Activists of Naripakkha, a women's organisation, took out a procession in the city marking International Day Against Violence on Women, November 25,2000. Ricksha art shows women either as lovers, prayerful beauties, or as armed and dangerous (e.g., Phulan Devi, India's bandit queen). The Bangladeshi women I consulted mostly agreed that they do not usually notice ricksha art. They also dislike the movie images which depict women as sex objects (as usually in western cinema, too.) The gender realities are more daunting: Bangladesh has high rates of violence on women, both wives and unmarried girls. This is one of the many women's organizations trying to make social change.
Bangladesh, 2000