About Us

Bonhishikha, founded in 2010 under VDAY Dhaka, its journey began by bringing ‘The Vagina Monologues’ to Bangladesh, opening up conversations on female autonomy, health and sexual rights, pleasure, and gender-based violence. Following its success, we transitioned into Bonhishikha – unlearn gender, focusing on amplifying local voices and capturing real-life experiences of women navigating societal barriers. This led to the production of ‘It’s a SHE Thing’ in 2015, promoting solidarity, feminist leadership, and reflection among young urban women. Expanding our storytelling, we launched ‘Men don’t TALK’ in 2016, exploring masculinity, fatherhood, emotional expression, and societal expectations, followed by ‘Nari Nokkhottro’ in 2017, broadening our focus to include narratives of marginalised communities across Bangladesh. In response to the pandemic in 2020, we adapted with the virtual production of ‘Spectrum of Choice’, challenging the normative concepts around identity, expressions, and relationships.

Besides the theatre engagements, Bonhishikha has been a platform engaging with different spaces to facilitate discussions on gender, identities, diversity, and inclusion. Bonhishikha’s work has focused on conducting training, assessments, and research, developing feminist strategies and results-based frameworks, and fostering feminist leadership in Bangladesh. We aim to facilitate safe spaces to advocate for gender equality, eliminating Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), and Freedom of Expression. Through our research work and analysis, we uncover the subterranean structures of gender inequality, advancing the comprehensive struggle for equality and gender justice. Our focus is on capturing diverse experiences, crafting counter-narratives that challenge societal norms and stereotypes. By shedding light on the prevalence and impact of sexual and gender-based violence, we raise awareness and advocate for systemic change in both public and private spheres. Our evidence-based approach empowers us to design inclusive programmes and initiatives, ensuring uniform access for all and promoting gender transformative interventions.

Bonhishikha has been building its connections and networks, progressing in the feminist movement space with a strong focus on building pleasure and care into our work, space and way forward. The recent years have been a testament to fostering these elements through reflection, constructive criticism and planning small concrete steps that we could take within our own organisational space. We have learnt to allow space for recognising trauma, managing crises, and also ensuring support needed within our own networks for processing and releasing these experiences. We have tried to build a practice of rest and restoration, building in time for entertainment and learning-sharing for our own growth and team building.