The tragic death of 28-year-old Swarnamoyee Biswas, a young designer at Dhaka Stream, has shaken Bangladesh’s media community. While police are investigating the incident as a case of suicide, the discussions it has triggered go far beyond the circumstances of her death.
Her story is echoed by the voices of many young professionals and exposes a deeper, structural flaw in our work culture: the silent endurance of workplace harassment and the absence of trust in systems meant to prevent it.
Unspoken culture of silence
Workplace sexual harassment in Bangladesh’s media industry is neither new nor rare. What is new is the growing willingness of women and men to speak out. Yet, the fear of losing one’s job, being labelled “difficult” or facing subtle forms of retaliation often keeps survivors quiet.
In Swarnamoyee’s case, she and 25 other employees reportedly filed a formal complaint against a senior official, alleging “sexual harassment” and “misconduct”. Despite this, three of those complainants were later informed their contracts would not be renewed — a decision the organization attributed to “unsatisfactory performance.”
To outsiders, it reads like a classic example of how reporting misconduct can backfire, not because of lack of courage, but because of lack of protection.
Institutional gap
Bangladesh’s High Court guideline of 2009 mandates every organization to form a complaint committee to address workplace harassment. But in reality, many offices either do not have such committees, or treat them as token mechanisms with little independence.
When complaints are made, they often vanish into internal investigations that end quietly, without transparency or accountability. The media industry, ironically tasked with holding others accountable, has often failed to build safe spaces within its own walls.
Long hours, informal hierarchies and male-dominated newsrooms can make young professionals, particularly women, vulnerable to manipulation and humiliation disguised as mentorship or “tough feedback”.
What can be done
To move beyond outrage, the solution must lie in structural reform, not just sympathy. The Dhaka Stream incident should push the media community and every organization to take concrete steps:
Independent complaint mechanisms
Every organization should have an internal complaints committee, but its members must include external professionals — such as psychologists, legal experts or gender specialists to ensure fairness. Internal committees alone often operate under power dynamics that silence truth.
Whistleblower protection
Employees must be protected from retaliation after filing complaints. This includes legal protection against dismissal, demotion, or character attacks. Bangladesh can look to India’s Vishaka Guidelines or the UK’s Public Interest Disclosure Act for frameworks that safeguard complainants.
Mandatory gender sensitisation and leadership training
‘Harassment thrives in ignorance and unchecked power’.
Regular, mandatory workshops on respectful communication, consent and emotional intelligence should be part of every organization’s annual training. Leadership should be trained not just to manage teams, but to understand the moral weight of their influence.
When an allegation is investigated, the findings and actions must be clearly communicated to all employees. Confidentiality should protect the victim, not shield the institution from scrutiny.
Stronger role and policies
Human Resource departments must act as advocates, not gatekeepers. Meanwhile, journalists’ associations and press councils should expand their mandate to include workplace safety and gender equity.
Swarnamoyee’s death is not only a personal tragedy, it is a social indictment.
It reminds us how mental health, workplace culture, and gender-based harassment intersect in devastating ways. For young professionals, especially women trying to find their footing, a toxic work environment can be enough to erode self-worth and hope.
The solution does not lie in mourning her alone but in ensuring that no one else feels the same despair in silence. The responsibility now rests on editors, executives, policymakers and colleagues to replace institutional indifference with empathy and informal authority with formal accountability.
‘Swarnamoyee’s story should not fade into yet another headline’.
It should be the turning point that forces every newsroom, every office, and every organization in Bangladesh to ask: Are we truly safe for those who work with us?
Only when that question is answered honestly and acted upon will we begin to move from tragedy to transformation.
