country representative of World Karate Organization (WKO), Shinkyokushinkai Bangladesh.

Dhaka has been rated as the seventh worst megacity for women and Cairo positioned the last in the list, followed by Karachi, Kinshasa and New Delhi, according to an international poll with women's rights experts.