OUR JOURNEY

WeMen View is an initiative that aims to counter sexual harassment, sexism, and strict gender roles by focusing more on men/boys. In 2017, a survey showed that 818 women and children were reported to be raped and 104 women were attempted to be raped in Bangladesh, where the perpetrators were mostly men. With that in mind, WeMen View originated in 2018. And Khadiza Tul Qubra Binte Ahsan, reached out to a bunch of enthusiastic students, Tanvir Ishraque, Nabila Jalil and Marjuka Binte Afzal from the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Dhaka. And eventually, the team grew bigger.

TO BE CONTINUED...

We identified the problem in a different light. This problematic rape culture and the cycle of toxic masculinity that turns people into perpetrators ie. The Causes, should be our target to change. We decided it was time we started teaching the children about consent so that they do not turn into perpetrators in the future. The perception of what gender looks like starts to develop from a very young age and this should exactly be the time period which we should be targeting to bring reforms in gender issues and mindsets.

Our objective is to build a world where there will be consent and equality for all. The children we teach now will be the defenders of these rights, not our perpetrators.

So what do we teach these children as a part of our solution to the problem?

WeMen View has reached more than 1000 children whom we teach the above concepts. We want to take our initiatives to a level where it’s accessible to everyone. These organic changes are slow and small but the ripples of these changes will speak volumes.

We have reached schools in remote areas like Kamrangirchar to Nayanagar. Some of the schools include: Rayerbazar Government Primary School, Moneshwar Government Primary School, Gojomohol Government Primary School, Siddiq Miya Government Primary School, Ideal Muslim Government Primary School, Nayanagar Rafiq Government Primary School and many more.

The before-after surveys taken at the workshops and 3 months after them, showed that 70-75% of the students were able to retain the information and were able to implement them in their daily lives. For example, a lot of students wrote letters to us on how they saved someone or themselves from getting sexually harassed.