A group of Dhaka University female students have staged a symbolic protest titled “Burn the Administration Barbecue” and submitted a memorandum, demanding a safe, equal-rights-based and discrimination-free campus for women.
Dhaka University Central Students’ Union executive member Hema Chakma explained about the event at a press conference held on the university’s central field on Sunday evening.
Also present were DUCSU Research and Publications secretary Sanjida Ahmed Tonni, Shamsu Nnahar Hall Vice-President Kaniz Kurratul Ain, Israt Jahan Imu, a member of the DU unit of Biplobi Chhatra Maitri, along with female students from various departments and residence halls.
Addressing the press conference, Hema Chakma said that for more than a year, DU authorities have imposed a ban on female students entering the central playground after evening hours under the pretext of preventing so-called ‘obscenity’. She added that women students are also being forcibly removed from areas such as the Mall Chattar and other parts of the campus if they are seen there after 10:00 pm.
“These restrictions are not mentioned in any written policy, public notice, or legal provision. The administration is enforcing them unlawfully. In the name of security, questioning, interrogation and harassment have now become a regular reality,” she said.
She further alleged that under the guise of special security, female students are facing continuous discrimination and harassment, while male students are allowed to move freely, stay, and socialize in the same spaces-calling it a clear case of double standards.
“We want to state clearly that curtailing women’s freedom of movement under the excuse of protection amounts to structural discrimination against women. Until this discrimination is eliminated and a truly women-friendly campus is established, we will continue to hold the administration accountable,” she said.
Following the press conference, the students submitted a memorandum to the Proctor, outlining a series of demands to ensure a women-friendly campus.
The demands include immediate withdrawal of all forms of harassment and discriminatory restrictions imposed on women in the name of special security, urgent renovation of the non-functional women’s toilets at the TSC, and ensuring an adequate number of safe, usable female toilets across the entire campus.
The demands also include granting entry to any women’s residence hall to all legitimate female students of the university upon submission of their identity cards, reconstitution and prompt activation of the university’s Sexual Harassment Prevention Cell and allowing mothers and sisters of resident female students to enter residence halls upon submission of the student’s identity card and a formal application.
