Importance

Of
Learning
Self-Defense
For
Women

A survey among
female students in
Dhaka
 Importance of Learning Self-Defense for Women:
A Survey among Female Students in Dhaka

A report submitted to the BRAC Institute of Languages in part-fulfillment of the requirements of

the Final Examinations in Business and Human Communications, Summer 2020

Prepared and Submitted By:

Name: Md Tanveer Al Faisal
ID: 19101392
Sec: 04

Submitted To:
Dr. Faheem Hasan Shahed
Associate Professor and Researcher
BRAC Institute of Languages

Date of Submission:
27 September, 2020

BRAC University
27 September 2020
Dr. Faheem Hasan Shahed
Associate Professor and Researcher
BRAC Institute of Languages

BRAC University, Dhaka

Subject: Submission of report

Dear Sir,

I have the pleasure to submit my report titled Importance of Learning Self-Defense for Women:
A survey among female students which was a great opportunity for me to get firsthand experience
of research and survey.

Self-defense training is a powerful source of empowering women. Women who complete self-
defense class report increased self-confidence, reduce fear, more comfortable interacting with
strangers, more positive feelings about themselves. There is preliminary evidence that self-defense
training may half reduce sexual assault. Statics shows that women who know how to defend
themselves are facing less harassment than any other female. Ensuring a better environment for
women self-defense class should be mandatory in all educational institutions and arranging
seminars to create awareness among everyone.

Finally, I am truly grateful to you for giving me this pleasant opportunity to work on this report.
Thank you.

Best regards,

Md. Tanveer Al Faisal

ID: 19101392
 Table of Contents
Page no.

Forwarding letter
Table of contents
List of illustrations
Preface
Abstract

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Objectives 1
1.3 Scope 2
1.4 Research Methodology
1.4.1 Observation Strategy 2
1.4.2 Survey Strategy 3
1.4.3 Case Study Strategy 3

2.0 Findings and Analysis

2.1 Rape Case 3
2.2 Harassment 5
2.3 Dowry 7

3.0 Conclusion 8
4.0 Recommendation 9

Appendix
Reference
 List of Illustrations

Bar Graph-2.1.1 - Statistic of Rape Case in Bangladesh 04

Pie Chart-2.1.2 - Ratio of Female Molestation 04

Bar Chart-2.2.1 – Mixed Chart 06

Chart-2.3.1 – Number Chart 07

 Preface

“Nature has made up her mind that what cannot defend itself shall not be defended”. In this era,
women are trying to contribute something to society. Now in every sector, we can see women are
working. Women are independent. They want to earn money on their own, create their own
identity. To do these things women have to go side but it is a matter of shame that we cannot
provide security to women. As a result, women facing harassment, sexual assault. Women's safety
involves strategies, practices, and policies which aim to reduce gender-based violence. This report
explores female student-facing harassment in Dhaka city. Besides, the report also examines how
women are afraid to go outside because of harassment and how can self-defense makes women
different from others. It motivated me to create a women-friendly environment so I gave a closer
look to find the solution with the help of 50 female students from a different age. I surveyed them
and collected data.
 Abstract

Women’s self-defense training aims to arm women with the skills to avoid, interrupt, and resist an
assault. This can be a very powerful tool for empowering women and helping victims heal. In
today's perspective, learning self-defense for women should be mandatory to protect them. The
rape cases and harassments regarding female molestation are now every day's news. Self-defense
will work as a weapon against any kind of female molestation. Awareness should be spread among
the parents of the girls to motivate them to send their girls to self-defense training centers.
Specifically, rural people who have less knowledge about these things should be brought under
the light. Moreover, the government has many duties to be fulfilled regarding this issue. Overall
the mindset of the people of our society can reduce the rate of female molestation by making our
women strong enough to fight back. It is possible when they will learn self-defense techniques.
 1. Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background

Almost every woman has endured sexual and physical harassment on Dhaka's streets. Bangladesh
is also experiencing a disturbing rise in sexual crimes: a recent study revealed that 17,000 rape
cases have been filed in the last four years in the country. Therefore, it's up to women to fight back.
They should learn how to defend themselves. Learning self-defense will boost their confidence. It
can also break the deeply entrenched social stereotype that women are weaker than men. Women
should have, at the very least, a basic understanding of the potential tactics and solutions required
to deal with both social aggression and asocial violence. Knowledge of these situations will allow
them to de-escalate when de-escalation is possible and fight back when it is their best and only
option. Research proves women’s self-defense classes give women the skills necessary to
physically defend themselves as well as the confidence and ability to use the appropriate language
and de-escalation techniques to help establish firm boundaries around behavior they believe to be
appropriate and acceptable. For while it is important to teach boys and young men how to treat
women, we cannot wait for those lessons to provide the cultural shift necessary to protect the
women in our lives. Women’s self-defense is the best tool to stop those who wish to exert
dominance or those who seek only to destroy. Girls from every age facing harassment. Our society
is surrounded by so many pervert people. They are always trying to have the right time to harass a
woman. When no around her or at night they become so heinous. They don’t even bother to kill
her. It’s high time to say no to all these behavior. Time for a change in women's attitude. Women
need to be bold and strong.

1.2 Objectives

My report was based on the following primary objective:

● To examine how the self-defense can minimize the harassment

towards women

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My report had also the following two secondary objectives:

A. To create parental and social awareness regarding this issue

B. To make safer surroundings for women

1.3 Scope

First of all, the publication of this report will benefit the young females

Secondly, the report will aware of parents or guardians about the importance of learning self-
defense for females.

Thirdly, it will benefit the self-defense training organization

Finally, the report will help the policymakers of the government to take any necessary step or
decision regarding making self-defense training centers more available, including it as mandatory
in schools, putting more focus on the strict law enforcement for perverts.

1.4 Research Methodology

1.4.1 Observation Strategy

The research conducted an observation method to collect data. I used this method just to see what
type of things that have to face by a girl in real life. So I chose a female figure for this real-life
experiment. For observation, I sent a girl at midnight in a dark lane. I set a camera in her watch
and was observing her from a nearby place. I saw a pervert tried to tease her and eventually, he
tried to pull her dupatta. At that time she used just a basic punch as she is trained for self-defense.
The man understood that she knows defense techniques and then and then ran away from the spot.

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1.4.2 Survey Strategy

The research conducted a survey method to collect data. The method of the survey was carried out
because it is the easiest way to obtain quantitative data and it is easy for respondents as well.
Furthermore, due to limited time, it allowed the researchers to collect data quickly, which was
important. There are both open-ended and close-ended questions in the survey questionnaire. The
survey collected data from a total of 50 respondents all of them were female from different ages
and different backgrounds.

1.4.3 Case Study Strategy

The research conducted a case study method to collect data. A case study is an empirical in-depth
inquiry about an individual. Mostly 'how' and 'why' questions are asked. I chose this method
because sometimes is too complex for either the survey or experimental strategies. I sat down with
a person and interviewed him for an hour. The individual told me many details about how she
harassed in public and how she managed it.

2. Chapter 2: Findings and Analysis

2.1 Rape Case

The bar chart 2.1.1 shows that every year how many women are being raped by a stranger, relative,
acquaintance, and others in our country. The numbers are increasing every year. Women are not safe alone
in our country. It is very sad but true women are being raped by mostly their known people. Every year
there 4 thousand females are being raped by there acquaintance.

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Bar Graph 2.1.1

Pie Chart 2.1.2

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The pie chart shows the ratio of female molestation in Bangladesh. Among the cases of female
molestation, rape is in the highest ratio which is 40%. Eve teasing is 20% here.

Analysis: As we can see bar chart 2.1.1 and 2.1.2 indicate the number of cases over just 1 year.
The percentage of rape by a stranger is only 1 thousand where rape by acquaintance is 4 thousand.
We think that women are safe from our relatives but as we can see in every year women are being raped by
their relatives. It brings the question that what earth we are living right now. In the pie chart, the most case
is rape 40% which is very upsetting. 17% of eve-teasing, in Bangladesh women are often eve teased by
some group of men on the street. Eve teaser is the early stage of being a rapist. It all started with eve-teasing.
When this group of people sees no one is here to stop them from what they are doing, they become very
ferocious. Female students so afraid to go outside for all these reasons as a result female students are being
opposed to going to school from their family. In some cases, females are so depressed with all these matters,
they decided to do suicide. In the pie chart, we can see 14% of females are doing suicide every year.
In some cases, after doing rape the criminal tends to murder the victim. 10% percent of murder in every
year. Every rapist is just an animal.

2.2 Harassment
I interviewed an individual and she told me that one day “A man at the bus stop was invading my
space. He acted like he was joking with me and grabbed my arm near my wrist. I used the wrist
release I learned and said loudly for him to leave me alone. I think if I had been less resistant he
would have taken it further”. That’s how self-defense makes a woman independent and strong. In
my findings, I came to know that many women are harassed in their job sector by their colleagues.
Male colleagues deliberately make a bad joke to make fun of women. Many women are facing
harassment in their educational institutions by their teachers.

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 Bar Chart 2.2.1

Analysis: The bar chart 2.2.1 shows the percentage of female college students from two groups—
those who completed a thirty-hour self-defense class (blue) and those who did not (red)—reporting
different types of unwanted sexual contact over one year. A significantly lower percentage of those
who received self-defense training reported incidents of any kind. None of the women who took
the training reported a rape (versus 3 percent from the other group).

Overall, 12 percent of the women in the self-defense group reported some form of sexual intrusion
during the follow-up period, versus 30 percent in the control group. This latter figure (nearly one
in three) is consistent with the rate of sexual victimization of female college students nationwide.

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2.3 Dowry
dowry is a pattern of marriage payments settled openly or discreetly mostly before the wedding.
a social problem like dowry is difficult to deter by the official legislation. Dowry is a national
problem. If the bride’s father cannot pay the dowry then the torture of in-law becomes unbearable
for the bride. Sometimes people become animals just for money. They even kill the bride.

Number Chart 2.3.1

Related statistics of recent years show that dowry violence remains at an alarming level. More
concerning than the number of cases being filed in this regard are far less than the actual incidents
where women are at the receiving end of violence.

Analysis: Chart 2.3.1 shows incidents of violence, killed/suicide, and cases from 2014 to 2017.
As we can see the highest violence rate is 303 in 2017. There is 197 victim who was killed/suicide
and the highest cases in 2017 which is 188. This bar shows us the dowry related violence toward
women. If women know how to defend themselves self then there could be less death count. No
one can’t lay a finger on a woman if she knows how to defend herself. It is very upsetting that the
death toll is getting higher as the year passes. Any women can face the brutality of their in-laws at
any time so they must prepare themselves.

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 3. Chapter 3: Conclusion

To conclude, Self-defense not only allows women to tangibly defend themselves against physical
attacks, but it also sparks various benefits to them in everyday life. Important values and principles
can be learned, such as hard work, dedication, and perseverance, as well as the importance of
maintaining personal relationships. Moreover, nowadays women are doing a job, business and
whatnot. For their working purpose, they need to stay outside the home sometimes late at night. If
they know self-defense it will provide them safety as well as extra strength to be more focused on
their works. In this modern era, every woman wants to be an independent individual. They don't
want to stay dependent on others. Learning self-defense will help them to go out and work
independently. Overall we can say learning self-defense is a demand of time now.

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 4. Chapter 4: Recommendations

⮚ Self-defense learning should be mandatory for girls in our country and it should be included
in the curriculum.
⮚ The government should focus more on implementing laws so that criminals can realize the
hard consequences of doing such things.
⮚ Lights should be set up in the dark roads.
⮚ Girls must share if they face any such harassment to their parents first.
⮚ Seminars, rally, and advertisements should be made to make especially rural people
understand the benefits of learning self-defense for girls.
⮚ Girls should carry Piper spray with them as well to tackle any such inconvenience
⮚ To prevent the practice of dowry and violence related to it, the Government of Bangladesh
enacted the anti-dowry laws
To prevent the practice of dowry and violence related to it, the Government of Bangladesh enacted
the anti-dowry laws

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 Appendix

Questionnaire

Name:
Institution: Gender:

What is the year of your birth?

Answer:

Have you ever faced harassment?

Answer: 1)Yes 2) No

If yes, did you felt helpless at that moment?

Answer:

If next time occurs this to you, what will you do?

Answer:

Have you ever taken a women's self-defense class or course before?

Answer: 1) Yes 2) No

When walking alone, late at night when are you at your safest?
Answer: 1) When talking on my mobile phone, to somebody who knows where I am
2) When texting on my mobile phone, to somebody who knows where I am

If an armed mugger, demands your wallet/purse, which of the following is your best
option?
Answer: 1) You should throw your wallet/purse on the ground, as far away from you as possible
2) You should hand your wallet/purse directly to the mugger
3) You should scream and shout to alert other people to your situation and scare
the mugger away
What's your greatest personal safety "asset" for predicting and preventing violence?
Answer: 1) Understanding how predatory individuals operate
2) Your Common Sense
3) Your gut feeling and intuition

Do you know the basic tactics to defend yourself?

Answer: 1) Yes 2) No

Will you feel confident if know how to defend yourself?

Answer: 1) Yes 2) No

Do you want to learn self-defense?

Answer: 1) Yes 2) No

Reference

✔ Dowry violence far from dying down 2018 Results. (2018). Retrieved 21 August 2018,
from https://unb.com.bd/category/Special/dowry-violence-far-from-dying-down/571
✔ Sexual Abuse and Assault Against Women in 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016,
from https://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/sexual-abuse-and-assault#3-3
✔ Searles, P., & Berger, R. J. (1987). The feminist self-defense movement: A case study.
Gender and Society, 1, 61–84.