Gender and Democracy in Nepal - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Strategies for Change 3on the rationality of Constitution becomes a mere utopia. Gender expertsincreasingly view that legal equality would lose its meaning if actualinequalities continue in everyday life and create barriers to women’sparticipation in the public spheres. It is in this context that this book bringsenormous insights of gender and development discourse undergoing in Nepaland also furnishes valuable suggestions for policy community. I congratulateMs. Laxmi Keshari Manandhar and Dr. Krishna B. Bhattachan for editing thebook.Dr. Alfred DieboldResident RepresentativeNepal OfficeFriedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)

Strategies for Change 5for the successful completion of several seminars/workshops organized bythe Department.Thanks to Dr. Meena Acharya, Ms. Geeta Sangroula, Mr. YubarajSangroula, Mr. Kapil Shrestha and Dr. krishna Bhattachan for contributingpapers in the seminars/workshops and articles for the book. Also, I wouldlike to thank my colleagues Prof. Dr. Indira Sharma, Prof. Dr. HarinderThapaliya, Ms. Meera Mishra, and Ms. Bindu Pokharel, and students Ms.Soni Joshi and Ms. Yasso Kanti Bhattachan (Gauchan) for writing someadditional parts and helping in the completion of the book.I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to anumber of individuals who also contributed in different ways for thesuccessful completion of a number of seminars and workshops. I am indebtedto Ms. meena Pandey, the then Minister of State for Women and SocialWelfare, Ms. Kamala Pant, Minister of State for Women and Social Welfare,Dr. Kamal Krishna Joshi, the then V.C. of Tribhuvan University; Mr. UdayNepali Shrestha, Secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and ParliamentarySystem; Prof. Tri Ratna manadhar, Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Socialsciences, Tribhuvan University; and Ms. Chirik Shova Tamrakar, CampusChief, Padma Kanya Campus, for their encouragement and support.Similarly, thanks to Ms. Puspa Niraula, Dr. Pushpa Laxmi Shrestha, Prof.Kailash Nath Pyakuryal, Mr. Upendra Man Malla, Ms. Shilu PyariKarmacharya, Mr. Dhan Prasad Pandit and Mr. Nutan Thapaliya for theirhelp in conducting different sessions in the seminars and workshops.My colleagues Dr. Leela Devi K.C., Dr. Chandra Bhadra, Dr. IshworiAcahrya, Ms. Anila Shretsha, Ms. Mandira Tamrakar, Ms. Uma Koirala, Ms.Manodhara Shakya, Ms. Neera Shrestha, and Ms. Martha McGinn deservethanks for providing necessary help and support to successfully conduct theseminars and workshops.I express my sincere thanks to Ms. Gautami Sharma, Reader of English,Padma Kanya Multiple Campus, for some of the language editing. Mr. GopalDas Napit and Ms. Rajju Rajbhandary, administrative staffs of theDepartment, for word processing.The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do notreflect the position of either the Department or of FES.Laxmi Keshari ManandharHead, Central Department of Home Science-Women’s Studies ProgramPadma Kanya Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University

GENDERandDEMOCRACY IN NEPALEDITED BYLaxmi Keshari ManandharKrishna B. BhattachanCentral Department of Home ScienceWomen’s Studies ProgramTribhuvan Universityin cooperation withFriedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Published byCentral Department of Home Science–Women’s Studies ProgramPadma Kanya Multiple CampusTribhuvan UniversityBag Bazar, KathmanduNEPALTel.: (00-977-1) 246 497(00-977-1) 225 209e-mail : drcws@chsc.wlink.com.npFirst Edition 2001© Central Department of Home Science-Women’s Studies Program &Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)ISBN: 99933-57-00-6Typeset and Printed in Nepal atModern Printing PressKantipath, Kathmandu, NepalTel.: 977-1-253195e-mail: modprint@infoclub.com.np

+Women's Studies/ Economics/ Sociology/Political Science/ Legal StudiesThe Editors• Laxmi Keshari Manandhar, M.Sc. (Patna University, 1965)is Reader of Home Science and Head of the CentralDepartment of Home ScienceWomen's Studies Program atTribhuvan University.• Krishna B. Bhattachan, Ph.D. (University of California,Berkeley, 1993) is Lecturer of Sociology at TribhuvanUniversity.ISBN 99933-57-00-68

+Gender and Democracy in NepalBindu Pokharel and Mira MishraGender inequality is ubiquitous. The notion of male supremacy has beenjustified, sustained, and continued through different institutions (economic,polity, culture), historically. However, the notion was challenged from timeto time through different ways, e.g. writings, songs, and dance. In early 19 thcentury, different types of knowledge emerged in understanding socialrealities. Critical perspective emerged to look at social realities. TheFunctional perspective, which explains everything as functional andbeneficial, has been challenged by the critical perspective. Karl Marx isregarded as the pioneer of this perspective. He explained the inequality thatprevailed in the society in terms of production and distribution of resources.However, even he was not able to explain inequality in terms of gender.Women’s position was explained on the basis of their biology and biologywas used to justify male supremacy in the society. However, the notion couldnot remain static. Writings from different fields, particularly, from theresearch work of an anthropologist, Margaret Mead challenged the concept ofthe males as superior and females as inferior in early 1930s. Worldwide,women’s relatively lower position in the society that was consideredtheological started to be analyzed in depth. Collective challenge to the notionof male’s supremacy, at international level, was started in the 1960s.It wasstarted by breaking the silence about women’s oppression, subordination andsubjugation. Issues of violence, dichotomization of public and privatedomain, systemic exclusion of women from public arena, and devaluation ofwomen’s work started uncovering and put forward for public debate anddiscussion. As a result, new concepts and approaches emerged and continuedto be emerging and developing to analyze social realities. Women inDevelopment (WID), Women and Development (WAD), and Gender andDevelopment (GAD) are among the other powerful approaches, whichprovide new perspective to analyze existing hierarchical/ unequal genderrelation.Exclusion of women from the public arena has been highly realized for along time. It was also realized that their subordination is embedded in their9

10 Gender and Democracy in Nepalrole as care- taker and nurturer. Therefore, WID approach, which focusedprimarily on women’s practical needs, was in the center of developmentdiscourse in late 1960s. Moreover, those who believe in WID approach didnot question ‘why’ about women and continued to focus only on how womencould be better integrated into mainstream development. This approach, inone way, created ample opportunities for women to participate in the publicarena. In other words, it contributed multiple responsibilities for women.Later, mainly Marxist feminists, who believe that structural inequality is the‘root cause of women’s subordination, heavily criticized this approach. Theyblamed liberal feminists who advocate for WID approach, for ignoring realissues as women’s least access to resources, and their contribution toeconomy. During early 1980s, WAD approach was developed, whichassumes that women are already in the development field. Only theircontributions are not properly recognized or even devalued. GAD approachemerged in the late 1980s, focusing both on productive and reproductive roleof women and integrating both women and men at the same time. Accordingto Kate Yough (1987), “the GAD approach starts from a holistic perspective,looking at the totality of social organization, economic and political life inorder to understand the shaping of particular aspects of society.” 1 It startedvisualizing gender relationships in a new way.WID approach helped Nepalese women particularly rural women tosatisfy their practical needs to some extent. At the same time, it reinforced thetraditional role of women by providing nutritional knowledge and populationeducation to women only. WAD approach helped women to be economicallyindependent by providing credit, and skill. This increased women’s workburden dramatically. It is after GAD that policy and programs startedintegrating gender component in all sectors.In the process women’s studies began to emerge as a separate field ofstudy. In 1960s, in USA; it was first introduced in collages and universities,moved to Europe and spread all over the world. Women’s studies emerged asa process of examining traditional disciplines, which exclude women,systematically from producing the half truth of social realities.In Nepal Women’s studies program gained recognition as a separatediscipline since 1989, when The Home Science Department, Padma Kanyacampus, incorporated women development as one-of the subjects, offered toMaster level. Later in 1996, it emerged as a full-fledged one-yearpostgraduate diploma program on women. Women’s studies reconceptualizessocial world in general and women in particular. It is an intellectual andpolitical means of seeking equality and justice for all people. The diplomaprogram is not entirely new; however, some of its significant features make it+

Gender Issues : B. Pokharel and M. Mishra. 11different from other women related studies programs. This programconceptualizes men and women in equal terms, contextualize women(gender) within specific economic, cultural and political settings.It is a formal course with its own specific curriculum. It demands muchmore class room teaching. Class- room teaching is useful, mainly, to imparttheoretical knowledge. Only theoretical knowledge is not enough to befamiliar with the existing social world. Theories in social sciences have to beproved constantly. Because of the nature of the human social world many ofthe theories become outdated and could not contribute in understandingreality. As we are aware that gender roles, gender relations are neither similaracross culture nor historically static, there is need of continuous study of thisprocess of change. It is necessary to understand the factors responsible forchanges and the consequences of these changes. One has to understand theinterrelationship of social, cultural, political and economic aspects. Genderrelation and gender roles are the product of this interrelationship.Women’s studies re-conceptualizes gender relationship to create just andhuman society. To meet this goal women’s studies curriculum has to adoptdifferent methods. First, theoretical knowledge on gender role and genderrelation from classroom teaching is needed. Second, classroom teaching hasto be supplemented by the knowledge of the existing real life situation, andthird, Action is needed to implement her/his knowledge to change thesituation. According to sociologists, social change can be brought about byresearch, advocacy and action. Seminar/workshop can be the best forum toget knowledge of the existing social world, and make plans for advocacy andaction. It is the forum where women and men involved in changing biasedand sexist society can come together and develop strategies to change itthrough advocacy and action. The forum provides ample opportunities to theparticipants to share experiences, satisfy their curiosities, and come to theconclusion. Workshops/ seminars, talks, and field studies help a lot to enrichour critical faculties.Realizing the importance, Women’s studies has been organizingworkshops/ seminars and field studies regularly addressing different issueson gender since its inception. Women’s studies is a trans-disciplinary subjectwhich draws knowledge from each subject to bring reliable knowledge ongender. Several issues needed to be addressed because each issue keeps itsown significance in understanding women, men and society. Issues, such asdomestic violence, discriminatory laws, cultural and religious forces, neededto be analyzed. However, with its limitation, the faculty is being able toconduct a number of workshops/ seminars successfully with the financialsupport by different gender concerned organizations. The issues, selected for+

12 Gender and Democracy in Nepalthe workshops, have their own solid ground; directly related with women’sstudies curricula; salient feature of deciding gender roles and genderrelationship. The curriculum includes Sex and Gender at conceptual level;Women and development at different sectors; Policies Programs ongender/women; and lastly, research from gender perspective. Thereforeissues as Changing Nepalese society and gender, creating awareness aboutequal property rights and Gender equality and democracy are relevant genderissues to be discussed in such forum. The Issues discussed in the Workshopsand Seminars are also useful to develop strategies, which were one of themajor objectives of organizing those workshops.Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), an International NGO, is working inNepal for more than a decade, works for justice, equality and solidarity. In1993, FES formulated a policy regarding the promotion of women, humanrights and environment policy. Apropos the policy; this organization ishelping the women’s studies department to conduct seminars and workshopsfinancially The department is managing the workshops including bothstudents and teachers. Moreover, the role of students, particularly the secondbatch students who first initiated to establish linkage between the FES andthe department is praiseworthy.The knowledge produced in these seminars has been documented inseveral reports. However, there is a need to contextualize the producedknowledge in a systematic waySo that it would come up in a book form that could be widely used bypeople, involved in the gender field. We are delighted to announce that againFES is helping us financially to produce the book. We have conducted fourworkshops/ seminars, on gender with the help of FES in recent years.The papers presented in these Workshops/ Seminars reflect all threeapproaches (WID, WAD, and GAD). However, the nature and degree differquite significantly. Dr. Acharya’s write ups are more focused on WADapproach as she has emphasized more on women’s access to resource, whileKapil Shrestha’s and Durga Ghimire’s papers reflect WID approach as theytalk about participation and involvement of women in development.Advocate Yubaraj Sangroula’s paper reflects GAD approach because he talksabout women’s right to identity and need of change in the constitution tobring equality in the real sense.A workshop/ seminar on Gender Issues in ChangingNepalese Society+

Gender Issues : B. Pokharel and M. Mishra. 13Global trend towards privatization and marketization has contributed massivechanges in economy and policy of countries like ours which used to dependmore on agriculture and state-provided facilities e.g. education, health, andother facilities. Gradual shift of Nepalese economy from agriculture to othersectors such as industry, and services led rural people, particularly women toloose their control over the resources. Besides, massive changes intechnology and environment degradation also contributed changes in thelives of people of Nepal. Consequently, roles and relationship between thetwo genders also started changing. The consequences of change in theeconomic and political sectors on gender relationship, the reaction of womento these changes and the stresses, conflict and contradictions that occur bothat the macro and micro levels as the result of these changes have to beanalyzed. Cultural forces that exist in society very much influence onaccepting and internalizing certain social concepts on women and men andtheir positions in the society. Any attempt to change gender inequalities inthe economic and political sphere can not ignore these cultural forces.In this workshop, ‘four eminent scholars presented four papers. Dr.Meena Acharya, a well-known economist and feminist, in her paper “Womenand economy-the key issues” mentioned three major issues about women(sexuality, mobility and access to resources) as the major causes of women’ssubordination. However, she goes in depth about economic issue asdemanded by the organizers of the workshop. Dr. Acharya says that women’ssexuality has been considered as ‘social property,' which could be used tofulfill the needs and interest of the society. Therefore, their mobility hasalways been restricted, though the degree, and forms may differ. She comesto the point that economic empowerment is the basis of all otherempowerment processes. Women lag far behind men in access to resources,particularly in land, credit, and skill development, she adds. Her paper is richin facts and figures about women in the economic field.A paper on “Women’s Political Participation in Nepal: Perspective andChallenges” was presented by renowned Human rights activist KapilShrestha.The paper starts from addressing Aristotle as great political thinker,moves on raising a broad question, ‘What does the term political participationmean’? And concludes with addressing women in politics. Mr. Shrestha inthis paper has tried to bring figures on women’s involvement in decisionmaking at international level but the figure is limited only in data on womenin Scandinavian countries. When he talks about Nepal, he blames all politicalparties–for not providing adequate space to women in decision making.However, he seems satisfied with the 20% reservation for women in VDC+

14 Gender and Democracy in Nepallevel. He concludes, pointing a number of obstacles for women’sparticipation in politics, which included patriarchy, lack of family supportetc. The paper lacks depth analysis of the theme.Advocate Geeta Sangroula was one of the paper writers who presented apaper on “Law and existing Reality of Nepalese Women." The paper focusedmainly on women’s awareness about law and legal solution to their problems.The paper is extremely. informative in the sense that it has addressed nationalas well as international legal provisions for women. Moreover, the paper hastried to analyze the existing Nepalese legal system from the genderperspective. Therefore, it is very critical towards patriarchy.Dr. Krishna Bhattachan, a well-known sociologist, in his paper“Sociological Perspective s on Gender Issues in changing Nepalese society”has made a great effort to collect information on gender and, contextualize itaccordingly. He starts from addressing socio-economic diversity of Nepalesesociety, moves on linking past and present situation of Nepalese women andconcludes by comparing the past and present strategies to enhance women’sstatus. The paper is extremely informative. He has provided differentstrategies to uplift women’s status, however their applicability has to beexamined.Dr. Harinder Thapaliya introduces the Part and provides a summary ofthe floor discussion.A workshop/seminar on Creating Awareness of EqualProperty Rights, Political Rights and other issues amongwomen in VDC levelInteraction with people at local level is necessary to understand local issuesand come up with better solutions.Women of Nepal are not a homogenous group. “Diversity” is a salientfeature of Nepalese society. A large portion of women lives in rural areaswhere their access to information is extremely limited. Lack of informationabout legal provisions, makes them unable to tackle with legal problems.Realizing the problem, women’s studies conducted a workshop on theseissues at grass root level. To be familiar with the grass-root women’sunderstanding about legal and political issues, pre-test was conducted beforethe workshop. As a continuation of that workshop, a Post-test was done aftersix months of the earlier workshop.Ms. Durga Ghimire in her paper “Women’s Political Participationconstraintsand challenges” regrets the lower participation of women in+

Gender Issues : B. Pokharel and M. Mishra. 15decision-making worldwide. It is particularly true, she says, in South Asia.She blames ‘men’ for the situation. Ms.Ghimire has pointed out constraints,hindering women’s meaningful participation in politics. She concludesadvocating reservation of seats for women in politics. However, the paperlacks in-depth analysis of the raised issues. The paper “Women’s PropertyRight” presented by advocate Sapana Pradhan Malla deals with the existinggender biased legal provision and contradiction between Nepalese legalprovision and International treaties The paper tries to mention causes of notgetting property right and its impact on gender. It touches government’sinitiatives and its shortcomings. Though the paper has tried to cover thebroad arena the issues are tentatively dealt.Ms. Yasso Kanti Bhattachan (Gauchan) has presented the findings of thepre-test and post-test of the workshop in an article entitled "Pre-test and Posttestof a Workshop on 'Creating Awareness on Equal Property and PoliticalRights of Women' in Selected VDCs in Lalitpur District." The main objectiveof the tests was to see the difference in the level of awareness, knowledge andinformation on equal property and political rights among the participants.The conclusion is very encouraging. The tests revealed that the change is justwonderful.Ms. Soni Joshi introduces the Part and provides a summary of the floordiscussion.A workshop/seminar on Gender equality and DemocracyAfter 30 years of party-less Panchayat system, Nepalese political system haschanged to Multi-party democracy in 1991.The New constitution wasdeveloped to restore democracy. In any democratic country, constitution isthe fundamental law. The most systematic and severe attack to inequality canbe made by the constitution of a country. The constitution has to support suchcircumstances where people from all categories can enjoy equal rights.Though the constitution of Nepal admits equal rights to all; economicpolitical and socio-cultural factors and presence of discriminatory laws hinderpeople in our society to enjoy the equality. Moreover, women and people ofminority are not able to enjoy the rights. The rights, which are conceptualizedas human rights, needed to be rethought from a gender perspective.The papers presented in the seminar, focus on the economic, sociocultural,political factors as well as on discriminatory laws, which arehindering women to enjoy democracy as men are doing.Paper presented by Dr. Meena Acharya” Gender Equality andDemocracy - The Economic Aspects tries to show the complex relationship+

16 Gender and Democracy in Nepalbetween equity and equality. Women are unable to exercise their rightsparticularly on public arena because of their asset-less and socially backwardposition. Dr. Acharya has addressed modernization process, whichreintroduce or reinforce gender biases along with some positive side. Herpaper is able to give a broad scenario of the economic involvement of womenon different sectors. She has given a bulk of data on women’s position ineconomic arena in Nepal. She concluded her paper by saying “ democracy isnecessary but not sufficient condition for making progress towards genderequality."Dr. Krishna B. Bhattachan presented a paper titled “Socio-culturalAspect of Gender Equity/ Equality and Democracy in Nepal." Dr. Bhattachanhas clearly defined the concept equity, equality and democracy. He arguedthat Nepalese Muluki Ain (National Code) that is based on Hindu biasedconstitution do not support fairness and justice. He talked about Daijoo(dowry), child marriage, domestic violence, prostitution, girl trafficking etc.under socio-cultural fields of gender inequality on different levels. Undersocio-cultural factors of gender inequality he strongly pointed out tohegemony or domination of Hindu cultural values (Bahunbad) as a majorcause of social inequality. He has also discussed on the Socio-culturaldiversity and differential problems. However he did not much discussed onthe emerging global culture and its effect on women.Mr. Kapil Shrestha presented a paper on “Reconsidering the Issue ofWomen’s Human Rights and Political; Rights." He started his paper focusingon the slow and even dismal progress towards considering women’s right.His paper provides a review of the attempts made by Human right andwomen right activists and political participation of women. However, thefacts and figures to support his argument are very limited.Advocate Yubaraj Sangroula presented a paper entitled “Women’sPersonality is defined in Terms of Their Sex and Marital Status." He startedhis paper by providing the root and development of Nepalese legal system toshow the basis of women’s discrimination. He has discussed, in detail,Nepalese women’s right to identity, right to property and right to contract tosupport his argument.Prof. Indira Sharma introduces the Part and provides a summary of thefloor discussion.A workshop on Strategies+

Gender Issues : B. Pokharel and M. Mishra. 17After the series of workshops/seminars one-day workshop was organized todevelop strategies for change. The workshop was focused on six specificareas:i. League of Nepalese Women Votersii. Positive Discriminationiii. Equal Property Rightiv. Violence Against Womenv. Gender Sensitization Trainingvi. National Research Center on Women.For every specific area participants discussed on needs, possible actors,possible funding agencies, plan of action for coming year, and SWOT(Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis.In the present context all these areas are important and need to beaddressed. All these are inter-linked, so, to bring changes in women’ situationthese issues have to be tackled, simultaneously.Since Research is very important for planning good action program andto develop reliable knowledge, National Research center is crucial agenda.Most of the south Asian countries have already introduced such centers. InNepal, a number of centers are already in existing, but they are not been ableto analyze gender issues from generalized and wide -ranging system ofthought. They work with own specific agenda, therefore, lack holisticperspective. Women’s studies which more broadly analyzes gender issues,can be the proper place for conducting, documenting and coordinatingresearch on gender at National level. Therefore, there is a need of a researchcenter in this department. The infrastructure needed to such center is alreadyin existence. However, strong initiation from the concern field and a bulk ofmoney are the two factors hindering its establishment.To sum up, globally, women’s lives have been dramatically changed inrecent years. There is tremendous improvement in their conditions as moreand more women are getting education, entering into the labor market, andhave access to health care facilities. However, gender inequality still persists.Women’s subordination is deep and widespread. Voices have had been raisedto address the issues at national as well as international levels. Not onlyfeminists 2 but human rights activists also showed great concern over theissues. Democracy which, guarantees equal right to all, should provide equalopportunities to both gender for enhancing their capabilities. Therefore, thevoices have even been stronger for gender equality as each nation is claiming+

18 Gender and Democracy in Nepalitself to be more democratic. In this process, people, particularly feministsand human rights activists are demanding equal right to women as NewNepalese constitution (1990) guarantees the right Moreover Nepalesegovernment has ratified CEDAW without any reservation. However, existinglaws and bylaws, which hinder women to enjoy ‘rights provided by theconstitution, is becoming a big issue such as the right over ancestral property,reproductive right, etc. Therefore, gender issues needed to be discussed timeto time to bring awareness and produce concrete and reliable knowledge.Workshops/seminars are, among others, significant forum for such activities.Women’s studies family is continuously involved in this process. Theoutcome of this process is valuable for both academicians as well as activistsworking for gender equality/equity.Endnotes1 Quoted by Mahbub u1 Haq (2000) Human Development in South Asia. OxfordUniversity Press.2 Feminists, for us, are those who are working for gender equality and women’sempowerment.+

+PART ONEGENDER ISSUES19

20 Gender and Democracy in NepalIntroductionHarinder ThapaliyaDuring the past decade, women’s movements in South Asia and some of thestudies conducted during the UN Decade for women have helped to focusunambiguously on the issues of gender and equity. This marks a radicaldeparture from previous feminist concerns with gender conflicts in generaland women’s rights in particular. This new focus however is not only theresult of a greater awareness among scholars that issues of gender and equityare closely interlinked. It has also followed from a better understanding of thesocial experiments conducted on the ground by activists and actionresearchers that have enabled poor women to move out of poverty intosustainable development.A debate on gender issues including women rights is very significant inchanging Nepalese society because women comprise a little over half of thetotal population of the country and all of them suffer from exploitation,domination, discrimination and subordination by their male family members.Nepalese society entertains strong traditional values in favor of males.Consequently, gender disparity is bound to be intrinsically very wide. Arecent study on an assessment of the major changes in women’s lives inNepal over the past decade has shown that despite higher attainment ofliteracy, social mobility and awareness, women still remain confined to theirtraditionally prescribed and socially acceptable roles, lower status andsubordination to men within the patriarchal socio-cultural, economic,political and legal frameworks. Male centered process of socialization makedifferent expectations and preparations for their adulthood. It is no wonderthat in global and SAARC regional context gender inequality has shown itsugly hands in Nepal than anywhere (Bhattachan, 1998) According to HumanDevelopment Report 1997, both Gender Sensitive Development Index andGender Empowerment Measure (GEM) reflects the low status of women inall Human Development Measurements. There is a clear picture ofinterrelations of social, economic, political and legal gender issues which areclosely interlined to reinforce one another. The economic and social issuesare closely interrelated. The key issues of lack of access to land for women is+

Gender Issues : B. Pokharel and M. Mishra. 21related to socially determined inheritance rights and religious ritualized needto give away daughters from one clan to some other clan (Acharya, 1998).Women’s access to land and property is derived through the marriagerelationship. A married woman has no right on her ancestral property. Thisputs a lot of control on women access to productive assets such as land, creditand property. These imbalances have very serious repercussion for women.Women bear the greatest burden of human deprivation of South Asia. Whilegrowing up in South Asia is a perpetual struggle, to be a woman in thisregion is to be a non-person (Mahbub ul Huq, Human Development inSouth Asia. (1997).South Asian society is predominantly patriarchal, patrilineal andpatrilocal with the exception of certain ethnic communities of Tibeto-Burmanand tribal groups. Three fundamental features characterizing patriarchy are:• Patriarchal Inheritance System• Control over women sexuality and body and• Restriction over women mobilityWomen are accorded a subordinate position at all levels. Thereforepatriarchy operationalized through the family system needs to be carefullyanalyzed understood and addressed if gender difference in behaviors betweenmen and women is to be clearly perceived.With the limitations major issues related to women in the economic fieldinclude their limited access to productive assets the land and property, creditand modern avenues of knowledge and information, concentration of womenin low productivity agriculture and increasing work burden without increasein access to resource, child labor, lack of access to education training andtechnology, concentration at lower paid and informal jobs poor workingconditions, risk to personal security and sexual harassment in the formalsector and limited market access women entrepreneurs face special problemsof resource scarcity, low risk taking capacity and marketing access. Therecorded economic activity rates under report of women work andcontribution to household survival. Accuracy of reporting on labor forceparticipation rates in censuses and the definition of economic activity aresome of the major issues which concerns women’s rights activist the worldover.In Nepal the problem is complicated further by varying definitions ofeconomic activity rates are estimated to be much more than what is reportedin ensues data. Agriculture is becoming progressively feminized. Many+

22 Gender and Democracy in Nepalwomen formers engaged in family farms are still reported as economicallynot active. Nonetheless ever according to census figures, the proportion offemale labor force, in Agriculture has increased between 1971-1991.Although female implement is increasing in non-agriculture, comparatively alarger proportion of Agriculture labor force are women in 1981. More then 96percent of the economically active women were involved in Agriculture andforestry. In 1991 this percentage has come down to 90 percent. An increasingnumber of women are entering the work force in the formal manufacturingsector because of economic needs. However they are mainly concentrated inmenial, low skill and low paid jobs. Lack of training, education opportunitiesand limited mobility due to social responsibilities compared to keep them atlower level of industrial hierarchy.The low participation of women in Nepalese politics is a result ofcomplex mix of interrelated factors. Grossly inadequate representation ofwomen in the national legislature has relatively affected the enactment ofgender sensitive legislation’s like the women’s property right bill. Withregard to women existing constitution contains many negative provisionswhich do not help to secure gender justice.Though Nepal is a party to a large number of international legalinstruments concerning human rights but the discrimination against womencontinues at all levels. According to the constitution of Nepal 1990 (2047B.S.) no child can obtain citizenship of Nepal by virtue of descent if his/herfather is on alien. The mother’s nationality cannot be a valid ground for achild to acquire Nepalese nationality. This provision clearly discriminatesagainst Nepalese women and this is inconsistent with the Convention on theElimination of All Kinds of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) andinternational convention on civil and political rights.At the National level the government policies have tried to respond towomen’s problems in various ways. The government had emphasizedwomen’s involvement in all programmes and projects for meeting their needsin all the sixth, seventh and eighth five year plans (1981-1995). All threeplans with slight vacations in emphasis focussed on small scale incomegeneration education and training and family panning programs for women.The Eight plan in particular mentioned bout increasing women’spresentations at decision making in the government, non government andsemi government sectors an a monitoring system for recording genderdiscrimination at work. Major problem now relate to implementation. Theexperiences dealing with women’s issues in the past two decades indicatethat exclusive focus on women as an analytical category and efforts to caterto their practical needs for food, shelter, basic education and primary health+

Gender Issues : B. Pokharel and M. Mishra. 23are not sufficient for building an equal opportunity society for women andmen.The four articles of this Part were presented in a workshop/seminar onGender Issues in changing Nepalese Sociality held on My 22-23, 1998organized by Central Department of Home Science-Women’s StudiesProgramme supported by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES). The authors havemade some revision on the earlier version of their papers.+

+Women and theEconomy: The Key IssuesMeena AcharyaINTRODUCTIONEconomic and social issues are closely intertwined, one reinforcing the other.For example the key issue of access to land for women is closely linked tothe socially determined inheritance rights and religiously ritualized need togive away daughters from one’s own clan to some other clan. Sexuality ofwomen is a social property and an “object” of negotiation for the giving andtaking clans. Her access to resources is conditional by her sexuality (seeBennett, 1883 for details on this issue.) Parents prefer to spend on son’seducation rather than on that of a daughter because socially sons areresponsible for parents’ maintenance in old age while daughters are perceivedas temporary guests in natal households (CERID, 1986 and 1986b; CBS,1996). Women cannot participate in politics on equal footing with menbecause of both social constraints, lack of mobility and access to resources(Acharya, 1994b). On the other hand women’s progress is limited alsobecause of their limited representation in the political decision making levels.With lack of alternative avenues of employment and access to resources asalso because of the social dichotomy of exploitation of their sexuality andsevere social standards imposed on their sexual behavior, many women areforced to enter commercial sex work for their survival. Therefore it is ratherdangerous to compartmentalize women’s problems into sectoral issues and toview them in isolation. As such, the following analysis is only an attempt tolimit the scope of the current paper rather than give a complete account ofwomen’s economic problems in Nepal.Within this limitation, the major issues related to women in theeconomic field include their limited access to productive assets- the land andproperty, credit and modern avenues of knowledge and information;concentration of women in low productivity agriculture and high andincreasing work burden without concomitant increase in access to resources,24

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 25child labor, lack of access to training, technology and education; concentrationat lower levels jobs, poor working conditions and lack of child carefacilities at work places; trade union’s neglect of women’s problems; risk topersonal security and sexual harassment in the formal sector and low level oftechnology, limited market access, low income and progressive loss ofproprietorship in informal sector. A problem to be noted is also the decliningeconomic activity rates of urban women, probably signaling the “domesticationof women.”Women entrepreneurs face special problems of resources scarcity, lowrisk taking capacity and marketing access. Moreover, the is a severe dearth ofinformation on women’s employment and earning patterns, problems,grievances and aspirations in the formal sector including tourism and otherservices. The recorded economic activity rates under reports women’s workand contributions to household survival.KEY CURRENT ISSUESAccess to ResourcessWomen’s access to land and property is derived through her marriagerelationship. A married woman has no right in her parental property. She getsan equal share in the husband’s property together with her son, if she remainsfaithful to him and his clan. This is server’s limitation on women’s access toall productive assets.Marriage becomes the overwhelming factor determining all her lifeoptions. This reinforced by all round social norms and legal structures, everything else is secondary to marriage. Single women, even with many childrenare not given land in resettlement areas, even if such households may beamong the poorest of the poor. They may not claim any tenancy rights.Although many husbands may keep property in the name of wives, suchwomen many not make any transaction in the property without the consent ofher husband and sons, etc. This limitation is not applied to husbands and thesons. Households get access to community resources such as forests throughhousehold heads who are usually men. Women may have the derived userrights as long as her husband does not abandon her. When a husband bringsanother wife and leaves her, which is constantly recurring even in theNepalese social milieu, she looses all access to community property as well.Such processes are hard to capture by data, since no data are collected onpolygamy. It is illegal to have more than one wife, but women get noproperty on divorce and so a access to resources. Two major indicators of+

26 Gender and Democracy in Nepalsuch inequality are access to credit and increasing involvement of women incommercial sex work for survival. A detailed discussion of the secondsymptom is beyond the scope of this paper. Nevertheless it is pertinent tonote that lack of alternative avenues of livelihood is one of the major causeswhy women get into commercial sex work, why parents sell their daughtersinto dubious marriages and sex bazaar (See New Era, 1997).Access to CreditIt has been discussed widely that women’s access to credit is limited becauseboth formal and informal credit institutions are geared to funding propertyowners. All formal credit institutions seek tangible collateral from loan andwomen are effectively sidelined from institutional credit since women havelittle access to the inherited property. The village moneylenders are alsointerested more in earning high interest or acquiring the debtor’s propertyrather than financing people in need.Table 1: Borrowings from Formal & Informal SourcesSource of Credit All Households Male FemaleInstitutional 29.7 30.4 15.4Agricultural Development Bank 15.9 16.4 4.9Commercial Bank 11.6 11.9 7.4Others 2.1 2.1 2.1Non-Institutional 70.3 69.9 84.6Friends & Relatives 24.5 24.2 30.5Moneylenders 28.4 27.9 38.9Landlords 0.9 0.9 1.0Merchants Traders/Others 16.5 16.6 14.2Total 100.0 100.0 100.0Source: Improving Access of Women to Formal Credit Facilities in Nepal, IIDS, 1992.Women’s access to institutional credit is further restricted by theirconfinement to household activities and lower level of awareness andeducational attainment. As such they are more prone to fall prey to theexploitative conditions of the village moneylenders than their male counterparts.Nepal Rural Credit Review Study (NRCRS) by Nepal Rastra Bank in1991/92 revealed that of the total female headed sample households almost+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 2735 percent had borrowed from one or the other sources compared to 39percent male headed households. However, among the borrowing femaleheaded households only 15.4 percent had borrowed from institutional sourcessuch as Agricultural Development Bank and Commercial Banks and 84percent had borrowed from non-institutional sources (Table 1). Access toinstitutional credit in one of the major stumbling blocks for womenentrepreneurs in all sectors including agriculture. Almost 40 percent hadborrowed from moneylenders.Economically Active Work Force:Sectoral and Occupational DistributionsAccuracy of reporting on labor force participation rates in censuses and thedefinition of economic activity are some of the major issues, which concernwomen’s right activists the world over. Many books and reports have focusedon them. Several UN agencies have documented them in detail. Accordinglyunited Nation’s Conference on women (Beijing, 1995) noted in its Platformfor Action that “Women contributed to development not only throughremunerated work but through a great deal of unremunerated work. On theother hand, women participate in the production of goods and services for themarket and household consumption, in agriculture, food production or familyenterprises. Though included in the United Nations system of NationalAccounts and therefore, in international standards for labor statistics, thisunremunerated work, particularly that related to agriculture, is oftenundervalued and under recorded. On the other hand, women also perform thegreat majority of unremunerated domestic works and community work, suchas caring for children and older persons, preparing food for the family,protecting the environment and providing voluntary assistance to unalterableand disadvantaged individuals and groups. This work is often not measuredin quantitative terms and is not valued in national accounts. Women’scontribution to development is seriously underestimated, and thus its socialrecognition is limited. The full visibility of the type, extent and distribution ofthe unremunerated work will also contribute to a better sharing ofresponsibilities.”In Nepal, the problem is complicated further by varying definitions ofeconomic activity rates between various censuses. Inspire of theseshortcomings of census data a fairly high proportion of women are reportedas economically active in Nepal (Table 2). Moreover, sex composition ofeconomically active population shows an increasing preparation of women inlabor force.+

28 Gender and Democracy in NepalIn the 1991 census tabulation, those who worked for at least threemonths and those seeking employment were classified as economically activewhile in 1981 census only those working for eight hours or more wereclassified as economically active. As such the economically active populationof the 1981 census may not be comparable to the economically activepopulation of the 1991. Only about 38 percent of the population werereported as having worked for eight months or more in 1991 (see Niraula,1994). According to those statistics, gross economic activity rates of 1991have apparently declined drastically compared to those of 1991 (See AnnexTable A.1). That could partially be explained by the demographic changes infavor of children, by the increased number of students, etc. as analyzed byNiraula (1994). But fundamentally it much be a problem of definitions and itsinterpretation by the enumerators. One notable aspect, from the genderperspective, however, is that while male economic activity rates havedeclined almost constant. That could be due to a more accurate recording ofeconomic activity rates. It is quite possible that in earlier censuses, all maleswere recorded as economically active, irrespective or length of work house,age or work status while women were mostly recorded as home makers.Table 2: Women in Labor Force (15-64 Age Group)(Percent in Total)Country 1980 19951. High Income Countries 39 422. Low Income Countries 40 413. South Asian Countries 34 33Bangladesh 42 42India 42 42Nepal 34 32Pakistan 39 26Sri Lanka 27 35Source: WDR, 1997Further, women’s economic activity rates are estimated to be much morethan what is reported in census data as analyzed below. The daily chores offamily life in rural Nepal involve women in labor-intensive farm work andtime consuming domestic work to provide fuel, water and food for householdmember and farm workers. The census definition of economic activity intheory takes into account wage labor, in cash or kind, as well as unpaid+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 29family labor. It does not, however, encompass activities such as water andfuel collection, food processing and child care of which are primarily theresponsibility of women. Those activities that fall outside the formaleconomy, but which are essential for the survival of the household, absorbthe labor of those women who are reported as “economically inactive” andclassified as homemakers and dependents. As per the 1991 census data, morethan 36 percent of the female population were reported as home makers andso inactive. A scrutiny of the regional figure clearly indicates a persistingreporting bias in economic activity rates. While the overwhelming majorityof Mountain (73.6 percent) and Hill (57.9 percent) women were reported aseconomically active, only about 27 percent of the Tarai women are thusreported. The Status of Women report series has shown that women in theTarai were equally active in the economic sphere, albeit invisible within thehousehold production system e.g., in food processing and cooking for farmlabor and village sweet shops (see Acharya, 1981), but such activities are notreported as economic.Another point of concern is the declining economic activity rate ofwomen in urban areas, from 31.5 percent in 1981 to 20.3 percent in 1991.Decline of women’s economic activity with the modernization process hasbeen noted in other countries also (Boserup, 1970). Nepalese economypredominated by households as unit of productions seem to be rapidlyreplaced by a system which separates households from economic activitieslimiting them to human reproduction and consumption activities. In thisprocess women may be loosing their economic roles. This is also reflected indeclining role of women in household decisions (see Shtri Shakti, 1995)Women in AgricultureThe Nepalese agriculture is dominated by small-scale subsistence farming.Majority of households (66 percent) have less than on the average. More than40 percent have less than 0.5 ha. The size of land holding is smaller in Taraibut much less productive in the hills and mountains. Although womencontribute substantially to agriculture both in terms of labor input anddecision making-women’s access to land is limited due to the patrilinealinheritance system (Acharya, and Bennett, 1981; MOA 1993a, 1993b1993cand 1994). Nevertheless, the hill agriculture is primarily dependent onwomen due to male migration from the hills, and women operate most of thefarms.Agriculture is becoming progressively feminized. Many womenengaged in family farms are still reported as economically not active as+

30 Gender and Democracy in Nepaldiscussed above. Nonetheless, even according to census figures, theproportion of female labor force in agriculture has increased between 1971and 1991. In 1971, women constituted 30.4 percent of the agricultural laborforce. That increased to 36.4 percent in 1981 and to 45 percent in 1991(Annex Table A.2). Although female employment is increasing in the nonagriculturesector, comparatively a larger proportion of agricultural laborforce are women. In 1981, more than 96 percent of the economically activewomen were involved in agriculture and forestry. In 1991 this percentage hascome down to 90 percent. Concomitantly, there has been an increase in theproportion of economically active population engaged in the leading sourcesof employment for both men and women. The next largest group of women isin trade sector. Manufacturing occupies only a remote third position inemployment generation for men and women.Occupationally, even in urban areas a substantial proportion of womenare concentrated in the category of farm, forestry and fishery workersalthough the share of the non-agricultural sector in total employment hasshown a substantial increase in 1991 (Annex Table A.3) In the nonagriculturalsector, women are mainly engaged in services, sales and as laborsin manufacturing, construction, transportation, communications and others.Compared to 1981, a larger proportion of economically active women seemto have entered the group of professional and technical workers.Nevertheless, compared to 1981 now comprise lesser proportion of totalnumber of professional and technical workers-indicating relatively loweraccess of women to education and knowledge (see Acharya, 1994a).Employment in the Organized ManufacturingAn increasing number of women are entering the work force in the formalmanufacturing sector because of economic need. However, they are mainlyconcentrated in low-skill, menial and repetitive jobs and in the lowerechelons of the industrial hierarchy in what is virtually an extension of theirhousehold activities. Lack of education, training opportunities, employerbiases and limited mobility due to social responsibilities combined to keepthem at lower echelons of industrial hierarchy.In 1976/77, women had constituted 11.2 percent of the total labor forcein manufacturing industries. That proportion went up to 17 percent in1986/89 and to 23.0 percent in1990/91 but has slightly declined since then.The decline is notable in all classified industries with a few exceptions(Annex Table A.4).+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 31According to a survey (Rana and Shah, 1987) in 1987, women’semployment in industries in the organized sector depended less on type ofindustry than on its location, size of investment and degree of mechanization.More women workers were employed in manufacturing in the Hill regionthan the Terai. Female employment was concentrated in those industrieswhere the fixed capital investment was the lowest. That meant that themajority of female workers received low pay.The majority of women in the formal sector worked as semi-skilled andunskilled workers. In virtually all food, drink, tobacco and match industriesfemale workers were mainly concentrated in packing the finished product andin related processes (Shrestha, 1983). The large-scale textile factories are noexception. For example, at the Hetauda Textile Factory, with 50 percentwomen in the work force, there were very few women performingsupervisory functions and none at all at the managerial level (Shrestha,1990). The concentration of women in low-paid, unskilled jobs may beattributed to low literacy, low skill levels and also to social bias regarding theappropriateness of employing female workers for certain jobs but not others.As per 1991 census 62 percent of female manufacturing labor force weremarried and 27 percent literate of which 6 percent had reached secondaryeducation (8-10 classes) and only 4 percent had finished secondary andhigher education. A survey (Basnet, 1991) of 66 women engaged in nineindustrial establishments located in the Kathmandu Valley indicated thatalmost 71 percent of women employees in these industries worked because ofpoverty. Almost 29 percent had no other breadwinners in their household.About 52 percent of women engaged in such industries were illiterate, about15 percent had completed school and about 11 percent had college education.About 64 percent were married or widowed and 29 percent were unmarried.More than 60 percent were between 20 and 34 years of age. About 12 percentlaborers in 10-14 age group.Working ConditionsOnly scattered information is available on the working conditions in theindustrial establishments. According to Basnet (1991), only about 55 percentof women workers had permanent jobs, about 17 percent were temporaryemployees and 29 percent were casual laborers. Only 20 percent had beenpromoted to higher levels and about 29 percent believed that they weregetting as much pay as male employees. They worked under difficultphysical conditions and more than one-third of those interviewed said theyhad experienced some work related health problems. Only about 33 percent+

32 Gender and Democracy in Nepalof them received some facilities additional to wages. Less than one-fifthwomen laborers (14 percent) were trade union members while 17 percentwere aware about trade unions. Other studies on working conditions depictno better situation (for examples see Ojha, 1984; Joshi, 1985; and Thacker,1992). Even in the carpet industry, where it is a highly skilled job, women arestill treated as unskilled and intensely exploited by the factory owners(Thacker, 1992). Additionally, as international competition in such industriesis very keen, wages are kept low.According to Thacker (1992) the carpet industry in the KathmanduValley had 66 percent women workers. Nearly 97.8 percent of these womenwere piece rate workers while only 14 percent of men were so. These womenwere overwhelmingly young (below 22 years of age) illiterate and worked forreasons of poverty. Cheating by the employers on payments of salary andwages was rampant. Women benefited little from industries, as menprogressively took the mechanized jobs.Women in the Tourism and Related SectorsWomen are believed to be engaged in large numbers in tourism (hotels,airlines and travel agencies) and other tourist related services such asrestaurants, carpets and handicrafts manufacturing. As per the sectoralcomposition of labor force, after agriculture, commerce manufacturing andpersonal and community services have substantial proportion of femaleemployees.But very little information is available on women in tourist sector(hotels, airline travel and trekking agencies) per se. Nepal Rastra Bank studyof the tourist sector (completed in January-May, 1988 and published in 1989)showed that 20.6 percent of the employees in tourist and related industrieswere women. Carpet had 66.4 percent female employees. Distribution offemale employees as per the level of jobs was more of less even in touristindustry while in the related industries, they were concentrated at basic levels(Table 3). Relatively few women seemed to be employed in garments,probably because it was overwhelmingly dominated by emigrant labor.+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 33Table 3: Women in Tourism and Related Industries (1988)Subsector Overall LevelTop Middle BasicTourist 10.8 10.5 11.2 10.6Related 48.6 4.6* 2.5* 61.3*Total 20.6 9.6 10.8 25.2Source: NRB, 1989, pp. 293-302.* Does not include handicraft.Self -employment and the informal SectorWorkersThe overwhelming majority of workers are still self-employed or ownaccount workers while less than one percent are employers. The percentageof self-employed workers, which remained more or less constant at about 86percent between 1971 and 1981, has decreased to 75 percent in 1991 (AnnexTable A.5). Males mainly account for that decrease. In other words, largerproportions of women are self-employed than men. There is a slow butperceptible change taking place in the employment status of the population.The proportions of both male and female employees in the populations areincreasing while those of the self-employed or unpaid family worker aredecreasing. This may signify a positive or negative trend, depending onwhether those who move out of the self-employment are getting better jobs orjust moving out because of improvements caused by flooding of the marketby factory produced goods. The flood of the plastic goods in the market forexample, has ruined many traditional craft workers.Most male and female unpaid family workers are below 20 years of age.The proportion of men and women working as unpaid family workersdecreases with increase in age. In the higher age groups the percentage of themale; unpaid family worker is negligible. Furthermore, with an increase inage the percentage of male employers expands. That is also true of femaleemployers although the increase is less significant. It should, however, benoted that most women portrayed as self-employed are actually working asunpaid family workers. Women working in household farms or other householdenterprises would not be perceived as unpaid family workers andreported so.+

34 Gender and Democracy in NepalTable 4: Selected Indicators of Employment Status.(In percent)Sex Un- Wage Avg. Wage SelfEmployed Employment (%) (Rs.) EmploymentAG Outside AG AG Outside AG AG Outside AG TotalMale 4.2 13.3 16.3 44 76 59.8 10.7 100Female 2.8 11.1 2.7 35 56 81.6 4.6 100Both Sexes 3.4 12.2 9.5 40 74 70.7 7.7 100Source: NLSS, 1996, 00. 42-48NLSS (1996) indicated that lesser proportion of women reported unemployedthan men and than women revived lower wages than men (Table 4).Overwhelming majority of those employed are self employed, but proportionatelymore women are self employed than men and more women work inagriculture than men both in wage and non-wage employment.Majority of the self-employed and unpaid family workers, both men andwomen are in agriculture. Nevertheless, there are numerous small, unregisteredproduction entities engaged in the production of variety of productsboth for home consumption as well as for local sales and a significantproportion of manufacturing in Nepal takes place within the household. Also,the production of a few selected export products such as carpets is widelydiffused. Their operations are generally restricted to off-farm hours and henceemployment is only part-time. Units are widely scattered, but predominatelylocated in the Hills and Mountains, along with major clusters in urban areas.Very few women could earn more than rupees 2,000 per month from suchactivities, even from full-time employment (UNIDO, 1988).Women Entrepreneurs and Their ProblemsSince the social milieu restricts women’s role within the household theyare mostly involved in home base industries such as, food processing,garments hosiery and crafts. However, these industries are either progressivelydying due to competition from imported products or being replaced byorganized formal units. On the one hand, the displacement of traditionalcrafts by light industry is causing the replacement of female workers by malelaborers (Rana and Shah, 1989). On the other, women are being converted+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 35into wage laborers in such specialized sectors as the carpet industry. Womenhave been functioning as managers, supervisors, entrepre-neurs, and evenskilled worker in home based craft enterprises. As industrial activitiesbecome increasingly externalized, however, both male as well as femaleworkers lose control over the production process and become trans-formedinto wage labor. In this process, women are affected more since newlyemerging organized industries need not only more capital but also lay stresson more educated and mobile laborers. The managerial class in theseindustries, which is dominated by the indo-Aryan and westernized conceptionsof gender specialization, reinforce their own biases in hiring and firing.Further a few women who remain proprietors face serve problems of lack ofcapital, access to institutional credit, lack of access to marketing network,marketing information, appropriate business training and education. Otherconstraints include limited access to modern management methods andtechnology; and high cost of production leading to uncompetitive pricing.They also lack self-confidence and risk taking and staying capacity as theyhave access to very little capital and may face numerous family problems intheir enterprise.Child LaborersWith the resource crunch in households, girl are forced to work earlier thanboys. As per 1991 population census, there are about 532,000 economicallyactive children aged 10-14 years (CBS, 1995). Relatively a much higher proportionsof this age group of girl children are economically active (28.0 %)compared to male children (18.1). One study (Cheery, 1996) has reclassifiedthe economically inactive children further into those in school and not inschool and concluded that those not in school are also economi-cally active.This classification puts boys’ and girls’ economic activity rates at 25.5 and49.4 percent respectively. Girls in the poorer households have much heavierworkload than boys of the similar age group (Annex Table A.6)Children work mainly in agricultural farms as most of the populationsdo. But proportionately there are more child laborers in certain industries,e.g., carpets, tea estates, brick factories, stone quarries and the servicesectors, particularly hotels, tea shops and restaurants, domestic servants andporters. Young girls are recruited into forced prostitution on a wide scale.The working conditions in such in duration are often appalling (see Sattaur,1993; and Pradhan, 1993). Poverty, family disruption, parental illiteracy,agrarian relations forcing families into bonded laborers, are some of themajor causes of child labor. Legislation against child laborers, thoughadequate is rarely enforced. Child laborers face long hours of work in unheal-+

36 Gender and Democracy in Nepalthy environment, low wages and hazardous conditions of work. This leads tovarious diseases among child laborers and denies them educationalopportunities. Employers do not devote any resource to improve the situationof child laborers (CWIN, 1995).The girl labor rates surpass the boy labor rates in all 75 districts. Foreach 100 working boys there are 219 girls in the Hills and 177 girls in theTarai are working. The gender imbalance ratio is higher in the Western Hilland Mountain regions, than in other parts of the country.The main issue is how to improve the situation of child laborers andincrease their access to education and better future opportunities withoutstopping their sources of income. Many families are too poor to support theirown children. Others have abandoned them. A third group of child workers,is orphaned with no relatives to care for them.DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE (1980-1995)Plans and ProgramsAt the National level, the government policies have tried to women’sproblems in various ways. The government had emphasized women’s involvementin all programs and projects, recognized legal impediment to theireconomic empowerment and enunciated special programs for meeting theirneeds already in the Sixth Five year Plan (1981-1985). The Seventh Planexpanded on these themes. The Eighth Five year Plan, (NPC/HMG, 1992)declared, “the Government is committed to equal and meaningful participationof women in development.” Nevertheless, at the program level there wasno difference in the three plans (Table 5). All three plans, with slight variationsin emphasis, focused on small-scale income generation, education andtraining, and MCH and family planning programs for women. Required legalreforms were to be implemented to facilitate women’s participation in development.The Eighth Plan, in particular, mentioned about increasing women’srepresentation at decision making levels in the government, non governmentand semi government sectors and a monitoring system for recording genderdiscrimination at work. A suitable organizational structure for coordinationand monitoring of activities relating to women was also envisaged.Achievements and ProblemsIt has been a learning process as elsewhere with few achievements andnumerous problems. In the Eighth Plan the focus was on mainstreaming. A+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 37number of positive developments have taken place during the last 25 yearssince 1980. Notable achievements (1980-1995) include:♦♦♦♦Establishment of number of institutions, including a MWSW, a divisionin NPC, and WDD in MLD.Increase in women’s participation in sectoral programs, such as farmertraining’s, forestry groups and skill training’s to 16-20 percent.Initiation of specific programs for women which include! Large, national level credit programs such as PCRW, WDP/SFDP,five regional banks and MCPW.! Educational programs such as special provisions for female teachers,scholarships for girls, etc.! Setting concrete targets for reduction of MMR.! Extension of health facilities to increase the access of women andchildren to primary health care, expanding IEC programs for nutrition,health and sanitation information and conducting immunization,nutrition supplement and vitamin “A” supplement programs.A comprehensive bill making women’s right to property a little moresecure and strengthening punitive measures against violence is pendingin the Parliament.Major problems, now, relate to implementation. The experience dealingwith women’s issues in the past two decades indicate that exclusive focus onwomen as an analytical category and efforts to cater to their practical needsfor food, shelter, basic education and primary health are not sufficient forbuilding an equal opportunity society for women and men.Moreover, in the absence of necessary structural and attitudinal changes,the prospects of her extensive involvement in programs and projects itselfbecomes constrained. This will effect the efficiency aspect as well. This isvery evident in Nepal.From a review of developmental efforts in Nepal, Acharya (1997)writes,“Nepal has reached a stage on women’s issues where theimplementation aspects are most crucial. Right policy enunciationhas been made at the macro level, but there are no mechanisms toimplement them either at the macro, mesa or micro levels. Womenhave gained somewhat in terms of educational and health status andpolitical awareness, but gender difference in thermos of access to+

38 Gender and Democracy in Nepalresources and positions of power have changes little, inspire ofmuch rhetoric. Attitudinal changes required for effective implementationof policies and programs ion women have been rather slow tomaterialize . . . The social attitude towards women has not changedmuch either. The family is still seen as the primary responsibility ofwomen and good marriage and mother hood as the “ultimate goals”for them. This has effected various educational development andcredit programs adversely. Girls are withdrawn from schools andskill development programs, before they complete the coursesbecause they have to be married off, credit can not be granted to theunmarried women because they shift their residence on marriage,they must start motherhood early because otherwise they will bestigmatized socially, they must start motherhood early becauseotherwise they will be stigmatized socially, they must bear constantdomestic violence because that is the only shelter they have, etc.”+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 39Table 5. Development Plans on Women (1980/81-1995/96)The Sixth Five Year Plan The Seventh Five Year Plan The Eighth Five Year(1980/81-1984/85) (1985-1989/90) (1992/93-1996/97)1. Attempt to involve womendirectly in agriculturaltraining because overwhelmingmajority of womenwere involved in agriculture.2. To encourage women incottage and small industrialactivities by providing themtraining, capital and marketingfacilities because ofextensive unemploymentduring agricultural offseasonsand carry outprograms to raise women isincome opportunities andstatus.3. To involve women inpopulation control activitiesso as to increase efficiencyof population programs.4. To increase the role ofwomen in formal andinformal education as alsotrainings on health andnutrition education.5. To provide increasedemployment opportunities toeducated women so as tomake better use of theirknowledge and skill.6. To reform laws andregulations which inhibitwomen’s participation indevelopment (HMG, 1981)1. To enable women toparticipate activity in thedevelopment process byproviding appropriateopportunities, to foster selfrelianceamong women byincreasing their productivecapacity and to raise theirsocial and economic status bythis all round development.2. There will be additionalprograms in agriculture forwomen in the field ofagricultural extension. Quotaswill be fixed in varioustraining programs.3. Training on basic health needsand maternal and child careprograms will be conducted.4. Literacy among women will beincreased in the educationsector quotas and specialincentives will be used toincrease female participation ineducation and various trainingprograms5. More emphasis will be givento development of cottageindustries for providing workfor women during the off-agriculturalseasons. Special provisionwill be made for womenin the provision of trainingfacilities, credit and otherresources. Marketing facilitieswill also be developed.6. Women will be encouraged toget involved in forest protectionand preservation.7. Facilities will be provided forparticipation in governmentand non-government organizations.8. Nepal women’s Organizationwill be facilitated to conductdevelopment activities forwomen.9. Legal reforms will be effectedmove provisions hinderingwomen’s participation innational development.1. The Government is committedto equal and meaningfulparticipation of women indevelopment process.2. Programs designed to enhancewomen’s participation will beincluded in economic andsocial sectors (agriculture,forestry, industry, health &education)3. Policies will also beenunciated to raise employmentopportunities for womenin these areas.4. Credit, technical known-howentrepreneurship training &Market services will beextended.5. Policies will be adopted toencourage the appointment ofwomen the government, &non-government sectors and toprovide them opportunities forcareer development.6. Laws and by laws whichhinder the development ofwomen will be reformed.7. Information on genderdiscrimination at work will bemonitored and documented.8. A suitable organizationalstructure will be formed forcoordination and monitoringactivities relating to women.Source: Respective Five-Year Plans.+

40 Gender and Democracy in NepalHuman Development Report (1996) concluded that such constraintshave rather been universal. It clearly states that, in spite of much progress inmany developing countries in the preceding five decades, everywhere thestructure and quality of growth has not been satisfactory. It has been a“jobless, ruthless, rootless, voiceless and featureless growth.” It has beenvery inequitable to women. In the same vein the Beijing Platform Actionstated that “ most of the goals set out in the Nairobi Forward LookingStrategies for the Advancement of Women have not been achieved. Barriersto women’s empowerment remain despite the efforts of government as wellas NGOs and women and men everywhere.” Particularly highlighted were:the persistent and increasing burden of poverty of women, inadequacies andinequality in access to education and training, health care and relatedservices, violence against women, unequal access to power and decisionmaking roles, inequalities in economic structures and policies and access toresources, biaseness in the mass media and the communication system andinsufficient mechanism at all levels to promote women’s interest andadvancement.Consequently, the task set by the United Nations for the fourth decade,is not only to increase women’s participation in development par se. But toempower them in such a way that, they can bring about a fundamental changein those socio-economic structures, institutions and attitudes that reinforceor/and introduce new forms of gender inequities. His Majesty’s Governmentof Nepal has set it self a triple task of mainstreaming, eliminating genderinequality and empowering women and the Ministry of women and SocialWelfare has prepared a detailed Action Plan for implementing the BeijingPlatform for Action.Specific Problems in Nepal among other things include:• gender insensitivity of the sectoral and project implementingagencies in general;• lack of capacity for planning and gender analysis in WID institutionin general;• general insensitivity of major training programs to gender issues;• insufficient efforts to include women’s representation decisionmaking roles; and complete lack interest in women’s programs at thedistrict level and absence of a coordinating mechanism, completelack of a monitoring and evaluation mechanism.(For details on this section see Acharya, 1997a)+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 41FUTURE DIRECTIONSConceptually, Nepal has taken note of these limitations and committed itselfto the following plan of action in UN’s Fourth World Conference on Womenin Beijing.• To revitalize women as integral rather than sectoral beginsfollowing a life cycle approach and redesign “mainstreaming”programs with this perceptive in sight.• Reform of laws discriminatory to women, particularly relating toancestral property and violence against women, strengthen the lawenforcement agencies for implementation of laws against violenceand legal as well as rehabilitation assistance to victims of violence.• To incorporate women’s needs and concerns in poverty alleviationprograms.• To broaden the coverage of primary health care facilities, to reduceiodine deficiency, anemia and maternal mortality to half the currentrates and to provide immunization coverage to 90 percent by theyear 2000.• To achieve universal literacy within the year 2000, and to increasewomen’s access to technical schools and short term training throughscholarship and quotas for female students.• To institute within one-year regulations and mechanisms to screenand audit all programs and projects from women’s perspective andto facility entry and career prospect for women at all levels ofgovernment institutions.• To encourage and assist NGO’s to work with community basedorganization for advocacy, institution building and delivery ofservices to women.An Action Plan recommended recently by the MWSW forimplementation of the Beijing Platform for Action expands upon the abovethemes relating them to the 12 objectives laid down in the Platform, pinningdown the responsibilities for each action required.The Ninth Plan Approach Paper sets triple objectives of mainstreaming,eliminating gender inequality and empowering women along the linesproposed by the Beijing Platform for Action. Mainstreaming sectionemphasizes the formulation of clearly defined policies, targets and programs+

42 Gender and Democracy in Nepalare national and regional levels, improvement in information to reflectwomen’s contributions to GDP, further institutional development andcreation of a monitoring and evaluation mechanism. Elimination of GenderInequality includes reform of discriminatory laws, affirmative action in favorof women specific measures to eliminate violence against women, andinformation campaign for gender equality. Empowerment includes provisionsfor mandatory representation of women in policy formulation, ensuring theiraccess to credit and land, meeting their health needs as women, education,training and technology, etc. Its details are still under preparation.A PLATFORM FOR ACTIONNepal’s development strategy in near future is expected to focus on broadbased growth with emphasis on social and rural physical infrastructure.Given severe problems in implementation and general insensitivity of theHMG’s implementing machinery to gender issues and lack of capability ofWID institutions in general, the approach to gender should be multifaceted,including policies, capacity building and reorientation of sectoral programsand projects in gender perspective. The policies should focus on reform of thediscriminatory laws and regulations, gender sensitization of the governmentand non-government implementing machinery, increasing the scope ofsectoral objectives and programs related to women and funding gendersensitization institutional network, education and employment.PoliciesLegal Reform: Although legal reforms for equal rights in paternal propertyand increase in women’s representation at higher political and administrativelevels, are on the priority list of Nepalese women, given general resistance tothis issue, policy dialogue with the government could focus on legal reformsfor creating an equal opportunity society as targeted in the 9 th Plan ApproachPaper. Particularly, equal land rights in the resettlement areas and equalaccess to public resources such as community forestry could be included inthe current agenda.Gender Sensitization: A policy decision on gender sensitization of the policeand government machinery at all levels must be taken consciously andimplemented vigorously. Gender sensitization is necessary at all political andadministrate levels because no matter what manuals are provided, translationof programs into actions depends primary on human attitude to the issue athand. Since gender bias is so ingrained in the social psyche and socialbehavior, it is necessary to sensitize the people on various and invisibleindicators of gender biases. It has to be an on-going process because of the+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 43constant turnover of personnel at the district level and new recruits to thepolitical leadership.Women in Government Administration: Recruitment of more women inresponsible positions must be a policy. The recent amendments to the CivilService Act may be expected to facilities this process. Regularization of theWDD office and its staff into the government services needs immediateattention. Vacancy in district level positions of WDOs and moral of thePCRW staff is one of the constrains in micro-credit. Regularization of PCRWstructure is a must for expansion of women’s credits programs.Overcoming Marginality: Marginality of women’s components is a majorissue in most sectoral programs. Real equal access to education, training andemployment opportunities in all programs and projects should be ensured thegender both through policies and project intervention strategies.Specific Projects: The government and the donors should continue to findspecific projects for women to enable women to overcome the genderinequity entrenched in the social structure and social psyche.Capacity BuildingCapacity building may be facilitated by consciously provisioning for gendersensitization programs, in all projects for capacity building of relevantagencies. Capacity building efforts should encompass all levels offgovernment administration and political institutions such as DDCs andVDCs. These should also include NGOs and the private sector.Centrel Levela) The Women’s Ministry and Women’s Divisions or cells in sectoralMinistries/Departments: These institutions lack staff and resources forfulfilling their mandates effectively as mentioned above. SectoralMinistries also lack gender expertise to mainstream gender concerns.Resources should be allocated for building institutional capabilities forgender analysis within Women’s Ministry or other relevant Ministries andinstitutions.b) Development of a regular Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism andProcedures: Monitoring is another big loophole in all programs. Amonitoring mechanism needs to be developed as an integral part of themonitoring process in the Planning Commission. The Ministry of Womenshould be assisted in developing its own mechanisms to monitor andevaluate development programs from women’s perspective. It should be+

44 Gender and Democracy in Nepalhelped to develop indicators for measuring the actual impact of variousprograms on women’s social status and the process of empowerment.NPC should such as agriculture and forestry, education and health shouldbe assisted specifically in capacity building for gender planning andmonitoring.c) Development of a Training Infrastructure for Gender Sensitization:Gender sensitization is a must for all staff (male and female) in theWomen’s Ministry and Women’s Divisions and cells in various ministriesas also the district and grass roots level workers. Various traininginstitutions within and outside the government structures, e.g. RuralTraining Academy, Staff College and Women’s Training Centers (WTC),Universities and colleges and private sector/NGO training institutions,need resources and expert input in designing and integrating gendersensitization materials in their various courses and trainings as alsodeveloping new packages. Particularly WTCs, the Rural TrainingAcademy and Staff College could be assisted in regularizing gendertraining in their own training calendars on a large scale. A review of alltheir training materials and integration of gender perspective in suchtraining can help to gender sensitize the development programs on largescale.d) The problems of implementation of policies and management of facilitiesare especially severe in education and health. Decentralization of decisionmaking should be a priority area in both these sectors. This has beenrecommended by numerous reports and studies (e.g., IIDS , 1994, DFID,1997).But the process of decentralization has some how bypassed thesesectors. For example, School Management Committees (SMCs) should beleft free of political intervention, and given total power over schoolmanagement including a role in pay scales, incentives, hiring and firing ofthe teachers. SMCs menders should be parents who send their children toparticular schools rather than partisan politicians. Certain proportion ofSMC members should be constituted by mothers. Similarly, selectedmothers or others or other’s groups in the village should be representedoverwhelmingly in Sub-Health Post Management Boards. ThisManagement Board should be given complete power over the SHPmanagement including a role in pay scales, hiring and firing of staff.e) The NGO movement in Nepal is nascent and much maligned (Acharaya,1997b). But a few of them have emerged quite well at the national levelas development NGOs delivering services to the population. A largenumber of NGOs especially at district and regional levels, however, lackexpertise and have little capacity for delivery of services. These should be+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 45assisted selectively on the basis of their potentiality and not on the basisof political cronyism. The role of KMTNC in the development of ecotoursimand a few NGOs in social mobilization and credit delivery inMicro-credit Project may be considered a success. But except forKMTNC, financial viability seems problems for most NGOs.According to MCPW’s experience NGOS growing out of communitybased organizations (CBOs) or Cooperative Federations growing frombelow could be better alternative channels for service delivery and credit.Social Mobilization becomes more effective if initiated by rather thangovernment agencies, as (CBO’s) capacity in social mobilization is yet tobe tested.Women’s NGOs have been more successful in advocacy and trainingrather than delivery of services per se. Their efforts for networking foradvocacy and capacity building for gender sensitization and trainingcould also be supported through donor funding.District LevelDDCs, VDCs and the district level development administration. The districtlevel political bodies and the line agencies have no gender expertise formainstreaming the gender concerns. With the new Decentralization Act(1997) all development programs and projects are supposed to originate fromthe grass roots. As such gender expertise required from VDC to nationallevels. The government should initiate appropriate measures for setting andregularizing a mechanism for gender sensitization of the planning andimplementation process from village to the national levels. A dialogue withdonors will be useful in designing interventions for capacity building.Particularly, UNDP’s Participatory District Development Program (PDDP)needs redesigning for gender sensitive (see Sahavagi, 1997 for details on thisissue).A second alternative, could be restructuring of the current WomenDevelopment Office operating under MLD at the district level to function asa coordination office at the district level. When PCRW was introduced in1982, there were no large scale credit or community development programsdirected to women in the country. Currently there are regional banksproviding credit primarily to women. In addition thousands of NGO’s andINGOs are operating their own small scale saving and credit programs. NepalRastra Bank funded Micro Credit Program has introduced a new model forproviding credit to women directly through NGOs.+

46 Gender and Democracy in NepalThe PCRW model is also found to be very expensive model of creditdelivery with 66 percent subsidy component. Some redesigning seems to be amust. The women Development Section at the districts therefore could beslowly divested of their direct group organization and credit preparationfunctions. These functions should be transfer to the banks themselves or toother financial intermediates such as NGOs or cooperatives, which aregrowing from below. The Women Development Development Section shouldbe assigned the functional responsibility of monitoring and supervisingincorporation of women’s concerns in all sectoral district and VDC levelprograms, organizing and facilitating gender training for politicians,administrations and field staff at VDC/DDC levels, supervising andmonitoring Micro Credit Program implemented through NGOs and reportingthe progress on gender concerns to the Planning Commission and theMinistry of Women and Social Affairs required. This unit could be placedunder Women’s Ministry.Project Interventionsa) The government along with policy initiative, capacity building, andmainstreaming, should also broaden the scope of stand-alone projects forwomen in fields where women and children predominate - for examplespecific education and skill development or in the sector.b) It is necessary to widen the scope and depth of mainstreaming byproviding women, employment opportunities in non-traditional sectorssuch as paper manufacturing, software development, organized trading,etc. In Nepal even the so called traditional sectors such as garmentmaking is monopolized by emigrant male labor. Sewing and knittingtraining have been widespread but not adequately linked to work inorganize garment manufacturing industries.Also targeting of training to particular groups will increase the efficiencyof such training - for example sewing to the tailor cast and shoe making tocobblers. who are loosing jobs on a large scale due to availability of massproduct garments and shoes, which are primarily imported. Minimumeducational requirements and lack of information are a big hurdle to therespective service caste for getting into such trainings.Designing industry has been largely male dominated. A study could becommissioned under assistance to CTEVE to explore possibilities of nontraditionalsector employment for women.+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 47Social Mobilization and CreditSocial mobilization, group formal education and credit are felt to be powerfulintervention strategies for reaching women effectively and for theirempowerment across all sectoral programs. HMG should continue itsemphasis on the above aspects where relevant. Group mechanism doesprovide a basic commendation and scope for women’s development andsubsequent empowerment. Women who are originally shy in public andimbued with little self-confidence to express their opinions in the public andmay show considerable leadership capacities ultimately.Savings and credit as an initial inducement for group formation servesan useful purpose in bringing women together. It also could help women toraise household living standard to some extent and to meet emergency needsfrom group fund at reasonable interest rate. It empowers women to the extentthat household menders and she herself feel that she is contributing to themaintenance of the household. This recognition by herself, her immediatefamily menders and the local community seems to be the most valued aspectof these small savings/credit and income generation programs. Women whofrom groups are also able ultimately to influence some community action infavor of women, e.g., banning alcohol misuse in the villages. Ownership of acollective element for group sustainability.However, group formation and its eventual sustainability is a long drawnout process. Further, for empowerment, improvement in gender relationsmust be an integral part of all social mobilization programs including credit.Field observation reveals that often women are aware of the oppressivegender relationship in their own community but are helpless to do anythingabout it. When programs sidetrack such problems women become apatheticto the programs (see Sahvagi, 1997). Non-formal literacy classes must alsoform an integral part of group mobilization process both in the rural andurban areas. Education is a necessary element in empowerment of women.Sectoral Issues and Future StrategiesMainstreaming should be the primary strategy for catering to the major needsof women at the sectoral levels. It needs to be direct to creating maximumaccess to sources of employment, credit technology educational and healthfacilities. At operational level, emerging gender issues may be summarized asa) ensuring adequate analysis of all programs and projects with a genderperspective (b) gender sensitization of the implementation mechanism andmachinery; (c) ensuring adequacy of measures initiated to ensure gender in+

48 Gender and Democracy in Nepalproject benefits; and (d) development of monitoring indicators andmechanisms to monitor and evaluate project impact on women in terms ofnot only her participation but her empowerment a well. A few sectors arediscussed below specifically as example.Agriculture: The agricultural sector employs the largest proportion ofwomen. Much of Nepal’s agriculture, specially in the hills, depends onwomen. But women still form, less than 20 percent of trainees in agriculturaltraining programs. Inspire of much rhetoric, little efforts and resources havebeen spent so far improving efficiency are concentrated precisely in theseoperations. Women’s programs and administrative rules and regulations inagriculture. Very few women are represented at decision making levels.Finally, lack of access to and other resources severely limit women’s choicein the agricultural decision making.HMG’s agriculture programs and projects should target as the majoractors in agriculture and not as the major participants. The AgriculturalPerspective Plan (APP) explicitly seeks to ensure women’s participation inagricultural program through staffing and attitudinal changes in the regularfacilities rather than having separate facilities for them. APP expects tobenefit women from high growth of dairy production, rapid growth in highvaluecrop and specific efforts to ensure women’s participation in research,extension, credit and oversight, and access to fertilizer and irrigation. MOAshould pay specific attention to the following recommen-dations in itssectoral programs and projects:" all agricultural extension and farmer training programs involve bothmen and women on a 50:50 basis;" special emphasis to involving the women in Tarai;" initiatives for developing and disseminating women friendlyindigenous technology for energy, food and fodder; particularlyrelevant are seed selection, post harvest cleaning and weedingoperations;" encouraging women’s groups in natural resource protection andfinally; and" ensuring women’s equal access to land, natural resources and otherassets (at least within Bank assisted projects).Education and Training: The issues on education and training include socialconstraints on girl’s schooling and rural/urban, regional and inter-group gapsin female education levels; heavy workload of girls, specifically for above+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 49primary age group and low quality of public school teaching, (it effects girlsspecially because more girls are likely to go to public schools) rigidity offormal schooling hours; high cost of girl’s education; lack of innovation in allout of school training directed to women lack of need assessment andmarketing research and lack of gender sensitivity in training materials,inappropriate methodology and pattern of training.Programs and projects in the education sector pay specific attention togender equity issues and ensure marketability of skills taught. Specificstrategies for the education sector should include." continuation of revision of the books and the reading materials,female teacher and scholarship programs for on a broader scale;" integration of gender as a specific subject on all primary/secondaryschool teacher’s trainings;" provision for special schools in low caste localities because childrenfrom low castes are often mistreated by the teachers as well asstudents in mixed schools;" provision for incentives not only for specifically disadvantage areasbut also to educationally disadvantaged caste/ethnic groups, both inthe hills and the Tarai areas; and" specific efforts to cater to 10-17 groups of girls, for example bysplitting school hours in two – 4 hour shifts, allocating resources forgirls’ hostels on a larger scale, provisioning large scale and adequatescholarship to girls, recruiting and providing for training of femaleteachers on a large scale and provisioning for girl in selected areas,where strict purdha is practiced.Particularly, with focus on human development, a series of projects arein the offing with special focus on teacher’s training both at primary andsecondary levels on a large scale, gender sensitization should be included inall training programs even if the subjects are science or mathematics. Thiswill help to gender sensitize the future generation on a large scale. Otherwiseit is felt that we are bringing generation of gender biased youngsters, and thetask of debrain-washing them will never end.Training’s in skill development should match the nature of the industryfeasible in the area, For example, training in computer skill can be usefulonly if concentrated in and around urban areas, while sewing, knitting andtextile making have to be concentrated in batches to particular areas, wherepossibility of employment in such areas are high. Only then women can use+

50 Gender and Democracy in Nepalthem for income generation. An example in point is the knitting industry,which is generating good income for women in and around Kathamndu andPokhara valleys, while in the Far-West it has been a total failure.Tourism and Other Employment: Technological innovations are required toassist entrepreneurial women in reduction of production cost, productspecialization and exploration of market niche. Specifically in the tourismsector which has large scale female participation, programs and projectsshould incorporate following strategy on gender.A separate program for women entrepreneurship development should beinitiated. A project for the promotion of women entrepreneurs could beconsidered in this context. The present skill development training providedby different organizations are traditional and lack management and networkingcomponents. To start with a national scale study is necessary to dig outthe psychological, social and technical problems that the women face inbusiness management and recommend solutions. Few organizations in thenon-government sectors such as Women Entrepreneur’s Association of Nepal(WEAN). Association for Craft Producers (ACP), Janakpur Women’sDevelopment Centre (JWDC) are working with women entrepreneurs. Theyoperate on a very limited scale.Major credit programs should devise mechanisms to facilitate access oforganizations such as WEAN and ACP in Kathmandu. Association ofCottage and small Industries in Nepalgunj and JWDC in Janakpur to creditthrough NRB. Such associations could also be assisted in market nicheexploration and cost redaction through technical assistance.Continuation of women’s involvement in management of tourist facilitiesas planned under eco-tourism component of the II Tourism DevelopmentProject.Ensure 50-50 participation of women and men in all related training’sbecause tourism sector employs women on a large scale, but they areconcentrated mainly in traditional jobs such as, clerks and receptions. Fewwomen have reached at the higher level of the organizational hierarchy.Establish a fund for rehabilitation of the commercial sex workers andpublic education packages to prevent trafficking, drug use, alcoholism andspread of STDS and AIDS in tourist areas. This should also ensure adequatecredit access to women in the tourism sector expanding their business.Rural Infrastructure: Rural infrastructure includes rural roads, irrigationfacilities, rural energy sources and development of rural markets. HMG’s+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 51near future strategy in Nepal is likely to focus on rural infrastructure buildingfor boosting a broad based agricultural development. But so far, specificattention to women’s concerns in such projects has been minimal. Its futurestrategy needs.• To ensure that women are provided with equal ownership and userrights in all transfers of public assets in these fields.• To encourage and accord priority to women in forming water user’sgroups and in extension training, credit for establishment, operationand management of shallow tube-wells and treadle pumps.• To specify how the project specific gender policies are to beachieved.References CitedAcharaya, Meena and Pushpa Acharya1997a1997bGender Equality and Empowerment of Women. A Status Report, UNEPA,Kathmandu.“Non-Government Organization (NGO) Led Development Strategy inNepal” in Developmental Practices in Nepal Edited by Krishna B.Battachan and Chaitanya Mishra. T.U. Kathmandu.1994a The Statistical Profile of Nepalese Women: An Update in the PolicyContext. IIDS, Kathmandu.1994b “Political Participation of Women in Nepal” in Women and PoliticsWorldwide. (Ed.) Barbara Nelson and Nazma Chaudhari. Yale UniversityPress. New Haven. U.S.A.1981 The Maithili Women of Sirsia. The Status of Women in Nepal Vol. II. Part1. CEDA, Kathamndu.Arharya, Meena and Lynn Bennett1981 An Aggregate Analysis and Summary of 8 Village Studies. The Status ofWomen in Nepal. Vol. II, Part CEDA, Kathmandu.APROSC & John Mellor Associates, Inc.1995 Nepal Agriculture Perspective Plan. Final Report, Main Documentprepared for National Planning Commission. HMG/N and AsianDevelopment Bank, T.A .No 1854-NEP.Basnet, Prahba1992 Status of Women Workers in Sow Industries (Nepali). A paper presented tothe Tripartite National Workshop on the role of Labor Administration inPromotion of employment and Welfare of Women Workers in Nepal, Jan1992. Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, WDD and ILO, Kathmadu.+

52 Gender and Democracy in NepalBennett, Lynn1993 Dangerous Wives and Sacred Sisters. Columbia University Press, NewYork.Boserup, Ester1970 Women’s Role in Economic Development. George Allen and Unwin,London.Central Bureau of Statistics1995 Population Monograph of Nepal. Kathmandu1993-94 Annual Surveys of Manufacturing Establishment, Nepal 1993-94,KathmanduCentral Bureau of Statistics/NPC/HMG1996 Nepal Living Standers Survey, 1995/96. Main Findings Vol.I & IIKathmandu.CERID1986a Womens’ Patriciapation in Non- formal Education Programmes in Nepal.T.U Kathmandu.1986b Education of Girls and Women in Nepal, T.U. Kathmandu.Chhetri, Devendra1996 Child Issues and Poverty in Nepal. APROSC & IDRC, December 1996,Kathmadnu.CWIN1995 Voice of Child Workers. Issue No 25, December 1995 , Kathamndu.Goonting, D.1994 Preliminary Research Findings, An Impact Study of Micro-Credit Interventionfor Disadvantaged Groups. The case of PCRW in Nepal, USRPD,University of Guelph, Canada.IIDS1992 Rural Services Delivery Review Phase II.- Report. A Strategy for RuralServices Delivery Volume I. Volume II with Annexes. IIDS, Kathmandu.Joshi, A.1985 Women’s Participation in Carpet Industry: With Special Reference toKathmandu District, Tribhuvna University, Nepal.Ministry of Agriculture/HMG2053/1996 Female Farmer Development Program Progress Report (in Nepali)Kathmandu.1993a Women’s Role in Production of Main Food Crops of Nepal (paddy, maize+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 53and wheat). Ministry of Agriculture/HMG, Kathmandu.1993b Women Farmers in Nepalese Agriculture: A Case Study of selectedDistricts. Ministry of Agriculture/HMG, Kathmandu.1994 Women in Resettlement Area: A Case Study of Nawalparasi District.Ministry of Agriculture/HMG, Kathmandu.Ministry of Women and Social Welfare/HMG1997 Progress Sheet. Ministry of Women and Social Welfare/HMG, Kathmandu.1997 Laingic Samanta and Mahila Sasktikaran. Ministry of Women and SocialWelfare/HMG, Kathmandu.National Planning Commission/HMG1981 Sixth Fivve Year Plan. National Planning Commission/HMG, Kathmandu.1985 Seventh Five Year Plan. National Planning Commission/ HMG, KTM1992 Eighth Five Year Plan. National Planning Commission/HMG, Kathmandu.1995 Country Report: Nepal (presented in the UN Fourth World Conference onWomen, Beijing (1995). National Planning Commission/HMG, Kathmandu.1997 Revised Approach Paper to Ninth Plan (Nepali). National PlanningCommission/ HMG, Kathmandu.Nepal Rastra Bank1989 Income and Employment Generation from Tourism in Nepal. NepalRastra Bank, Kathmandu.1988 Multiple Household Budget Survey: A Study in Income Distribution,Employment and Consumption Patterns in Nepal, Nepal Rastra Bank.New ERA1997 A situation Analysis of Sex Work and Trafficking in Nepal with Referenceto Children, October 1996. Submitted to UNICEF, Pulchowk, Nepal.Niraula, Badri1994 Notes on use of Labor Force Data in the Changed Perspective (Mimeo)Ojha, H.K.1984 Women’;s participation in Handloom Industry At Kirtipur VillageDissertation. Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.PDDP/NPC/UNDP1996 Participatory District Development Programme: Village developmentthrough social mobilization, PDDP/NPC/UNDP, Kathmandu.Pradhan , Gauri (Ed.)1993 Ministry Behind the Looms: Child Laboures in the Carpet Factories,Opportunities and Prospects; Vol. I & II (Prepared for HMG/Nepal,+

54 Gender and Democracy in NepalUNIDO/ Vienna).Sattaur, Omar1993 Child Labour in Nepal. No. 13 ASI’s Child Labour Series. A report byanti- Slavery International and Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre(CWIN) Nepal.Sahavagi, Chitwan1997 Sustainable Human Development Action Research on Women Developmentsubmitted to NPC/MLD/UNDP/NEP/95/008, Lalitpur, Nepal.Sharma, Salikram and Pushpa Achatya1997 Improving the Access of Women to Farm Credit and FinancialInstitutions in Nepal. IIDS, Kathmandu.Sharma, Salikram and Vishnu Nepal1996 Microenterprise in Nepal; Dynamics, Prospects and Constraints.(Submitted to ESCAP, Bangkok).Shrestha, Motishova1990 Participation of Women in Industrial Development (in Nepali), A paperpresented in the Seminar in Women and Development organized by theMinistry of Labor and Social Welfare, Kathmandu.Shtrii Shakti1995 Women, Development Democracy: A study of the Socio- EconomicChange in the Status of Women in Nepal (1981-1993), prepared forUSAID, DANIDA, CCO.Thacker, Prabha1992 Technology, Women’s Work and Status: The Case of the Carpet Industryin Nepal: Mountain Regeneration and Employment. Discussion paperseries 21. ICIMOD, KathmanduTuladhar, Joyti1996 Factors affecting Women Entrepreneurship in Small and CottageIndustries in Nepal; Opportunities and Constraints, ILO and SIDA.UNIDO1988 The Cu1rrent and Prospective Contribution of Women in Nepal’sIndustrial Development: Regional and Country Studies Branch, IndustrialPolicy and Perspective Division.UN1995 Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, September 4-15,1995. UN.UNDP+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 551996 The Human Development Report.. UNDP, New York.World Bank, The1997 World Development Report.. The World Bank, Washington D.C.+

56 Gender and Democracy in NepalANNEX: TablesTable A.1. Economic Participation Rates by Sex and AgeGroupAge Group 1981 1991Male Female Male Female10-14 61.3 51.9 18.1 28.015-19 69.2 51.3 49.2 49.020-24 85.3 47.6 80.0 54.125-29 93.4 44.9 92.3 53.930-34 95.3 43.3 95.2 53.835-39 95.8 44.1 95.9 54.540-44 96.0 44.1 95.5 54.145-49 96.4 44.7 94.7 52.150-54 94.3 44.9 91.7 48.055-59 92.2 43.3 88.2 41.560-64 83.3 39.9 66.2 25.465+ 68.7 35.0 40.0 12.8All Ages 83.2 46.2 68.2 45.2Urban 74.9 31.5 59.4 20.3Rural 83.8 47.2 69.8 48.1Source: Population Monograph, CBS, 1995+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 57Table A.2. Distribution and Composition of labor Force by Industry(10 Years and above)Industry Distribution of Work Force Proportion of Female1981 1991 1981 1991Male Female Male FemaleI. Agriculture 88.7 95.8 74.9 90.5 36.4 45.0II. Non. Agriculture 9.2 2.9 23.8 8.9 14.3 20.0of which:Manufacturing 0.6 0.2 2.6 1.2 14.9 22.9Electricity, Gas & Water 0.1 0.0 0.3 0.0 4.9 6.4Construction 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.1 5.9 10.9Commerce 2.1 0.7 4.5 2.0 15.0 23.7Transport & Communication 0.2 0.0 1.1 0.1 4.6 3.9Finance & Business Service 0.2 0.0 0.4 0.1 10.2 13.4Personal & Communication 6.0 1.9 13.6 5.3 14.5 21.0Others - - 0.6 0.1 na 6.7III. Not Stated 2.1 1.4 1.2 1.2 na 23.7Source: Acharya 1994Table A.3: Occupational Distribution by Residence and Sex1991Major Occupational Group Rural Urban(in percent)Male Female Male FemaleI. Farm, Forest & Fishery 80.2 92.7 19.4 14.7II. Non-agriculture: 19.5 7.0 80.0 61.5of whichProfessional and Technical 2.3 0.4 5.1 7.4Administrative and Relate 0.2 0.0 3.4 1.2Clerical 1.0 0.1 7.5 4.4Sales 2.5 1.2 17.6 11.6Services 6.8 3.3 17.7 16.7Production 4.4 1.4 19.5 14.7Others 2.3 0.6 9.2 5.4III. Not Stated 0.3 0.3 0.6 0.6Total 100 100 100 100Source: Population Monograph, CBS, 1995Note: M=Male, F=Female+

58 Gender and Democracy in NepalTable A.4 Structure of Female Employment-ManufacturingSurvey(1986/87, 1990/91 and 1993/94)1986/87 1990/91 1993/94Total Female Total Female Total FemaleFood and Allied 18454 1.6 17789 12.7 31717103 17Drinks and Tobacco 8446 13.5 6945 8.0 79 10Textile and Wearing apparel 35639 3.3 55649 39.7 96993 33Wood, Paper and Printing 11829 5.8 7799 5.6 8882 10Plastics, Chemicals &Pharmaceuticals 7361 12.9 7445 14.4 11151 7Non metallic mineral Products 45757 14.4 58792 17.2 390 5Metallic Products 5540 1.9 3259 3.3 1890 3Electrical Machinery Supplies 838 6.8 843 2.8 4962 3Activities n.e.c 888 7.7 1089 6.3 62537 16Grand Total 134758 17.4 159610 23 228901 22Source: Population Census: 1971, 1981 and 1991, CBSA.5: Employment Status of Economically Active PopulationStatus Male Female Both(In percent)1971 1981 1991 1971 1981 1991 1971 1981 1991Employer 0.6 0.9 0.7 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.7 0.6Employee 11.7 11.8 27.8 3.6 3.8 12 9.3 9.1 21.4Self Employed 84.6 83.2 69.5 89.0 90 83.7 85.9 85.5 75.3Family Worker 69.5 1.7 1.5 7.2 4 3.5 4.3 2.5 2.3Not Stated 3.1 2.4 0.4 1.8 0.5 2.2 0.4Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100Source: Population Census: 1971, 1981 and 1991, CBS.+

Gender Issues : M. Acharya 59Table A 6: Hours of Work by Sex and ResidenceResidence 15+= Adults 10-14 Children 6-9 ChildrenMale Female Male Female Male FemaleRuralMountains 8.69 11.23 4.41 7.67 2.88 4.47Hills 7.89 10.67 4.06 6.06 1.85 3.40Taria 7.84 9.40 3.27 5.89 1.66 2.60UrbanHills 7.01 8.78 1.63 3.95 0.76 1.44Tar 7.83 8.90 2.37 4.33 0.99 2.22Source: Nepal Rastra Bank, 1988,P-356-360.+

+Women’s Political Participationin Perspectives and ChallengesKapil ShresthaPOLITICAL PARTICIPATION: CONCEPT AND MEANINGAristotle (384-322 B.C.) one of the greatest ancient Greek political thinkers,had rightly called human beings as the “zoon Politician” or the “Politicalanimal.” He was fully aware of the pervasive influence of politics the“highest form of human activity” in all aspects of the society and lives of thecitizens. As if to give a further credence to Aristotle’s observation, on theimportance of politics, the modern political scientists also believe that active,enlightened and equal participation of the citizens, both women and men, inthe political and decision making process at all levels, is the important preconditionfor success of a democratic political system. Such power sharingand participation by men and women is supposed to bestow, among otherthings, the element of legitimacy to the system, in addition to making itresponsive to the aspirations and needs of the people. Today, politicalparticipation is spoken of by democratically oriented politicians and politicalscientists as the nothing short of “cure-all” panacea for all the ailments andproblems of a political system. They believe that broadening of politicalparticipation is a hallmark of political modernization.However, the question is: what does the term “political participation”really mean? Here, in view of the multiplicity of interpretations and usages ofthe term and the paucity of relevant empirical data on a broad spectrum ofissues related to women’s political participation, the focus of analysis of thisarticle shall be on the participation of women in the formal politicalinstitutions like the Parliament and local development bodies.POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: THE REALITYStudying women’s participation in politics from the perspective of genderequality immediately raises the issue of systematic discrimination,powerlessness, marginalization and under representation of women almost all60

Gender Issues : K. Shrestha 61over the world. Inspite of the enactment of important international legalinstru-ments like Convention on Elimination of All Forms of DiscriminationAgainst Women (1979) and Convention on Political Rights of Women’s(1952) by the world body and holding of the Global Conferences on womenlike Nairobi conference (1985) and Beijing Conference (1995), over theyears, women’s political situation all over the world has not improved verysignificantly. Except for few Scandinavian countries like Sweden (38.1%),Norway (34.4%), Finland (31.5%) and Denmark (30.7%), women’srepresentation in the Parliaments is none too impressive even in the advanceddemocracies like the U.K, the U.S.A., France, etc. On an average womenconstitute only 10 percent of all elected parliamentarians worldwide.Hence, women’s right movement which is burgeoning all over the worldand which aims at the reassertion of women’s inherent right as a citizen toparticipate as equals in the political and development process have to beviewed from the perspective of the marginalization and disempowerment ofwomen. While searching for an independent identity and ‘space’ forthemselves, women have seriously questioned and challenged the existingstructures, mechanisms and value systems that perpetuate inequity anddiscrimination in society and politics. Such efforts by women to reverse thesituation have brought them into a situation of direct confrontation withforces of conservatism and reaction.POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN NEPALAccess to the political power and decision making process is considered as anindex of the overall status of women in society. In a patriarchal and maledominated society like Nepal where women are systematically discriminatedby according them a very low status, the inadequate and unfair representationin politics has been a historical reality. Even compared to some countries inthe South Asian region Nepal’s situation is not very encouraging which isevident in the table-1At the present, the Parliament in Nepal is represented by 12 women, 7(3.4% of the total) in Pratindidhi Sabha-the lower house and 5 (8.3% of thetotal) in Rastriya Sabha-the upper house. The composition of womenlegislators in the present Parliament is not very different from the first electedParliament in 1991 in which Pratinidhi Sabha and Rastriya Sabha wererepresented by 8 and 3 women legislators respectively. Ironically the underrepresentation of women in the national legislature violates the better andspirit of the Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 which makes it+

62 Gender and Democracy in Nepalmandatory for the reservation of minimum of 5% seats for women besidesinstructing everybody to promote gender justice.+

Gender Issues : K. Shrestha 63Table 1. Women’s Political Participation in South AsiaCountry Year of women’s Parliamentary seatsRight to Vote occupied by women (%)Bangladesh 1947 10Bhutan 1953 0India 1950 7Maldives 1932 4Nepal 1951 3Pakistan 1947 1Sri Lanka 1931 5Source: UNDP, Human Development Report 1994In a background of the tremendous contribution and sacrifices made bywomen to the success of the Jan Andolan-1990 (Peoples’ Movement for theRestoration of Democracty-1990) such yawning gender gap in women’srepresentation is, indeed, a shameless response to women’s aspirations thepolitical parties in Nepal. The inflexible and conservative attitude of almostall political parties is evident from the fact that none of them could displaythe spirit of magnanimity towards women in distribution of parliamentarytickets exceeding the mandatory limit set by the constitution. Even theveteran women politicians and seasoned political stalwarts were lumped inthe reservation basket.The political background of the women candidates shows that most ofthem also do not possess an independent political identity of their own. Manyof them have been initially projected by the parties primarily on the accountof their very close family relationship that of widow, daughter in law etc,with some senior male leaders. The assertive, dynastic and patriarchal factorsappear to have deeply influenced the political career of many womenpolitician in Nepal.Sociologically speaking, most of Nepalese women politicians, like theirmale counterparts, belong to the small upper strata of urban, middle class,upper caste (primarily, Bahun, Chhetri and Newars) and educated elitebackground. None of them come from the rural, grass-root and under class orlow caste background.Grossly inadequate representation of women in the national legislaturehas negatively affected the enactment of gender sensitive legislations like theWomen’s Property Right Bill. Because of the numerical weakness and lack+

64 Gender and Democracy in Nepalof confidence among the women Member of Parliaments, they appear to beincapable of influencing the rigid attitude of their male colleagues so far.WOMEN”S PARTICIPATION AT THE LOCAL LEVELPOLITICSWomen’s representation in the local level politics has undergone a dramaticexpansion following the enactment of the legislation requiring the election ofat least one women representative from each and every ward committee ofVillage Development Committees (VDC). Municipalities and Metropolitancities.Table 2. Women Representatives at Local BodiesPost 1992 Total 1997 or TotalVDC Chairpersons 11(0.28%) 3993 11VDC Vice-Chairpersons 18(0.45%) 3993 15VDC Ward Chairpersons 289VDC Members (Reserved) 35015 188,010VDC Members (Non reserved) 210(0.58%) 35,883 1720Municipality Members 2(0.38%) 521DDC Vice Chairpersons 1(1.33%) 75 1DDC Members 6(0.85%) 924 5Total 248 46089 37,106Source: Election Commissiona) Local elections in 1997 were incomplete because elections could be held in several districtsowing to the ‘Maoist activities’b) IncompleteThe elections to the local bodies which were held on May 17 and 25,1997 returned almost 5,015 women members, which constitute almost 19%of all elected office bearers, from all over the country. Statistically speaking,the figure represents a quantum leap over the negligible representation of lessthan 1 percent women in the last local elections in 1997. The representationof such a large number of women in the grass-root units of the politicalsystem can be expected to have long term catalytic impact upon theorientation and functioning of Nepal’s nascent democratic set up as well as in+

Gender Issues : K. Shrestha 65the socio-political and economic development of society too. Nevertheless,inspire of the unprecedented quantitative expansion of women’s representationthrough the reservation at the ward level bodies it seems that womenhave not been able to make much hard-way in the higher level non-reservedand open positions in VDCs and DDCs (see Table-2).OBSTACLES TO WOMEN’S POLITICALPARTICIPATION: AN ASSESSMENTThe low level participation of women in Nepalese politics is a result ofcomplex mixture of interrelated factors. Unless these obstacles are properlyidentified and correct strategy and program of action is devised, it is likelythat women’s equal political participation and access to decision makingprocess is likely to remain an unfulfilled dream. And, it is also likely thatpowers embedded in the patriarchal society would keep the issue of genderequality at bay by those who use social devices such as symbolic ‘tokenism’and selective co-optation of the potential leaders and/or trouble makers. Fewof the discussed causes that greatly marginalize women in politics are asfollows:• Patriarchal and male dominated society which treats women as thesecond class citizens and compels women to accept the low andsubordinate status in society.• Low level of literacy and political awareness among women.• Economic dependency of women on male members of the family asresult of denial of the property right• Lack of family and support for active participation in politics whichcompels many women to choose between home and public life.• Lack of confident, competent and credible women who can act asthe role models for other women at all levels of society• Growing criminalization, corruption and lumpenization of polities,thereby, making it increasingly difficult for the women to participateactively in the polities.• Weak civil society and isolationist as well as divisive tendenciesamong the women groups and other alternate groups have provideda carte blanche freedom to the unprincipled and amoral people tomisuse the political power.+

66 Gender and Democracy in Nepal• Tendency to distance from the political process and obsession withthe NGO type project oriented activities have resulted in loss ofcredibility for the most of women groups, who, otherwise, couldhave made very useful intervention in the political challenge ahead.+

Gender Issues : K. Shrestha 67Since the dawn of democracy in 1990 Nepalese women are trying toconfront multitude of problems and challenges simultaneously. It is thepresence of both opportunities and challenges that spurs Nepalese womeninto action. They have already succeeded in a grate deal in sensitizing a largesection of society, both male and female, towards the gender sensitive issueslike women’s property right legislation need for increased reservation forwomen in different levels of polity to enhance their political participation.However there is a need for the consolidation of gains already made bywomen in politics. There is also need for promoting the upward politicalmobility of the women who have been elected in the different levels of thepolitical system. Equally important is the need for conducting the effectiveadvocacy and lobbing for greatly expanding the level of political reservationfor women in order to bridge the gender gap in politics.Herein lies the greatest challenge for all women leaders, politicians,activists, researchers and gender sensitive individuals to develop anoverarching vision and concrete strategy for action and building up a broadcountervailing unity and solidarity, cutting across all the conventionalbarriers, in order to attain their cherished goal of full equal participation inpolitics.REFERENCES CITEDAgnihotri, Indu and Vina Mazumdar1995 “Changing the Terms of Political Discourse." Lokayan Bulletin. July-October. P. 7.Chalise, Suresh C. and Milan Adhikary1996 Women in Politics in Nepal: Their Socio-Economic, Health, Legal andPolitical Constraints. Kathmandu, Nepal: Centre for Consolidation ofDemocracy. P. 5.Huntington, Samuel P. and Joan M. Nelson1976 Political participation in Developing Countries. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press. P. 1.+

+Law and Existing Realityof Nepalese WomenGeeta SangroulaINTRODUCTION“Women’s Empowerment” sounds promisingly comprehensive and at thesame time concrete. But still it does not traditionally provide thecomprehensiveness and concreteness it promised.Feminist Enlightenment is concerned with the culture of gender, as wellas the culture of law, where we can assert the importance of studying thetreatment of women, women’s realities, women’s concerns in legal awarenessand legal remedy. Discrimination against women is based on dominance,rather than distinction, and the key to understanding male dominance lies inthe social construction of sexuality. Women, through male eyes is a sexobject, that by which man knows himself at once as subject. Objectificationof male sexuality is a material reality of women’s lives, not just apsychological, attitudinal or ideological one.Nepalese legal system and practice is based on patriarchy. The womenand the girls are manifestly subjected to discrimination and exploitation ofvarious forms. The gender-based discrimination against females originates athome, and is institutionalized as a culture. Girl children are known as othersbelongings so the parents do not want to invest for their upbringing. Not onlythe society but also the law is equally responsible for not providing the equalprotection to men and women.INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND CONVENTIONSAs a member of the United Nations and other international as well asregional organizations, Nepal is a party to a large number of internationallegal instruments concerning human rights, which are listed below:68

Gender Issues : G. Sangroula 69Name of International InstrumentsDate of Accession (a)or Ratification (r)1. Slavery Convention Jan 7, 1963(a)2. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Jan 7, 1963 (a)Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions andPractices similar to Slavery.3. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Jan 17, 1969 (a)the Crime of Genocide4. International Convention on the Elimination of all Jan 30, 1971 (a)forms of Racial Discrimination4. International Convention on Economic, Social and May 14, 1991 (a)Cultural Rights6. International Convention on Civil and Political May 14, 1991 (a)Rights7. Optional Protocol to the International Convention May, 1991 (a)on Civil and Political Rights.8. Convention on the Elimination of all forms of April 22, 1991 (r)Discrimination Against Women9. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel May 14, 1991 (r)Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment10. International Convention on the suppression and July 12, 1977 (a)Punishment of the crime of Apartheid11. International Convention Against Apartheid in March 1, 1989 (r)Sports12. Convention on the Rights of the Child Sept 14, 1990 (r)13. Convention on the Political Rights on Women (11) April 26, 1966 (a)14. Convention on the suppression of immoral 25 December, 1995trafficking and protocolThe Above-mentioned international instruments directly or indirectlyprohibit discrimination against, and exploitation of women and girl children.The Treaty Act 1990 provides that the provisions of such treaties oragreements are enforceable as the law of Nepal, Similarly, the provisions oflaw that are inconsistent with such treaties or agreements become null andvoid. The Treaty Act, however, is almost proved weaker in terms ofenforcement.+

70 Gender and Democracy in NepalCONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALLFORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN(CEDAW)After the declaration of Women’s Year 1975, CEDAW was adopted onDecember 18, 1979, and was enforced on September 3, 1981. It became amainstream of the commitments to develop consensus and implementationstrategies for eliminating all forms discrimination against women in theworld. The convention states that the discrimination against women, violatesthe principles of equality of rights and human dignity, and is an obstacle inthe participation of women, on equal terms with men, in the economic, social,political and cultural life of the countries.Under the clause 15 of Part 4 of this convention states:1. State’s parties shall accord to women equality with men before thelaw.2. State’s Parties shall accord to women in civil matters, a legalcapacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities toexercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equalrights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shalltreat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts andtribunals.3. State’s parties agree that all contracts and all other privateinstruments of any kind with a legal effect which is directed atrestricting the legal capacity of women shall be deemed null andvoid.4. State’s parties shall accord to men and women the same rights withregard to the law relating to the movement of persons and thefreedom to choose their sentences and domicile.Nepal has ratified the CEDAW without any reservation in 1991 andbecame a responsible state party to fulfill the commitments of the convention.But there have been many laws that are manifestly discriminatory to women.The Government of Nepal has not acted honestly to amend the inconsistentlaws or enact new legislation in order to enforce the various provisions ofCEDAW and other international instruments.+

Gender Issues : G. Sangroula 71THE PAST AND EXISTING LEGAL FRAMEWORK INNEPALNepalese legal system, is generally based on Hindu Legal System thatprevailed in the Indian sub-continent. The Basic norms of the Hindu legalsystem were developed from two different schools, namely the Mitaksharaand Dayabhaga. The Mitakshara School is considered relatively conservativeto gender issues. According to the Mitakshara, women and children have norights or claim to the property owned by the father. Although the DayabhagaSchool urged that wife and sons had independent personality in matters ofproperty, it failed to recognize the equal status of daughter, and obviouslydenied defining daughters as heirs or co-parceners to the property of the natalfamily.In Nepal, the Muluki Ain (Code of the Country) was promulgated in1963, It was more like a Hindu religious book rather than the code ofconduct. The whole social order was based on the cast system. However, theMuluki Ain was based on the Mitakshara school, the wife and sons had beendefined as heirs and co-parceners of the father. The daughters were excludedfrom becoming heirs or co-parceners.In 1950, the autocratic Rana rule was overthrown by a popularmovement and then the New Muluki Ain. was formed This code wasrelatively better but daughters were again denied recognition as sons.The New Muluki Ain still prevails as a general law. It has been amendedany times. After the women’s year 1975, the sixth amendment on NewMuluki Ain in 1976, brought a little improvement regarding women’sproperty rights and some other women’s issues. For example, before thisamendment, under the partition provision even 35 years old unmarrieddaughters were not entitled to have an equal share of parental property astheir brothers. Likewise, the New Muluki Ain has defined women’s exclusiveproperty given by parents and in-laws’ relatives as “Daijo and Pewa”respectively.Provisions of New Mulluki Ain are applicable merely as common law,and as such cannot overrule the application of a specific statuettepromulgated in matters of family property, succession, adoption, incest andother matrimonial relations. There are very few specific acts relating to theprotection of women in the Human Trafficking Control Act, 1977, Children’sAct 1992 etc. Domestic Violence Act and Family Court Act have beendrafted and are in the process of submission to the parliament. Many NGOsand academicians are working hard to have adequate laws relating to women.+

72 Gender and Democracy in NepalCONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKIn 1947, the Rana regime had promulgated a law called” Nepal SarkarBaidhanik Kanoon 1947. However, the law was most favorable to Ranas,there were few good provisions about fundamental rights like free educationand equality before law. But Ranas didn’t practice and follow the norms.After having democracy, the Interim constitution was promulgated in1951 it was committed about the gender equality and also held directiveprinciples favorable to women and children.The first constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal was promulgated in1958. Although, the constitution guaranteed the equal protection of thecitizens, discriminatory provisions continued to exit in the Muluki Ain. In1962, that is, two years after the introduction of the partyless Panchayatsystem a new constitution–“Constitution of Nepal” was promulgated. It hadalso guaranteed the rights to equality for all citizens irrespective of their sex,race, caste, tribe or any of them. But again the New Muluki Ain, like theprevious one, could not bring any significant changes in the position ofwomen.The popular movement restored democracy again; and after thepromulgation of “The Constitution of the kingdom of Nepal, 1990”, repealedthe previous Constitution of Nepal.The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 andWomen’s StatusWith regard to women, the existing constitution contains negative andpositive provisions, which go a long way in securing gender justice. Part II ofthe Constitution has the provision for citizenship. Under the article 9(2) ofthe Constitution, no child can obtain citizenship of Nepal by virtue ofdescent, if his/her father is a foreign national. The mother’s nationality thuscan not be a valid ground for a child to acquire Nepalese nationality. In fact,this has been a defect placed by the Constitution and the Section 3 of theCitizenship Act 1963. This provision clearly discriminates against Nepaliwomen and thus is inconsistent with the CEDAW and InternationalConvention on Civil and Political Rights. Although the Supreme Courtrepealed the writ petition by saying that the citizenship issue is a specialprovision, which is entirely different from fundamental rights. 1+

Gender Issues : G. Sangroula 73Similarly, under the Article 9 (5) of the constitution, a woman of foreignnationality who has a matrimonial relationship with a Nepalese citizen mayacquire the citizenship of Nepal. A petition was filed against this provisionfor not providing even the residential visa to a foreign man who had thematrimonial relation with a Nepali woman.In this regard, the Supreme Court gave a very positive verdictannouncing the clause 4 of the regulation, inconsistent to Article11 andissued the mandate to the immigration office to provide the visa. 2Fundamental rightsEven though, all the fundamental rights continued in part III, Articles 11to 23 are applicable to all the citizens irrespective of sex, certain fundamentalrights contain specific and positive laws to protect the rights of women.Rights of equalityArticle 11 of the Constitution guarantees right to equality before law.Article 11 (2) of the Constitution stipulates that no citizen can be subjected todiscrimination on the ground of religion, race sex, cast, tribe or ideologicalconviction or any of these, in matters of general application of laws.Likewise, Article 11 (3) prohibits the state from discriminating amongcitizens, on grounds of religion, sex, cast, tribe or ideological conviction orany of these. Similarly, Article 11 (5) provides for safeguard againstdiscrimination with regard to remuneration of men and women for the samework.Positive discrimination in favor of womenArticle 11 (3), of the constitution also has the special provision toprotect the women, children, aged or the physically or mental incapacitatedpeople, or economically, socially or educationally backward class people. Inother words, the state is empowered to make any such provision and it shallnot violate Article 11 (3). The State can positively discriminate in favor ofwomen to make special provisions in order to have the gender equalityregarding the social, economic and political justice. These provisions couldbe seen in the sphere or political reservation for women, in both theParliament and also the special quota for women in the local bodies. Thismeasure is towards correcting the gender injustice. The provision of thepositive discrimination is also the reflection of the spirit of the directiveprinciples of state policy contained in part IV of the constitution. Article 26(7) (9) directs the state to make a policy to support the female population andthe helpless women.+

74 Gender and Democracy in NepalRight to freedomAlthough, Article 12 of the Constitution has guaranteed the personalliberty of the citizens stating that no person’s individual liberty shall beencroached upon. Women are far from enjoying these provisions.Right to propertyHowever, Article 17 (1) has granted the right to all citizens (men andwomen) to earn property, to use it, to transfer and enter into other property -related transactions under the law of the land. There are many provisionsprevailing in laws against Nepalese women.Right against exploitationArticle 20 of the Constitution specifically prohibits trafficking of humanbeings, slavery, and serfdom or forced labor in any form. Even though, on thestrength of this article, slavery is abolished by law; and for the protection ofwomen, there are many laws, still slavery is existing in the society. Bondedlaborers and domestic servants are the example of human rights violation.Similarly, women are being abused in many aspects.GENDER DISCRIMINATION AND THE LEGALRIGHTS OF WOMENAlthough, gender discrimination in any manifestation are prohibited by theinternational instruments and the constitution, a number of laws prevailed aremanifestly discriminating against women. Women are legally marginalized interms of acquiring fundamental rights, some provisions could be seen asfollows:a) No. 1, 2 of the chapter on Partition (Aungsabanda) of the Muluki Ainrestricts daughters from sharing the parental property. They are not evenrecognized the members of the natal family.b) No.10 of the same chapter is given silent for the maintenance ofdaughters. However, in the case of Ms. Jagat Maya vs Ms. Shanu Khadgi 3the Supreme Court decided to give maintenance rights to an unmarrieddaughter who had not yet reached the age of 35 years, this ruling has yetto be amended in Muluki Ain.c) According to No. 10 (a) of the partition, if a women who has beenmarried at least for fifteen years and who has at least reached the age of+

Gender Issues : G. Sangroula 75thirty five, can separate herself, having received, a share in the property ofher husband, if she likes. But if the wife has been driven out of her home,by her husband, together with the in-laws or by the husband alone or ifshe is frequently made to suffer by being beaten or if the husband hasbrought or kept another wife, then such a wife can have her shareseparated from her husband’s share in property. If that wife dies orelopes, then the property left after being used by her for food and clothingwill go to the heir. In a situation where she has been driven out of homeby the in-laws only, she should be provided with food and clothingaccording to the means and social standing.d) Under No.12 of the same chapter, a widow, without sons, who is livingtogether before the partition of property has taken place, can not receiveher share in property and live separately until she has completed the ageof thirty years as long as the heir living together, provides her with foodand clothing and with the means for religious offering. If the heir does notfulfill these conditions, she is entitled to receive her share in property andlive separately even when she has not reached the age of thirty.e) Under No. 2 of the same chapter on “Women’s Property” of the MulukiAin, an unmarried woman, one having a husband; or a widow who hasbeen separated can use all the movable property of their share and up tohalf of the immovable property of her share without anybody’s consent.An unmarried woman can, by the consent of her father, if he is alive, anda widow with the consent of their grown up sons if they exist, can useeven the immovable property as she likes. In this way, the women arerestricted from independent use of their property.f) Under No.6 of the same chapter widow forfeits her property receivedfrom her husband or her family, if she is found sexually disloyal to herdeceased husband.g) No. 2 of the section of the Inheritance (Aputali) of the Muluki Ain statesthat if the deceased has sons or son’s son, the daughters shall not beentitled to inheritance.h) Although the fourth amendment in 1996 of the Act Concerning Land,1964 provides tenancy rights to daughters and daughter-in-laws, there arediscriminatory conditions for daughters. According to the amendedprovision only 35 or above aged unmarried daughters are entitled to havethe tenancy rights.i) No. 2 and 9 (a) of the chapter related to Adoption cautions the provisionthat the wife can not adopt a male or female child as long as the husband+

76 Gender and Democracy in Nepalis alive whereas the husband can adopt one without seeking his wife’sconsent.j) According to No. 8, the chapter on Marriage, if a women having ahusband or a widow, gets herself married deceptively giving falsestatement that she is unmarried, she makes herself liable to punishment.The marriage consummated thus is annulled, but the restriction is notapplied to husbands however.Likewise, the husband can divorce if the wife has had sexual relationshipwith another man, however, there is no provision that the wife candivorce if the husband has had the same sort of relationship with anotherwomen.k) In the provision of Transaction (Len Den) and Partition (Aungsabanda),women are not legally recognized as the chief of the house in terms oftransferring the property.l) No. 9 of the chapter on Marriage, provides many grounds for a man tokeep more than one wife but as far as women are concerned, the law issilent.m) Under Clause 7 of the chapter on “Rape of the Muluki Ain, any personwho has sexual intercourse in any manner with a prostitute without herconsent, or through the use of force shall be fined up to rupees 500 orimprisoned up to 1 year. This shows a prostitute is not treated as a humanbeing and she does not have the right to say no to sex.This provision is not only based on gender discrimination but also theword “Prostitute” is against of women’s chastity and dignity. From thisprovision mainly the women who are cheated in the name of religion andtradition like “Badi”, “Deuki”, “Jhuma” are being sexually abused. Theydon’t report due to these shameful discriminative legal provisions andthere is also a big risk of being re-victimized from the law enforcementagencies.Besides the above mentioned provisions, the gender discrimination couldbe seen in any other legal provisions in Muluki Act-1959, ForeignEmployment Act-1985, etc.Gender discriminative provisions are inconsistent to the Article 11 of theconstitution as well as the Article 15 of the convention on the Elimination ofAll forms of Discrimination against Women. The reason behind the genderdiscrimination is the defective value system, which is deeply rooted in the+

Gender Issues : G. Sangroula 77society. The law markers are also in touch with this negative value and due topoverty of great thinking the law is biased on the “Doctrine of sons.”JUDICIAL ACTIVISM IN RELATION TO WOMEN’SPROPERTY RIGHTTwo women advocates filed a writ in the Supreme Court against unequalrights to parental property in May1994 demanding that No.1, 2 and 16 of thechapter on Partition (Aungsabanda) of the Muluki Ain are contrary to theArticle 11 of the constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990.Although the Supreme Court gave a verdict in August 1995, directingthe government to bring new legislation which is not gender discriminatorytowards women within a period of one year. The verdict was not as positiveas expected, that gives the long explanation about the patriarchal society andthe marital status of women.The ratio of the verdict could be seen as follows:“Taking into consideration the social condition of men andwomen the Nepalese law has provided only some different processof getting partition share. Instead of depriving a daughter of theright to get partition share or making discrimination against her, theright of a daughter to get partition share has only been managed ina slightly different manner from that of a son, taking into accountthe social status of the women. For instance, according to No. 16 ofthe chapter on Partition, an unmarried daughter should attain theage of 35 years in order to get partition share, while even a marrieddaughter should attain the age of at least 35 years and a period of15 years should have been spent from the date of marriage to getpartition share. In regard to the process of getting partition shareson gets partition share at his birth, but a daughter should fulfillsome terms to get the same, which cannot be disregarded. Beforedeclaring No. 16 of the Chapter on Partition unconstitutional andmaking provision as to the same entitlement of a daughter topartition share as that of a son, the negative sides of thereof or itsimplications on the society should also be taken into account. Thishas a great impact on the structure of the patriarchal society likeours, handed down from ancient times. A daughter may not becompelled to get married and go, to her husband’s house aftermarriage, while on the other hand, declaring No.16 of the Chapteron Partition unconstitutional and making provision entitled to getpartition share from the properties of both he father and husband,+

78 Gender and Democracy in Nepaland a son will be entitled to get partition share only from theproperty of his father, in regard to the right to obtain more partitionshare that a son’s right to obtain partition share thus, createsconditions discriminatory against son. This affects all the laws ofthe country made in regard to the property right.Therefore, declaring clause No. 16 of the Section on Partitionvoid and making provision entitling a daughter to get partitionshare as of a son is not a solution to the problem. In making suddenchanges in traditional social practices and in matters of socialnorms pureed by the society since a long time ago, the societyhappens to become unable to adopt several matters, and if sohappens, a different situation beyond perception would emerge.Therefore, before reaching a decision all of a sudden, a justprovision should be made by holding wide and extensivediscussions and deliberations taking also into a account theconstitutional provision vis-à-vis equality. As the family law,relating to property is to be wholly considered, this directive ishereby issued ordering that His Majesty’s Government introduce anappropriate Bill in Parliament within one year of receipt of thisorder, by taking the necessary suggestions on this matter from therecognized women’s organizations, sociologists, the concernedsocial organizations and lawyers as well, and by studying andconsidering also the legal provisions made in the constitutions ofother countries in this regard. 4After the order issued by the Supreme Court, many programs had beenlaunched by GOs, NGOs and other interest groups. After a long time, theproposed bill has been drafted and submitted to the Parliament. But again theBill has failed to create an equal right that defines the marital status ofwomen, and provides the limited right to daughter. Under the proposedamended Bill, the daughter has to return the share of the parental property tothe natal family after the she gets married.There is one landmark precedent is established by the Supreme Court inthe case of Bhishma Kumari Maharjan. 5 In this case, the Supreme Court heldthat “the law does not restrict granting of property to a daughter beforereaching age 35 years if all co-partners are willing to make partitionincluding such daughter as a co-partner of the property.”+

Gender Issues : G. Sangroula 79LAW RELATING TO MARRIAGE, DIVORCE ANDCHILD CUSTODYThe chapter on “Marriage” of the Muluki Ain parental consent for themarriage of women is 16, of men is 18 years.For marriage contracted with the consent of the parties alone, theminimum age is 18 years for women and 21 years for men. Despite the lawprohibits child marriage the practice giving daughter marriage before theyreach the age of puberty is still prevalent. The law also prohibits forceful(without consent of each parties) and the marriage than 20 years age gapbetween the parties, Bigamy and Polygamy (taking more than one wife).Though polygamy is strictly prohibited and punishable by law in Nepal,the law does not invalidate the second marriage itself. Polygamists aresubjected to up to two months imprisonment and two thousand rupees fineonly. But under the clause 9 of the same chapter Polygamy is not illegal.Among some of the tribes, the practice of a women keeping more thanone husband at the same time still prevails in Nepal. Similarly, thecompulsory adoption of the sister in law as a wife after the death of the elderbrother is still customary among some indigenous community in Nepal,which is not illegal.Divorce and Child CustodyAccording to No. 1 of the Chapter on “Husband and Wife” of the MulukiAin, a wife is entitled to seek a divorce from her husband, if hecommemorates a second marriage or keeps another women as wife; ejects hiswife from the house or ceases to support her financially; is separated from hiswife for a period of at least three years; causes or tries to cause such acts asmay threaten her life or inflict serious injury to her; or is impatient. However,a women still has no rights to obtain a divorce if she simply finds themarriage detriment to her person, mentally, physically or emotionally.Despite the social and religious stigma, in reality, the number of divorceis increasing in the society. Since, women can go straight to the court’sjurisdiction, divorce cases filed by women outnumbers that of men. However,in a great number of cases, the women are forced to resort the divorce bytheir husbands.+

80 Gender and Democracy in NepalAlimonyIf the cause for the divorce is the husband, the wife can claim alimony fromhim for her, as decided by the court in accordance with the living standard ofthe husband for a period of five years from the date of divorce or until she isremarried.Child CustodyUnless proved otherwise, any child born within 272 days from the date ofdivorce is legally presumed to be the child born out of the divorced husband.The mother has the right to legal custody till the child attains the age of five.The mother has the right to keep the minor above the age of five if the motherremains unmarried. The maintenance responsibility goes first to the father. Ifthe mother’s income is higher than that of father, the mother shall be obligedto bear the expenses as specified by the court.+

Gender Issues : G. Sangroula 81LAW RELATING TO CRIME AGAINST WOMENA large number of women are being physically, sexually and mentally abusedin their respective countries. The enforcement of the right against exploitationguaranteed by the constitution seems to be very weak. However, there are thelaws relating to crimes against women as follows:Rape:Under the Chapter on “Rape” of the Muluki Ain, a sexual intercourse with anunmarried girl or married women or widow without their free consent and agirl below 16 years of age of her consent is a crime statutory. Penalty for thiscrime varies. If the victim is below 14 years, there is 6-10 yearsimprisonment. If the victim is above 14 years, there is 3-5 yearsimprisonment. Attempted rape is punishable by imprisonment half to what isprescribed for the rape. Person assisting in the rape is imprisoned upto 2years and half of the properties of rapist shall be confiscated and give to thevictim as compensation.There is a provision of right to defense that if the women, kills the rapistwithin an hour, is not punishable. If she kills him after an hour, she shall bepenalized with a fine not exceeding rupees 5000 or up to 10 yearsimprisonment.In Nepal, rape is defined as crime against state. As such it is investigatedand prosecuted by the state itself. In the fiscal year of 1994/95, 132 cases ofrape were responded in the various police station in Nepal. In 1995/96 thenumber of registration decreased to 112 and in 1996/97 the number reached126. 6 The proposed bill of amended on New Muluki Ain has prescribed apunishment of 10 to 20 years of imprisonment for the rape of girls below 10years of age.Trafficking of Girl Children and WomenThe chapter “Relating to Trafficking in Humans” of the Muluki Ain and thetrafficking in humans (Control) Act 1985, prohibits the act of selling andpurchasing persons, taking persons to foreign countries for the purpose oftrafficking, entrancing or alluring women into prostitution or coercing themby undue influence, fraud, threat or any other means. The Act prescribesstrict penalties for a period of 5-20 years of imprisonment and the Act alsorecognize the principle of extra territorial jurisdiction of the state of Nepal.That means any crime relating to trafficking having taken place in foreignterritories is recognizable in the course of Nepal.+

82 Gender and Democracy in NepalA large number of girls and women, specially from the ethniccommunities like Tamang are being trafficked to Indian brothels in everyyear. Most of the cases are not reported so it is very hard to find out thenumber of victims.Despite of the special provisions of the shifting the burden of proof onthe defendant and the strict penalty, enforcement of the Act seems to be veryweak. As only 1632 cases have been registered from 1977 to 1995. 7 Thereare very few positive judicial activism in terms of the penalty given by thecourt.A national consultation workshop held at Melamchi in April 1997 makesome recommendations to have a new legislation to address the weaknessesof the existing statute. A Bill has been drafted to have an adequate legalprovision like punishment for persons engaged in enjoying prostitution,punishment for women engaged in prostitution voluntarily, compensation forvictims, closed camera hearing, protection of the victim and witnesses by thestate etc.Many NGOs have been concentrating on preventive activities throughthe women paralegal training, income generating and other awarenessprograms. Community surveillance system has been developed by establishingvarious committees in the problematic area like Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk,Makawanpur etc.Domestic ViolenceMental and physical violence within family is known as domestic violence.Although the piecemeal based legal provisions for physical torture can befound in the chapter of Physical Assault (Kut-pit), Murder, Rape and Incestof the Muluki Ain, lack of adequate legislation domestic violence isincreasing rapidly.Under the prevailing law, no kind of sexual intercourse with wifeconstitutes the crime of rape. It can be said that there is no concept of maritalrape and penalty for that. Murder of wives and daughter-in-laws by family isprohibited by the Chapter on “Murder” of the Muluki Ain and is punishableby an imprisonment for life with forfeiture of the property. Conspiracy tocause murder is punishable up to 15 years.Beating, whipping, flagging and abuses of wives are most commonforms of domestic violence, in Nepal. It can be generally estimated that suchincidents do occur in the most of the household in Nepal, though suchincidents are rarely reported to the police or the court.+

Gender Issues : G. Sangroula 83Injuries or harms inflicted by use of hands, legs, nails, weapons, stick,stone, electricity, fire, acid, gas etc. are the offenses prohibited by the chapteron “Physical Assault” of the Muluki Ain. For the grievances hurts(Angabanda) the punishment is up to 8 years imprisonment and up to rupees5000 fine. Mental torture is not defined as domestic violence in our law.However, after the establishment of some separate women cell in policeadministration, due to lack of jurisdiction women police is unable to solvethis problem. Mediation between the parties is not only the way of solvingthe problem unless and until the power of exercise has given by the law.Now the Women and Social Welfare Ministry has drafted the Bills thefamily court and domestic violence with the support of various NGOs andexperts. The proposed bills are being discussed among the people to make thelaw adequate.In the proposed bill, there are some positive provisions like the courtprocedure to be held in camera and the short procedure for speedy settlementof the disputes in terms of making the law accessible to women.RECOMMENDATIONS TO ENHANCE THE LEGALSTATUS OF WOMENEmpowering women to make the law relevant and accessible, the steps thathave to be taken by the programs are as follows:1. Legal awareness program:i) Legal literacy: Legal literacy is the best program for the enhancement ofwomen. This program doesn’t only provide the information about the lawbut also stimulates women to explore gender and limits of the law, andformulate strategies for social and economic empowerment. The legalliteracy programs can be placed as a strategy to achieve change at bothlocal and policy levels for acquiring critical awareness about rights andthe law, the ability to assert rights and the capacity to mobilize forchange.Some ideas about the methodological implications of gender based legalliteracy are: the importance of deciding the strategies, the target ofbeneficiaries, techniques, follow-up services and evaluation.ii) Community based legal literacy, through paralegal training, empoweringwomen for social identity and self-confidence; and the community basedlegal services through paralegals which is very effective.+

84 Gender and Democracy in NepalThe community, where legal literacy “proper” is located and where mostprograms need to be targeted primarily to women; community-based legalliteracy programs ideally seeks to develop women’s functional understandingabout the system, that is specific laws and procedures, so that they will beable to take an active role in asserting their rights, demanding justice,confronting the system and learning other skills. Essentially, communitybased legal literacy programs work in developing the analytical and politicalskills and the action for change. Not only women, men also need suchprograms to understand and respect women as subjects of rights.The role of the paralegals is very important to achieve the abovementioned programs paralegals are known as community legal educators aswell as capacity builders. After getting paralegal training, they take animportant function in disseminating information about rights organizing,educating, even handling legal procedures and playing the role of mediatorsfor alternative dispute resolution.Community based, direct legal literacy needs to be supplemented witheducational strategies developed by the interested groups like the women’scase studying scholars.2. Miscellaneousi) For the implementation of the ratified international treaties andconvention, His Majesty’s Government of Nepal ought to eliminate allforms of discrimination against women in law and practice.ii) Law relating to trafficking, rape, domestic violence and other violencemust be enacted and amended as soon as possible.iii) The scheme of women police must be expanded to all districts.iv) The Family Court Act must be enacted and launched immediately.v) There should be a special investigation system for re-victimized womenlike custodial rape by police and others.vi) National policy has to be defined on women’s violence against womenand made special policy education, skills, adequate health services,food, awareness program and victims rehabilitation centers.vii) Women have to be nominated in policy making bodies like NationalPlanning Commission etc.+

Gender Issues : G. Sangroula 85viii) HMG of Nepal must make initiations by talking to SAARC region andmaking consensus against trafficking.ix) Ministry of Women and Social Welfare ought to play a key role forwomen empowerment. There should be special training packages ongender sensitization for judges, prosecutors, police, lawyers, administrators,doctors, teachers, students, and other human rights workers.x) The “System Watch Volunteers Program” should be launched to seehow the victims and accused in the cases are dealt with by the police,lawyers and the court.END NOTES1. Mrs. Chabi Peters Vs. Home Ministry of Nepal and others. Nepal KanoonPatrika (Nepal Law Report). 1993 (2049B.S.), P. 443.2. Mr Meera Gurung Vs. Home Ministry and others, 1994 (2050.10.28 B.S.),Supreme Court Full Bench.3. Nepal Kanoon Patrika, 1970 (2027 B.S.), P. 83 published by the Supreme Court.4. Meera Dhungana vs. HMG of Law and Justice, Nepal Kanoon Patrika, 1995,Supreme Court Decision No. 6013, Page 4625. Bhishma Kumari Maharjan vs Asha Lal Maharjan, Nepakl Kanoon Patrika,1996. Decision No. 6085, Supreme Court P. 870.6. Crime and Investigation Report, Annual Publication, Vol. 3, 1997 (2054),Published by the Criminal Investigation Department, Police Head Quarter, Naxal,Kathmandu.7. Police Headquarter, Naxal, Kathmandu+

+Sociological Perspectives onGender Issues in ChangingNepalese SocietyKrishna B. Bhattachan“The universe of ideas, images and themes the symbolic modes that are thegeneral currency of thought-have either produced by men or controlled bythem. In so far as women’s work and experience have been entered into, it habeen on terms decided by men and because it has been approved by men.”Dorothy E. Smith (1987:19)OVERVIEW OF SOCIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY INNEPALESE SOCITYNepal, according to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990, is amulti-caste/ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society. The Constitutiondeclared the country as a Hindu kingdom but the reality is that it is a multireligioussociety. When we talk about any issues, including gender issues,one must read the text in the socio-cultural context of the Nepalese Society,which has been characterized by pluralism in caste/ethnicity, language,religion, culture and region.There are four racial groups: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Dravidian andProto-Australoid. Most of the population of Nepal belongs either toCaucasoid or Mongoloid groups. In terms of language, out of 125 languages,there are still more than 60 living languages that fall in wither Indo-Aryan orTibeto-Burman language families. Similarly, religious diversity ischaracterized by the presence of Animism, Bon, Kirant, Buddhism, Lamaism,Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikh and so on. There are distinct groups ofpeople in terms of region: Pahadiya and Madhesi. Also, there are 12traditional ethnic regional clusters: (i) Awadhi, (ii)Bhojpuri, (iii) Jadan, (iv)Khambuan, (v) Khasan, (vi) Kochila, (vii) Limbuan, (viii) Magarat, (ix)86

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 87Maithil, (x) Nepal, (xi) Tamba Saling and (xii) Tamuan. Thus, Nepal ischaracterized by Socio-cultural pluralism.Marriage and family system of various caste/ethnic, cultural andreligious groups are different. Dominant Hindu "high caste" groups have apredominant system of monogamy for women and polygyny for men, earlyand child marriage, prize for virginity/chastity and joint or extended familysystems. Most of the indigenous ethnic groups have a continuing tradition ofmatri-lineal and/or patri-lineal cross-cousin marriage and nuclear familysystem but some communities in the mountain region still practice polyandry.Different caste/ethnic groups and also both men and women havedifferent historical memory of the past. In Nepal either the history of the“victor” caste, that is Bahun-Chhetris and the men, history is his-story butneither the “vanquished indigenous ethnic groups nor women have anywritten collective memory of the past. Since the expansion of “Gurkhaimperialism” in 1768 under the leadership of King Prithvi Narayan Shah,predatory Nepalese state coercively tried to make the country “AsaliHindustan” through various cultural instruments such as Hinduization,Sanskritization, Nepalization and the Bahunbad synchronized withcentralization of power and authority. During the 104-year old autocraticRana rule, both women and indigenous ethnic groups were legallydiscriminated by the Muluki Ain (National Code) of 1854 and since 1963women continue to be discriminated by the Naya Muluki Ain. In the last twocentury,women have been suppressed, oppressed, depressed, and exploitednot only by the families and communities but also by the state controlled bythe so-called “high caste” men. Dalit women (and also men) have beeninhumanely treated as “untouchables." Similarly, women belonging toindigenous ethnic groups continue to be further suppressed and oppressed bythe predatory state by denying them to exercise their basic human rights,including minority rights, rights of indigenous peoples and right to educationin the mother tongue. Unfortunately, “The invocation of the fiction of “aNepali mahila”, according to Sierra Tamang (1998: 325-326), “submergesthe dimensions of class, caste, ethnicity, religion and age fundamental in theconstructions of the different realities of different women, within that ofsingle, collective Nepali, female reality engineered/invented by an elite.”Nepalese society was closed to foreigners till 1950. Therefore, duringthe Rana rule, Nepalese society changed very little. After the politicaltransformation of 1950, Western donors began to provide foreign aid toNepal as a part of the modernization/Westernization project. Women alsobegan to raise women’s right issues since then. Factors like heavy transfusionof green dollars in the Nepalese economy by the donors, the ever-intensifying+

88 Gender and Democracy in Nepalprocess of globalization, Westernization and urbanization, Nepalese societyand culture is changing in a very rapid pace. In Nepal, the last decade of thetwentieth century was engulfed by the issues of democracy, human rights,environment, development, empowerment, institutional development goodgovernance, free market economy and gender equality.Gender issues, including women’s rights, are very significant becausewomen comprise a little over a half of the total 20 million populations ofNepal. All the Nepalese women suffer from domination, exploitation,suppression, oppression, subordination and discrimination by their mencounterpart. Although biology is not and should not be the destiny but inpractice the male-centered process of socialization such as conditioning,indoctrination and imitation under patriarchy continue to reproduce theseugly relationships between men and women that make belief that biology isthe destiny in Nepal. In brief, such a male centered/biased/controlled processof socialization results in the homo-social reproduction of existingdiscriminatory and exploitative relationship between men and women. It isno wonder that in the global and the South Asian regional context genderinequality has shown its most ugly heads in Nepal than anywhere else in theworld. Both Gender-Sensitive Development Indexes (GDI) and GenderEmpowerment Measure (GEM) provided in the Nepal Human DevelopmentReport 1997 reveals that women’s situation in the country is very frustrating.Both GDI and GEM value of Nepal are three times lower than that of theGDI for the developed/industrialized countries (NESAC, 1998). Such aperpetuating hopeless system must change for good.GENDER ISSUES: PAST AND PRESENTGender issues of the past and present remain to be mostly the same. Most ofthe gender issues have been kept in the deep freeze of state, society andmarket. In this section, I would like to raise gender issues, both that havesurfaced explicitly in the past and present and that was/is either implicit orhas yet to surface up. So the issues are always fresh. If the past is present andpresent is past in terms of gender issues, neither past and present should bethe future nor future should be the past and present. If our planners, policymakers, bureaucrats, political leaders and activists, development experts andpractitioners, on the one hand, and people at the grassroots, level, on theother hand, do nothing to change the past and the present, the future is sure tobe as past and present. Therefore, the point is to change it and to be able to doso, we must understand both epistemological and substantive gender issuesand act accordingly.+

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 89Epistemological IssuesThere are many epistemological issues that I believe are most subtle,somewhat concrete and abstract but difficult to tackle in favor of womenunder the existing system of patriarchy. The most important epistemologicalissues are paradigm of development, manufacturing knowledge andtheoretical/conceptual positions. I have not doubt that these issues havestrategic values. It may be difficult to gain substantially by achieving some ofthe substantive issues discussed in the next sub-section of this article until wecan achieve substantially on this front.Paradigm of Development: Women’s issues surfaced first in the earlyseventies under a paradigm of Women in Development (WID) in whichdevelopment programs were targeted to improve the condition of women. Inthe late seventies WID was renamed as Women and Development (WAD)with emphasis on changing the positions of women in society. The failure ofthis paradigm resulted in a shift in the paradigm of Gender and Development(GAD) since the eighties to make everyone gender sensitive and genderresponsive. In Nepal, most of the development programs of the governmentand of the donors are mixed, partly WID, partly WAD and partly GAD. Sofar, my sense is that both WID, WAD and GAD paradigms simply failed todeliver results, that is, substantial improvement in women’s status—economic, social, cultural, legal and psychological. I am fully aware with thefact that abandoning existing jargonized concepts and creating new ones doesnot serve our interests but the concepts/paradigms that we use should reflectthe reality of what we want to achieve and what we are doing. In this sense Iprefer to use a paradigm of Gender and Public/Private Spheres (GAPS)because there is a gap in GAPS, that is, a gap in the redistribution ofreconfiguration of division of labor at private and/or public spheres with theprinciples of equality and emancipation from all kinds of discrimination,suppression, oppression and exploitation.The main problem of gender-based division of labor, that is, womenbeing confined in private spheres and men having privileges in publicspheres, is primarily because of industrialization and urbanization. Therefore,in urban and industrial areas, men also should do works at private spheresand women also should do work in public spheres. On the contrary, rural menand women do work at private spheres but the distinction is mainlyconcerned with less or more works. Often women do work for about sixteenhours whereas men often spend time lazily playing cards and drinkingalcohol.+

90 Gender and Democracy in NepalThe failure of development in underdeveloped countries, such as, Nepal,is manifested by “development of underdevelopment” and “underdevelopmentof development” engineered within the modernization or dependencyparadigms. Modernization was a paradigm lost in the sixties and dependencyparadigm was gained by the underdeveloped countries since then. Unfortunately,in Nepal modernization paradigm, which was abandoned in LatinAmerica back in the sixties, continues to mesmerize our planners, policymakers, political leaders and development practitioners alike, In Nepal, likeelsewhere, both WID and GAD have been inserted within the paradigm ofmodernization. Such attempts have helped women neither to free themselvesfrom the captivity of patriarchy nor to reduce and/or eliminate discrimination,suppression, oppression and exploitation by their men counterpart.Manufacturing knowledge: When we talk about gender issues in Nepalor elsewhere, archaeology, politics and sociology of knowledge should beanalyzed properly because knowledge is power and power is knowledge. Inpatriarchy, power resides with men, who, therefore, manufacture knowledgefor consumption by both men and women. Therefore, in the knowledgeindustry, men are the producers and consumers but women are consumersonly because they are systematically excluded from the production process(Smith, 1987). A few women do produce knowledge but the production iscloning of men’s knowledge than creating women’s own.In Nepal, Nepalese men produce knowledge to some extent, butcompared to Western knowledge producers, they are systematically marginalizedand ruthlessly excluded. Nepalese men consume consumer-items ofWestern knowledge manufactured in their own historical, cultural, politicaland economic contexts by Western men and later they export it to the underdevelopedsocieties. Such consumer items include Western worldview,Western ideas, Western paradigms, Western theories, Western concepts,Western strategies and Western methodologies. In all the five Nepaleseuniversities—Tribhuvan University (TU), Kathmandu University (KU),Mahendra Sanskrit University (MSU), Purwanchal University (PU) andPokhara University (PU) or for that matter, almost all faculty members whoteach at various departments in most of the universities in the world are men,those authorities who make academic and other decisions are mostly men,and those who design curriculum and write text books and referencematerials are men. Women learn the men’s worldview and these are reflectedin their teaching, research sand writing. Also, Nepalese men and womengraduates who join in political parties, bureaucracy, development industryand elsewhere recycle men’s knowledge.+

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 91Theoretical/Conceptual positions: Nepalese social scientists, be it menor women, have not made efforts yet to generate their own theories andconcepts. What they have done so far is either a partial use of Westerntheories and concepts devoid of contextualization in the Nepalese society andculture or mimicked pre-given theories and concepts available within theideological domain that they love. Theoretical works are essential tounderstand the existing social realities but not to be captivated by it. Also, ifwe should borrow western theories and concepts, then instead of blindlyconsuming them, these should be contextualized in our situation.In the case of Nepalese feminism, feminists should either choose from awide range of Western feminist theories, including liberal, cultural, Freudian,Marxist, existentialist, socialist and radical theories (see Donovan 1985) bycontextualizing them in the Nepalese society and culture or locate their ownpositions within a wide range of Hindu fictious models such as Sati-Sabitribad(symbol of “chastity”), Kali-Durgabad (symbol of “power”), Saraswatibad(symbol of “education”) and Draupadibad (symbol of “polyandry”).Substantive IssuesSome substantive issues were raised in the past and are being raised at thepresent by various women’s organizations. Some of these organizations areabout fifty years old and some of them are of very recent origin (see Basnet,2053; INSEC, 1997; Lama, 1998; SINHAS, 1997).Women’s organizations and movement began since 1947 with theestablishment of women’s organizations, namely Mahila Samiti (“Women’sCommittee”) led by Mrs. Dibya Koirala in 1947, Adarsha Mahila Samiti(“Ideal Women’s Committee”) led by Mrs. Rewanta Kumari Acharya in1947, Nepal Mahila Sangh (“Nepal Women’s Association”) led by Mrs.Mangala Devi, and Akhil Nepal Mahila Sangathan (“ALL Nepal Women’sOrganization”) led by Mrs. Punya Prabha Devi Dhungana in 1950, AkhilNepal Mahila Sangh (“All Nepal Women’s Organization”) by Mrs.Kamachaya Devi in 1951, and Mahila Swyam Sewa (“Women’s VoluntaryServices”) led by a royal family member in 1952. Thus the first generation ofwomen activists came from different political families but belonging to “highcaste,” namely, Bahuns. All these organizations were aligned with one or theother political parties, including the Nepali Congress and the NepalCommunist Party, as sister organizations. These various organizations raisedthe issues of or for political representation of women in high offices.During the autocratic, partyless Panchayat regime, women were treatedas a class by itself and the Nepal Mahila Snngathan (“Nepal Women’s+

92 Gender and Democracy in NepalOrganization”) was the only recognized women’s organization by thegovernment. The organization worked on issues related to literacy, law andincome generation programs. The UN Declaration on women’s right in 1975forced the Panchayat rulers to do something for the Nepalese women. As aresult, HMG-N established the women’s Services Coordination Council(WSCC) under the Social Services Coordination Council (SSNCC) in 1977.The partyless Panchayat political system fell apart in 1990 due to anunprecedented peoples’ movement. After the re-establishment of multi-partypolitically system in 1990, women’s right activists raised issues such as equalproperty rights and reservation of seats in different political positions, jobsand education. The left leaning women’s organizations have been fightingagainst prostitution, girl trafficking, sexually explicit advertisements andchild marriage and also for gender equality, social security and so on. Leftistwomen activists are believed to be more militant than non-leftist womenactivists. What is positive about the democracy after 1990 is a proliferation ofnational and international organizations and network organizations workingon women’s issues, which are about fifty.The main thematic substantive issues raised very forcefully by allwomen’s right organizations and equal right activists appear to have beenincorporated in these two themes. After discussing the issues ofdiscrimination and exploitation, I will provide a shopping list of very specificsubstantive issues raised and means used by various women right activists.Discrimination: Discrimination has been the only rule of game in Nepal.Even nearly after a decade of re-establishment of multi-party democracy inNepal, gender discrimination against women and girl child is ubiquitous. It iseverywhere from the Constitution and other laws to the families andhouseholds. Although the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 statesthat there shall be no gender discrimination, the Acts, including the MulukiAin (National Code), discriminates women from men in several fields,including property rights, divorce, abortion, adoption and tenancy rights.Women are discriminated in governance—state (executive, legislature andjudiciary), market and civil society organizations—by exclusion.Religion, tradition, cultures norms and values that govern thecommunities and families are also gender discriminatory. Among thereligions, Hindu religion and the teachings of “sacred” Hindu scriptures are atthe worst in terms of gender discrimination. In spite of women’s projection asthe goddesses “Durga” and “Kali’ as symbols of power and goddess“Saraswati” as a symbol of education, Hindu religion treats women veryinhumanely and derogatorily as non-human objects. Social caste hierarchy,+

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 93concept of purity and pollution, high prize for chastity and male-based liferituals from birth to death perpetuate Hindu women’s status at both natal andhusband’s home to that of a second class status. Buddhist religion preachesfor equality, including equality between men and women but there are somecases of gender discrimination but such discriminations are not as ruthlessand severe as in the Hindu religion. In Islam religion also, there are manygender discriminatory rules and practices.In terms of caste and ethnicity, Bahun-Chhetris practice severe forms ofgender discrimination. Among the indigenous ethnic groups, the status ofwomen (cheli/maiti) is very high. Women family members often makehousehold decisions and they have high social mobility. Gender discriminationis minimal among those indigenous ethnic groups who still follow theirtradition but those have come under the influence of Sanskritization,Hinduization, Nepalization and Bahunbad, they are practicing more and morediscriminatory and conservative social values borrowed from the Hindus.Social norms and values are biased in favor of boys/men/sons. In mostof the communities, except some very traditional indigenous ethnic groups,sons are regarded as high value cash crop and daughters are regarded asjunks. Therefore, sons get preferential treatment from birth to death, especiallyin foods, clothing, toys/games, schooling/education, parental property,health care, last rites of dead parent, personal respect, social status andfreedom from doing household chores. Daughters, on the contrary, aredeprived from all those privileges. They are thought to be other’s propertyand liabilities.Exploitation: Commodification of women and girl child by the state,society, market and media keep the door gender discrimination and exploitationwide open. Nepalese women are exploited in many fronts—household/family, community and the state. In the cities, many women are sexuallyexploited as commercial sex workers. Media exploit women as sex objects.Prior to 1950s, women were exploited sexually by the Rana rulers and otherhigh class peoples, on the one hand and through the custom of polygyny bycommon men, on the other. After 1950s, women are exploited as sex objects,including trafficking of women, commercial sex workers and sex symbols inmedia advertisements. Women work at home without due appreciation oftheir contribution in household/national economy; get less wages/salaries inall kinds of jobs.Exploitation of women is primarily class based. Poor women are moreexploited sexually, economically, politically socially and culturally than richwomen. Women belonging to Dalits or “low caste” groups are the ones who+

94 Gender and Democracy in Nepalare exploited most by “high caste” groups who get their services by payingnominal wages or rewards.Poor and illiterate women are often heavily exploited by their ownfamily, kith and kin and many innocent women are sold in brothels of India.Some women who are engaged in commercial sex are exploited economicallyby their brokers and sexually exploited by some law enforcement officersonce they are booked. Also, women who work in farms and constructionareas are economically exploited by the employer/contractors.Raging Substantive Issues: The raging national issues, for and against,raised by women’s right activists (see Rana/Deuba, 1998; Singh, n.d.;Shrestha, 1994) include the following:For:! right to inherit parental properties or to equal property rights;! reproductive rights, including abortion or right on one’s own body;! reproductive health, including family planning and safe motherhood;! reservation of seats or positive discrimination in education, politics,police, army and public offices;! equal wages;! girl child education/out of school programs/Chelibetee class/adultliteracy class;! Production Credit for Rural Women (PCRW)/micro-credit programsand other user’s groups, including forest user’s groups;! political representation—national to local (public offices/sphere);! human rights instruments related to women;! citizenship rights; and! women’s empowerment.Against:! Commercial sex, including traditional custom of Deuki and Badi,and trafficking of women;! violence against women:# domestic violence;# sexual slavery;# prostitution;+

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 95# international trafficking of women;# incest;# reproductive rights violations;# rape;# sexual harassment;# sex discrimination;# medical abuse;# abuse of women with physical or mental disabilities;# culture-bound practices harmful to women;# ritual abuse within religious cults;# marital rape;# pornography and abuse of women in media;# abuse of women internal refugee or relocation camps;# custodial abuse;# female foeticide; and# dowry-related violence and murder.! child and/or early marriage;! labor: bonded and girl child labor; and! female impoverishment.Local level issues:! reduction of workload of women and girl child;! employment for adult men and women;! income generating skill training;! children’s education;! food, clothing and shelter;! health care; and! access to market.Means UsedAll the above listed peaceful means or the “weapons of the weak,” usedby women’s right activists to achieve some of the above mentioned women’srights are as follows:+

96 Gender and Democracy in Nepal! Seminars, workshops, conferences, talk programs on women’srights, including right to inherit parental property, violence againstwomen, reproductive rights, five year plan;! Publications of advocacy leaflets and reports;! Interactive programs with the planners, policy makers, politicalleaders and academicians;! Delegations to the government, including the Prime Minister and theconcerned public officials either to protest against specificgovernment actions detrimental to women and girl child or to pressthe government to implement certain plans and programs for them;! Press statements to protest against government actions detrimentalto women and girl child;! Street demonstrations, mass rallies, and mass meetings either toshow solidarity or to protest against specific government actions;! Sit-in or relay fasting and Gheraos;! Networking with international sister organizations.Shailaja Acaharya, the then Deputy Prime Minister, advised womenactivists to flex the muscles, crash the gates of Parliament to Gherao andbreak some windows, and create loud noise (The Kathmandu Post, May7,1998:1). She implicitly suggested to abandon current soft types of advocacyand lobbying listed above.These all means to press issues concerning gender equality and equitydefinitely have some significance but the main gender war to be waged at isat the family level. The family, according to Hartmann, is a locus of “internalstruggle over matters related to production or redistribution (housework andpaychecks, respectively). It can also provide a basis for struggle by itsmembers against larger institution such as corporations or the state. Willcooking continue to be done at home or be taken over largely by fast-foodchains? Will childcare continue to be the responsibility of parents or will it beprovided by the state outside the home? Such question signal tensions overthe location of production. Tax protest, revolving as it does around the issueof who will make decisions for the family about the redistribution of itsresources, can be viewed as an example of struggle between families and thestate over redistribution” (Hartmann, 1987:112-113).+

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 97Features of the Women’s Rights MovementWe can see some features of women’s movement in the past. These are:! The movement started with and continues to be nurtured by womenbelonging to certain caste, religious and regional groups. UrbanHindu "high caste" groups, that is, Bahuns and Chetris, and theNewars, among the ethnic groups continue to take the leadership inthe movement. Women belonging to indigenous ethnic groups,Dalits and Muslims were and are out of the loop. From regionalperspective hill women have taken the leadership roles in themovement. Women with good economic background have occupiedkey positions in the movement.! Women’s movement started spontaneously but in due course of itsdevelopment it is often either induced by the donors, includingINGOs or by the international human rights and women’s rightsinstruments, some ratified and some yet to be ratified by Nepal.! Most the women’s movement is centered in the Kathmandu Valley.There are isolated cases of issues based women’s movement comingup from the grassroots level. Campaign against alcohol by AmaSamuha is one such example.! As most of the women’s organizations are affiliated with one or theother national political parties, some women’s issues are raised bysuch organization as directed by their political party in order to usewomen voters’ as their vote bank rather than with a genuine concernfor bringing a change.! Women’s movement has confined their advocacy to women’s social,legal and political issues but not on economic and epistemologicalissues. The reasons for such overlook appears to be heavyengagement of gender experts on consulting works provided byinternational donors and time consuming engagement in advocacyand lobbying activities.! In the process of Westernization and modernization of Nepalesesociety, various types of women’s movements have contributed tosome extent in creating some public, including political, space.“Over the period from 1917 to 1950 and from 1960 to 1990”,according to Lama (1998:328), “women’s mobilization wasprimarily used as a support to a larger political struggle, that is, thefight for democracy....The mobilization of women for women,+

98 Gender and Democracy in Nepalhowever, became more frequent after the establishment of themultiparty, democratic regime in 1990.” Lama (1998: 327), thus,sees the Nepalese women’s movement as “ a series of mobilizationsof women as women.”! Tamang (1998:326), on the contrary, feels that “ the lack of asingular feminist movement in Nepal (a fact often bemoaned) maypoint to the need for re-conceptualization. What have been hithertoseen as scattered attempts to take up certain issues, may point toemerging forms of different feminism.”Each Nepalese woman should think that her individual problems arenational problems and the only way to get rid of those problems is to abandonliving like, what C. Wright Mills (1970) calls, “biography” and live as“history.”Among the donors, the SNV and the GTZ, in sharp contrast to theUnited States and the World Bank, help to strengthen civil organizations.Many donors have huge amount of aid money in the name of WID, WADand GAD, women’s empowerment, gender equity and equality, equal rights,women’s rights and so on. Often these aid money, like any other aid money,do not reach out to the intended beneficiaries, Most of the money is eithersiphoned back to the donors’ own countries through their technicalconsultants and staff or evaporated by the Katmandu’s elite.Men have neither formed nor there is any need of forming organizationsdemanding for men’s rights because whatever the state, market and civilsociety have been doing in the past and present are explicit or implicitmaintenance of men’s rights. On the contrary, women have very latelyrealized that they should form various organizations to press demands forequal rights for women and men.STRATEGIES: PAST AND PRESENTLet me make some critical observation about the past and existing strategiesadopted to fight for gender equality.HomogenizationNepalese planners, policy makers, development practitioners and politicalleaders often treat women as a homogenous group. The Production Credit ForRural Women (PCRW) program introduced in the early eighties through theWomen’s Development Section, now Women’s Development Department,+

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 99and recently established Ministry of Women and Social Welfare appear to beexceptions. In reality, although the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare isexclusively for women, the remaining Ministries, including education, localdevelopment, agriculture, forestry, environment, water resources, landreform, and law, as if, need not to be women-centered at least for some time.The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 has recognized Nepalas a multi-caste/ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society. Though theConstitution declares Nepal as a Hindu kingdom, it is indeed a multireligiousand multi-regional country as well. Therefore, women also shouldbe grouped in four racial categories: Caucasians, Mongoloid, Dravidian andProto-Australoid. From linguistic perspective, women should be divided intofour groups, Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman, Dravid and Munda languagespeaking groups. In terms of religion, women should be divided into Animist,Bon, Kirat, Buddhist, Lamaist, Hindu, Islam, Christians, Sikh and so on.From eco-regional perspective, women should be divided into Himali(mountain people) Pahadias (hill people) and Madhesis (Plains/Terai people).In such a diverse society and culture, if women are treated as a homogenouscategory, then it is no wonder if development programs designed with suchhomogenous notion should fail.Top-down or Bottom-up?Women’s rights movement has mostly been top down since the Fourties.Women activists coming from either well off or politically advanced familieshave taken center stage in women’s movement and so far there is nothingwrong about it. It is natural because it is always comfortable for women (ormen) of such background to participate in social/political activities and totake leadership of the movement. They are the ones who can do something tobring change at the policy making level. Centralization of power andauthorities in Kathmandu provides opportunities to those women who live inKathmandu to involve in such activities Some women activists who comefrom rural areas also tend to settle in Kathmandu and launch their activities.Such top-down approach becomes effective in changing laws, plans, policiesand programs. Even if the laws, policies, plans and programs should change,women at the grassroots level do not get an opportunity to know, feel andexperience about such changes. There is indeed a widening gap betweencenter and periphery, between theory and practice. So far, nothing actuallyworks.Another side of top-down approach is the gender sensitivity of thedonors’ own organizations that advocate for gender equality and equity. We+

100 Gender and Democracy in Nepalknow that almost all donors, including INGOs, some NGOs and fewgovernment organizations work and advocate for women’s rights, women’sempowerment, gender equity/equality under the banner of WID, WAD andGAD. One may wonder to what extent the organizations/institutions thatadvocate and work for gender issues are themselves gender-sensitive. Dothey preach or teach? My observation is that organizations that work ongender issues teach more than preach.Recently an INGO has initiated to draft a gender strategy of its ownorganization. The goal they have set for is “to become a gender-sensitiveorganization so that men and women have equal opportunities in the society.”They have formulated several gender sensitive provisions at the institutionaland program levels. At the institutional level they have identified the issuesof systems and procedures, hiring practice, equal participation, code ofconduct (attitude and behavior), sharing and networking, staff training, andsupport for the women staff working in remote areas. The system andprocedure include equal number of men and women staff at all levels,including interview panels, focal persons in each program office to look aftergender issues. In hiring practices it has become customary to state, “womencandidates are encouraged to apply” but they felt that it is not enough. Theyhave accepted that advertisement of recruitment should state categoricallyabout the “policies regarding maternity leave, paternity leave, breast feeding,flexible working pattern after pregnancy up to six months etc.” They havealso suggested to incorporate gender in job descriptions as well. With regardsto support for women staff working in remote areas, the draft gender strategystates that those women staff who work in remote areas of Nepal “may feelthe extra burden of working in such areas especially where cultures could bedifferent. Under such circumstances, instead of discouraging women formworking in such areas, we will try to provide support as much as possible towomen staff.” Similarly at the program level, the gender strategy paper statesthat gender perspective should be incorporated at each program andmonitored during the whole year. The strategy paper states that theorganizations should “influence GOs and NGOs in the program areas to begender- sensitive.”There are a few recent examples of bottom-up approaches practicedmore effectively. The success of the Ama Samuha (“mother’s group”) in thefar- and mid-western Nepal to declare the VDCs as dry areas is one suchexample.+

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 101Reform + Movement vs. RevolutionIn the past women’s movement was welfare oriented. They, therefore,pursued reform approach. After the people’s movement of 1990, women’smovement has become increasingly movement oriented. The men rulersobviously prefer reform approach. They give less to women and politicalleaders misuse them as their vote banks. Movement approach has raised somesensation and waves but such waves have not been sustained for long. Oftenwomen’s right activists are criticized by the men as being induced by thedonors. After the initiation of people’s war by the Maoists in February of1996, some Nepalese women have joined in revolutionary wars.Future Strategy/ Intervention StrategiesGender issues, including women’s rights, cannot be and should not be theissues exclusive to only one political party, that is, of the Nepali Congressalone, or of the Nepal Communist Party (Unified Marxist Leninist) alone orof the Rastriya Prajatantra Party alone or of the Nepal Communist Party-Maoist alone or of women alone. The issues transcend both politicalideologies and women. Unfortunately, in Nepal, political parties havedivided women on the bases of their political ideologies and most of theNepalese men, including planners, policy makers and development practitioners,often believe that such issues are exclusive concern of women,particularity “Sukila saree lagayaka mehaiaharuko metra”(“Women whowere sarees neat and tidy”).Short term intervention strategyI believe that the women’s right movement should give due attention to thefollowing short term intervention strategy:! Shift from Gender and Development (GAD) to Gender and Private/Public Spheres (GAPS).! Implement women and girl child first/centered development.! Expand and intensify current advocacy and lobbying activities byinvolving activists belonging to various caste/ethnic, religion, language,regional and ideological/political groups.! Increase socio-cultural sensitivity within and outside the movement.+

102 Gender and Democracy in Nepal! Intensify literacy programs, including functional, out of school program,remedial, non-formal education, mandatory girls’ hostel program up toS.L.C.! Redesign national school curriculum from gender perspective.! Adopt two pronged approach: policy level & grassroots level on thefollowing five fields–RATOS:I. Research,II. Advocacy,III. Teaching/Training, andIV. Organization building, andV. Social Mobilization.! Form a single umbrella network/ alliance on women’ rights.! Intensify grassroots level organization building and campaign for use ofvarious women’s user’s groups-PCRW, credit and savings groups,forest, Aama Samuha (Mother’s Groups), etc. to fight for genderequality.! Mandatory requirement of gender desegregated data and information onall plans, program, guidelines, progress reports, monitoring andevaluation.! Develop Gender-Sensitive-Index (GSI) at the institutional level for theMinistries, Departments, Offices, Organizations, Institutions, Donors,(I)NGOs at national, regional and local level.! Form the Nepalese Women Voters’ League (NWVL) at different levels.National constituency, District Development Committee (DDC), VillageDevelopment Committee (VDC) and Ward Level to organize public canclarify their position on gender issues and the League should campaignfor or against the party or candidate on that basis. The campaign shouldbe something like if any candidates who does not support property rightBill, abortion Bill and elimination of violence against women Bill asproposed by the women’s right movement he/she should not get votes ofany women voters.! Draft and pass a Bill about parenting and gender sensitive division oflabor at home.! Intensify demand for positive discrimination or reservation of seats invarious political positions, education and scholarship.! Activate Women’s Caucus in the parliament.+

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 103Long term intervention strategyI believe that the women’s right movement should give due attention to thefollowing long term intervention strategy:! All the Ministries should work together with Women ‘s Ministry ongender issues;! Many indigenous people of Nepal who are not much influenced by theHindu religion, culture and value still have some tradition that is veryclose to gender equality. Social values of such societies should bediffused nationwide with pro-active plans, policies and programs of thegovernment and non-governmental organizations.! Women’s should prepare to stage a gender insurgency or a genderrevolution to demolish patriarchy. If there can be ethnic insurgencieswhy cannot we have a gender insurgency? We should remember that inboth class-based and ethnic-based insurgencies it is not difficult to useviolent means because the enemies are impersonal but in genderinsurgency it is practically impossible for women to use violent meansagainst men who are members of the same household. If should be notedhere that patriarchy involves power and power does not transfer soeasily. Hence, gender insurgency is a necessity.CONCLUSIONEveryone should realize that women’s individual/ personal problems arenational problems. It is a fact that until we solve serious problems facingwomen, national problems cannot be solved. What happen to women are bestindicators of the degree of development of Nepal. If women are at the worst,Nepal’s development performance is also at the worst and if women get dueopportunities then Nepal also gets an opportunity to develop and prosper.Gender issues are embedded in any society and culture. Nepalese societybeing characterized by socio-cultural pluralism any demand or any practice isrooted differently in different caste/ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural andregional groups. Socio-cultural dimensions may be a boon for genderequality, if handled properly or an obstacle, if handled wrongly.If substantial gains should be made concerning women’s rights either avery strong movement or a gender-insurgency is required to change the ruleof the game that has so far, been monopolized by men under patriarchy.+

104 Gender and Democracy in NepalREFERENCES CITEDBasnet, Meera2053 Nepalko Prjatantrik Aandolanma Mahiladargako Bhumika, and Kathmandu:Merra Basent [Text in Nepali].Donovan, Josephine1988 Feminist Theory, New York: Continuum.Hartmann, Heidi I.1987 “The Family as the Locus of Gender, Class and Political Struggle. Theexample of Housework,” PP.107-134, in Sandra handing (ed.) Feminism &Methodology. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press andMilton Keynes: Open University Press.INSEC1997 Women in Politics, National Conference on Women 1996. KathmanduInformal Sector Service Center (INSEC).Lama, Stephanie Tawa1998 “Remarks on the Political within the Nepali Women’s Movement”, Pp. 327-335, Studies in Nepali History and Society, Vol 2, December 1997.Migdal, Joel S.1988 Strong Societies and Weak States. Society Relations and State Capabilitiesin the Third World. Pricetion New Jersey: Prinection University Press.Mills, C, Wright1970 The Sociological Imagination, New York: Oxford University Press.NESAC1998 Nepal Human Development Report 1997, Kathmandu Nepal South AsiaCenter (NESAC).Rana-Deuba, Arzu1998 “Palaay Punnya-Marey Paap” Domestic Violence and Human Right, “A paperpresented at a seminar organized by HURON in Kathmandu.Singh, Madhurin.d. “Violence Against Women in Nepal.” Kathmandu: Saathi..SINHAS1997 Studies in Nepali History and Society, Volume 2, No.2. Kathamdnu: MandalaBooks.Shrestha , Shanta Laxmi+

Gender Issues : K. Bhattachan 1051994 Gender Sensitive Planning What, why and How in Nepal, Kathmandu:Women Awareness Center Nepal (WACN).Tamang Seira1998 “Questioning Netribad,” pp.324-327, Studies in Nepali History and Society,Vol 2, No 2, December 1997.Tinker, Irene1976 “ Introduction: The seminar on Women in Development,” pp.1-6 in Tinker,Irene and Michele B. Bramsen (eds.) (1976) Women and WorldDevelopment, Overseas Development Council.+

+Summary of the Floor DiscussionHarinder ThapaliyaIn the first paper on “Women and the Economy” presented by Dr. MeenaAcharya the important concerns raised by the participants well related to theneed for equal opportunities for women in all the areas whether it is Tourism,politics or in the administrative levels.There was an important question raised by the participants related topractical and strategic needs of women, whether the income generatingactivities are able to fulfill the strategic needs of the poor women? Theexperiences dealing with women’s issues in the past two decades indicatethat exclusive focus on women as an analytical category and efforts to caterto their practical needs for food, shelter, basic education and primary healthare not sufficient for building an equal opportunity for women and men.There is need to raise awareness about strategic needs of women andintegrate it into the programs’ implementation. Another economic issue wasthat women development departments in various Ministries have not beenable to implement effective programs of education and micro-credit forwomen. The participants expressed their opinion about the implementation ofequal property rights for women like men. They also emphasized on promotionof programs in rural areas which help women to be aware of their rightsand empowerment. Last but not least the participants demanded thatdaughters should be free to marry the men of their choice and for this theydemanded reforms in the existing laws; chairperson Mrs. Pushpa Niraula alsoemphasized on the need for gender sensitization training to raise awarenessabout social and economic issues in the society. As mentioned by Dr. KamalKrishna Joshi, the then Vice Chancellor of Tribhuvan University, in the inauguralfunction that changes are natural and cannot be stopped but they bring alot of challenges at the same time. The contributions made by women in thesociety are significant and we cannot forget the important contributions ofwomen in restoration of democracy in the country. Dr. Joshi also added thatwomen can bring positive changes in the society for which they need to beinvolved in the overall development of the country.106

Gender Issues : H. Thapaliya 107In the second paper on women’s political participation in Nepal,preventives and challenges, presented by Mr. Kapil Shrestha the participantsexpressed their views on lack of women’s participation in politics. Theyemphasized the need for political reservation which will help to increasewomen’s participation in politics. The main causes of lack of women participationin politics was mentioned as lack of family support and experiencein this field. Participants felt that there is an urgent need for parliamentariansto raise their voice strongly against discrimination.Mr. Dhana Prasad Pandit, the chairperson of the session, also stressedthat possible strategies should be adopted to increase women’s participationin politics and for this the role of pressure groups is very important as theycan help to solve women’s problems.The Third paper of this workshop/seminar was in the area of law andexisting realities of Nepalese women. The participants were of the opinionthat His Majesty’s Government should eliminate all forms of discriminationagainst women in law and practice and this is necessary to implement theratified international treaties and convention. They also expressed their viewsabout the important role of the family in initiating the equal treatment of maleand female children. There is also need for special investigation system forvictimized women in case of trafficking, domestic violence and battering.The Bill regarding women should be passed not only for the property but alsofor recognizing women’s contribution in the national economy. From theChair, Dr. Indira Sharma concluded the session by saying that legal, socialcultural economic and political measures should be taken together to endviolence and exploitation of women. Prevailing laws should be amended andreformed to bring changes in the status of women. She also emphasized ongender sensitization training for people from all disciplines.Last of the papers presented in this seminar was by Dr. K B. Bhattachanon “Sociological Perspectives on Gender Issues in a changing Nepalesesociety.” The discussion concentrated on the sexual division of labor whichprevailed. It also criticized the program initiated by NGO’s INGOs underWID, WAD and GAD.The chairperson of the session Dr. Harinder Thapaliya emphasized theneed for understanding the crucial role of socio-cultural factors which aremainly responsible for the discrimination and oppression of women in theNepalese society. She also mentioned that gender sensitization and lobbyingare all necessary to fight against discrimination. All the four papers presentedin this seminar/workshop on empowerment expressed that if half of Nepal’spopulation remained illiterate, underrepresented unaware of their rights and+

108 Gender and Democracy in Nepalundervalued, Nepal could never achieve the goals of national development.Women from all sections and castes, tribes, groups, rural and urban need tobe given equal opportunities for their participation in the nationaldevelopment+

+PART TWOGENDER EQUALITYAND DEMOCRACY109

110 Gender and Democracy in NepalIntroductionIndira SharmaWomen’s development in Nepal has a long history of about a century, but thewavelength of development was different than what is at present. A slow andgradual development of women since 1950-51. has been accelerated after thedeclaration of women’s decade in 1975. A ten years period from 1975-1985provided an opportunity to take a retrospective look at the role and status ofwomen. A three-year research study started in 1979 on the status of womenin Nepal. This study was carried out to determine the actual participation andcontribution of women in the rural economy, including their input in thedecision making process, their role in the social and cultural milieu and ineconomic activities. One of the visible achievements of the UN decade forwomen in Nepal was the establishment of institutions for women in both thegovernment and the NGO sector. But despite some legal reforms intending toimprove women’s condition, the absence of a truly democratic politicalenvironment made it difficult for the people to raise a voice.Democracy in Nepal has enabled the creation of a strong civil society,with a free press, a variety of academic institutions and a large number ofNGOs. All these players have performed a valuable role in sensitizingpoliticians and functionaries on issues of human rights, environmentalconservation and the need for gender equity and equality. An importantchallenge for HMG lies in integrating gender issues into all aspects ofgovernance. On the operational level, HMG is faced with the task ofmainstreaming gender into all its operational structures and activities.Hindu Culture and the socialization of girls and women in Nepalesesociety has had such a great impact on women that they consciously orunconsciously, enforce the patriarchal system and accept male dominance.Therefore, women are exploited not only by men but also by other womenand even by themselves.The characteristics of the patriarchal society in Nepal have resulted inclear patterns and structures subordinating women. These characteristics+

Gender Equality and Democracy : I. Sharma 111include restrictions on educational opportunities, misrepresentation in themedia, control over women’s productivity, family control over women’smobility, control over parental property, discriminatory religious practices,discriminatory legal system and economic restrictions.Pervasive gender hierarchies thus restrict women’s access to resourcesand systematically marginalize them from decision-making within all socialinstitutions in the country. Consequently women face high degrees of socialviolence and are often denied many fundamental rights.Women’s limited access to decision making is evident in Governmentbureaucracy. In 1997 only five percent of HMG officers were women. Loweducational status and various rigidities in the rules and regulations of civilservice often limit women’s entrance to the bureaucracy. In an effort tochange the system, HMG revised the civil service Act (1994) to incorporateprovisions by increasing the maximum age for entry for women to 40 years(35 years for men) encouraging lateral entry in second and first class posts to45 years. In the judiciary, despite recent acts encouraging women’sparticipation women constitute only about 4% of current judicial decisionmakers,5% of total registered legal practitioners and 25% of pleaders andadvocates.The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 was promulgated as anachievement of the people’s movement. However politics is still considered aman’s territory. Women’s political participation and access to position ofpower is restricted by them limited access to education and economicresources as well as by their mobility constraints and householdresponsibilities. In the political sphere women tend to be restricted mainly tograss root level decision making through voting. However, they are muchless evident in the middle and virtually absent in the higher levels ofdecision-making structures. For example in July 1995 only 8% of the 154executive members in the Lower House were women. In spite of the commitmentby political parties to allocate 20% of all seats to women candidates,women’s candidacy in 1998 parliamentary elections remained at about 5.1percent. In fact, out of the total of 2212 candidates in 1999 election only 135were women. Only 12 emerged as parliamentary members, constituting lessthan six percent of the total number of seats. A progressive step to decreasegender inequity was introduced in 1997 by a royal ordinance that reserved20% (approximately 36,000) of VDC seats for elected or nominated womenrepresentative. But lack of education and awareness of their roles andresponsibilities were constraints for effective functioning.+

112 Gender and Democracy in NepalThe economic contribution of Nepalese women may be characterizedmore comprehensively in terms of feminization of low wage low skilledsectors and the concentration of women’s work in unpaid or subsistenceoriented work. Trends in these sections are upheld by a gender decision oflabor, where women perform most life sustaining activities. Women also,have restricted access to credit and capital.There exists a difference in the wage rates of women and men even inurban area. In addition, only 4% of all economically active women work inthe formal sector compared to 12% of men. In 1997, 63% of women wereemployed in unpaid work compared to 24% of men. Nearly 30% of womenwere engaged in income earning activities compared to 44% of men. Only7% were employed in “paid job” compared to 32% men.Another challenge to women’s economic empowerment relates to credit.Although 59 percent of Nepalese households are borrowers of credit, thereexits a marked gender gap between men and women’s access to institutionalcredit. For example in 1991/92 women access to institutional credit wasalmost half of that of men (30.4%: 154%). However production credit forrural women (PCRW) program have illustrated that credit can serve as alocus for women’s increased mobility, solidarity and overall socialmobilization. But again women’s lack of decision making power on howcredit is utilized make them dependent again on the men.A start on the issues of human rights started with the formation ofHuman Rights Commission Act in 1996 and the establishment of theCommission in 1999. The formation of Women’s Right Commission is stillin the process. In order to minimize the gender discrimination advocacy onwomen’s right issues, women’s right of capacity building, strengthening lawenforcement and monitoring of rights should be exercised only by thewomen’s right commission.A two-day’s seminar organized by women studies program, an academicorganization, overviewed how gender issues has been exercise within tenyears of democracy. The working paper was presented and discussed on fourmajor areas such as economic, socio cultural, legal and human right aspect.Many eminent personalities of Nepal were involved in the preparation of theworking paper and also in the discussion as the participants.Advocate Yubaraj Sangroula, in an article entitled “Women’sPersonality: Defined in terms of Their Sex and Marital Status,” argues that“sex and marital status” make women's identity in the society. He furtherargues that Nepalese legal system is largely a reflective of defective valuesystem related to the structure of the society such as women has no right to+

Gender Equality and Democracy : I. Sharma 113identify, women’s personality is disgraced, women are placed in a weakerlegal position and they have no right to property. Whatever property rightmen have, the legal system in Nepal has maintained full control of men overwomen in relation to their property rights. This paper further enlightens howwomen in Nepal are effectively subjected to inferiority in exercising thecontractual right i.e. marriage and associated matrimonial relations.Dr. Meena Acahrya, in her article on "Democracy and Gender Equality:the Economic Aspect,” mainly deals with two aspects - a) Gender issues inchanging structure of employment. The comparison reflected the situation ofwomen’s employment before and after democracy in various sectors such asprofessional and technical, clerical, agriculture and forestry, production, salesand services with rural/urban, ecological and ethnic variations. b) The newmethod suggested that in addition to women’s contribution to regular GDP,measurement of women’s overall contributions to the social productionprocess and the overall household welfare should be considered. Dr. Acharyadescribes how non-recognition of women’s contributions to GDP wasconducted by excluding additional non-market products made and householdmaintenance activities by women. She argues that women’s contribution toGDP becomes much more than that of men if all three items are addedtogether.Dr. Krishna B. Bhattachan, in his article on “Socio-cultural Aspect ofGender Equity/equality and Democracy in Nepal,” describes how genderinequality persists at the household level in different region, ethnic groupsand socio-cultural groups. The article further describes the socio-culturalfactors reproducing gender inequality and suggests the means to reducesocio-cultural based gender inequality. Dr. Bhattachan emphasizes on theneed of equitable democracy where there should be a rule in partnership ofboth women and men, by both women and men, for both women and men,and to both women and men.Prof. Kapil Shrestha, in an article entitled “Reconsidering the Issue ofWomen’s Human Rights and Political Rights,” mainly reviews on attempts toimprove human rights situation of Nepalese women and on politicalparticipation of women. He tries to address the issues affecting realization ofwomen’s human rights and political rights. Finally, he makes severalrecommendations to improve and procure women’s human rights in ameaningful way.+

+Women’s Personality :Defined in Terms ofTheir Sex and Marital StatusYubaraj SangroulaINTRODUCTIONNepal has its own idiosyncratic legal system that developed in line withHindu customs over the centuries. The Nepalese legal system is largely anoffshoot of The Hindu system. The moulding of Nepalese society and lawaccording to Hindu tradition, began in the fourth century AD during the ruleof Licchavi kings. The most notable aspect of Hinduization during theLicchavi period was the introduction of Hindu Varna system, an attempt toallocate places within this system to all Nepalese, regardless of whether ornot they were Hindus. However, there was no real systematic attempt to unifyand codify Nepalese society until the late fourteenth century during the reignof king Jayasthiti Malla.Jayasthiti Malla promulgated the “Manab Nyaya Sastra (legal rules forhuman justice). It was a comprehensive codification of substantive andprocedural rules based largely upon Hindu scriptures, Narad andYagyavalakya Smirities in particular. Rules in Manab Naya Sastra wereformulated, based on “gender and caste." Hence, the individual person’ssocial status was the determining factor of law. The social system wasenvisaged to maintain with a support of stiffer penal system. The penalsystem was based on the intensity of the crimes, and was determined by thesocial status of the offenders. Hence, a crime committed by the so-calledlower caste person virtually did not attract punishment. The Rules of HumanJustice prohibited inter-caste marriage. For instance, if a lower caste manmarried an upper caste woman, either the penis of the person was cut off aspunishment, or the death penalty would have been imposed. The lawrecognized the customary practices of people. For instance, the husband of114

Gender Equality and Democracy : Y. Sangroula 115woman having illicit sexual relation with another could kill the latter. Thelaw recognized this practice as the right of men.The modem period of Nepalese law is said to have begun in 1853, whenMuluki Ain was promulgated. It is so called because the code introduced theconcept of written law as an authoritative source of law. Muluki Ain too washeavily influenced by Hindu dogmas. That is why the Code includesprovisions, which envisage reinforcing the Hindu caste and gender disparitysystems. For instance, women were not acceptable in the courts as witnesses.In 1964, New Muluki Ain replaced the Muluki Ain, and it was theprogressive laws that eliminated caste system, but it was equally regressive asit still continued with “inequality of genders."WEAKER LEGAL POSITION OF WOMEN AND GIRLSThe Nepalese legal system is largely a reflection of defective value systemsrelated to the structure of the society. The patriarchal domination is deeplyimbibed in the social value system, which denies equality of status to women.The denial is “intentionally” designed in order to weaken their position in thesociety so that the men’s absolute control over their personality and sexualityis rendered possible. This value system is defined as the defective valuesystem. The following three characteristics of defective value system areexpressive in the Nepalese legal system:• disregard of the independent personality of women;• invisible but absolute control over the sexuality of women and girls; and• commodification of women by men.DISREGARD OF THE WOMEN’S PERSONALITYPersonality is an aggregation of rights, comprising claims, liberty andimmunity. Claims indicate simple entitlement over something, like if oneworks he deserves wages. If the employer denies payment, the employed hasa valid claim to have the payment. Power denotes special legal capacity toalter the “legal position of others." For instance, a father may deny to sharehis property with children (at least in other countries). The legal capacity offather depriving his children from right to share the property is defined as the“power of father." Liberty is a capacity of making “ choice”, a man can havewife of his choice, and no other can impose on him. Immunity is anexemption from some liability, like a diplomatic agent is immune fromcriminal jurisdiction of Nepal. Defects in claims, power, liberty andimmunity impairs personality of individual. These values have no gender+

116 Gender and Democracy in Nepalcharacters, and modification is acceptable in exercise of such values bywomen. Ultimately, these values get expression through certain broad typesof rights viz. right to identity, right to contract etc.Right to identityRight to identity directly to his/her “self” means every person has a right tohave a name and legal safeguard to protect the “reputation." Gender is anidentity in itself and as such is protected from infringement upon, ordisregard of any kind. But the right to identity itself has no ‘gender’. In theeyes of law of personality, every human being, irrespective of sex, is aperson, not man and woman. The right to identity is a strong basis forrecognition of the ‘nationality’ of person. However, in Nepalese law, thesituation is different. The Section 3 of the Citizenship Act, 1963, by definingthe father as a sole source for Nepalese nationality of the child, 12 obviouslyflouts the right to identity of women. The provision overtly prohibits themother to transmit her nationality to the children. Many people take thiscircumstance as a “weakness” on the part of child imposed by law. However,the view is apparently a mistaken understanding of the fact. In fact, it is ablatant weakness imposed by the law on “women” in order to incapacitatethem as the source of nationality of the children. Of course, the provision isan instrument devised to rebut the right to identity of women. Implicitly, theprovision prohibits women to give birth to a child without identification of “man” as his/her father. In turn, the implicit consequence, as a severe dishonorof the right to identity, restrains women from independent exercise of their‘sexuality’. By incorporation of the given gender biased provision in article8, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal itself has been impregnated bythe concept of women’s subordination to men’s personality, a defective valuesystem practiced over centuries.Right to PropertyThe right to property is referred to mean claims, power, liberty and immunityin relation to things and reputation. It enables a person to hold possession of,maintain ownership on, and realize disposal of the goods of property as pertheir choice. Except for certain general conditions of limitation, the right toproperty is absolute and universal. Like the right to identity, it has no elementof gender attached to govern the exercise thereof. However, the Nepaleseproperty law prevails over the centuries in contravention of fundamentals ofuniversality, secularity and perfection of women’s right to property. The legal+

Gender Equality and Democracy : Y. Sangroula 117system in Nepal has maintained full control of men over women in relation totheir property right.Muluki Ain (State’s Code of Laws), promulgated in 1853, was the firstconfided law in Nepal providing for, among other things, the rules onproperty. The promulgation of the code in 1853, although Hindu scriptureson conduct of human being heavily influenced it, marked the beginning ofmodern era of the Nepalese legal system. This is so viewed because theMuluki Ain introduced the comprehensive code of ‘legal rules’ governing thesubstantive and procedural realm of law in Nepal. Until this period, theHindu scriptures had unquestioningly been treated as the source of ‘rightsand duty of peoples” in Nepal. 3 The promulgation of the Code was an attemptto introduce a secular legal system, however, in sprit it was deeply influencedby Hindu philosophy on law and society. It is evident from its frameworkitself, which envisaged reinforcing the caste system and genderingdistinctions as the basis of social relations. Hence, in practicality, the codeappeared merely a collection of Hindu dogmas and customs. Junga BahadurRana, the first Rana Prime Minister and promulgator of the Muluki Ain, alsopartially abolished the custom of “Sati”, the practice of widow burningthemselves with the bodies of their husbands while cremated. The practicedenotes to absolute denial of “selfness” to women. The custom overtlyrecognized a proposition that “women’s existence is not possible withouthusband." It was legacy handed down by orthodox “Hinduism."Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher, politically a ruthless successorof Junga Bahadur, did partially abolished the custom of “Sati” giving way tothe recognition of “mortal existence of women” even after death of theirhusbands. It was the first step to disassociate the “person” of women fromthat of “men." However, women’s position was effectively underestimated inthe formal system, like women were not accepted as witnesses in the courts,and similarly they were prohibited to perform disposal of property byindependent choice of their own. These provisions apparently reducedwomen to “matters of men’s property." Having incorporated the dogmas ofHinduism, the Muluki Ain made an attempt to define legal relations ofindividuals in society in terms of “Kul” (Kind group), Santan (Familylineage), Jat (Caste) and Linga (sex) as the societal bases. His/her caste andgender therefore, determined the status of the individual. Clause of theSection on “Augsabanda” (Partition of shares of property), for instance,allowed the father to discriminate, in matters of property, against his sonsborn out of wedlock of a woman of inferior caste. 4 Similarly, the Muluki Ainprohibited the son to claim the share in property, if he was born from a+

118 Gender and Democracy in Nepal“prostitute." Prostitutes were legally denied the status of a normal humanbeing.The New Muluki Ain, 1964, repealed the former one, and, to someextent, it was proved to be a progressive piece of law. It did away with the“casteism” as a basis of socio-legal relations. It thus created a ground for themovement of ending the oppression and inhuman treated inflicted upon“Dalit” community. Unfortunately, it prolonged the gender discrimination onmany matters as usual in the past. The Muluki Ain prohibited daughters fromsharing the parent property as “coparceners." This Muluki Ain is still ageneral law in matters of property in Nepal.The property of law Nepal defines personality of women in terms oftheir sex and marital status. The “Aungsabanda” section of new Muluki Ain,in particular, is an intensely gender segregated law. According to clause 16, ifa woman is not married till 35 years of age, it qualifies her to share theproperty with other coparceners. But subsequent marriage would forfeit theshare thus obtained. A woman by virtue of marriage becomes coparcener ofthe husband’s property, and as such is entitled to share the property with thehusband. Nevertheless, the right is dependent on certain conditions to befulfilled: firstly, she has either to reach an age of 35 years or 15 years ofmarriage; secondly, the marriage should not be broken due to extramaritalrelation or any thing else; and thirdly, there should not be a divorce. Absolutesexual loyalty is most required condition for entitlement for right to be acoparcener in the husband’s property. The status of a woman is, therefore,clearly subjected to her sex or marital status. The following briefs help to abetter understanding of the situation:• Daughters are secluded from “Aungsabandar” (becoming coparcenersof parental property) for they do not constitute as members ofthe natal family. It is the “sex” they are endowed with, that deprivesthem of the membership. However, the sons’ position is different.They are recognized as having inherent right to “Aungsa” of theparental property. There are no other grounds of difference but the‘sex’ for differential treatment in matters of property between sonsand daughters. The identity of a woman as a “person” in the natalfamily is thus denied simply because of her “feminine gender."• Daughters, unlike sons, have to prevent themselves from gettingmarried if they want to benefit from the property of parental familyas coparceners. The legal stipulation is that a woman must reach 35years of age and remain unmarried to receive the share in theparents’ property, is legal instrument, which virtually defines+

Gender Equality and Democracy : Y. Sangroula 119women’s personality in terms of their marital status. It implies that awoman is not a ‘person’ by virtue of her birth as human being, butby her ‘condition of matrimonial life’. She is entitled to obtain“Aungsa” by reaching 35 years of age and remaining “Unmarried”implicitly relates her “personality to marital condition, because,then, there is only limited probability of her marriage. That is whythere is an explicit provision to return the property obtained in“Aungsa” back to other coparceners in case she gets marriedsubsequently. The acquisition and termination of the right to“Aungsa” has no other basis but the marriage.• By marriage a woman is entitled to be coparcener to the property ofher husband, but the termination of the marriage takes away therights too. Here too, the marriage is a sole determining factor of her“personality."• The right to succession is also conditioned on marriage. A daughteris prohibited to succeed the deceased parents so long as the sons andsons of the deceased person survive. If no son or sons survive, themarried daughters get one share of the property whereas two sharesgo to the unmarried daughter. Here again, the legal capacity isdetermined by marital conditions.• A divorced woman can claim alimony from the former husbandunder condition of her incapacity to earn livelihood of her own.However, the marriage subsequently terminates the right to receivealimony.• A widow is entitled to succeed the share of her husband’s “Aungsa”,but gets forfeited on consummating sexual relation with any person.Suppression of sexual desires of widows is an attempt to relateproperty rights to her marital condition.The marriage and sexual relations are prescribed as fundamentalelements of women’s personality. These elements remain as “conditionprecedents” for acquisition and exercise of rights over property.The traditional concept of kinship is the fundamental basis of the genderbiased property law jurisprudence of Nepal. The Hindu societal value systemrecognizes only sons having capacity for continuity of ancestral lineage.Hence, daughters are virtually secluded from having “kinship” relation withthe natal family. Fictitiously, daughters are supposed to constitute “kinship”with the ancestors of husband. The “ancestral Kinship” is taken by theproperty law of Nepal as a “Primary source” of rights relating to identity and+

120 Gender and Democracy in Nepalproperty, which, together with right to contract, constitute the ‘legal personality’of every individual human being. Ancestral kinship is, therefore, themost fundamental element qualifying an individual for the membership of thegiven family. For daughters are considered as having no attachment of“ancestral kinship” with natal family, they are supposed to be disqualified toobtain the membership thereof. The marriage is taken as instrument to createtheir kinship with husbands’ family. Hence, gender based discrimination inthe Nepalese society begins at this point—kinship which is a unavoidablequalification for family membership is obtained by son through birth, whereas the same is obtained by daughter through marriage. Obviously, a daughteris liability of parents until she gets puberty. At the moment she achievepuberty, she is given away for marriage. This defective value system ispervasive in property and family law of Nepal. The following examples willabundantly explain the statement:• Not the mother but the father is a source of nationality of thechildren. (Section 3 of Citizenship act, 1964 and Article 8 of theConstitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990)• Marriage of girl at the 16 years is valid irrespective of their consent.Parents can very much decide who should be her husband.• Since parents can decide on her marriage, her right to remainunmarried and qualify herself as coparcener to the family property iseasily evaded.• The divorce, extra-marital sex and sexual relation of widowterminate the marital relation and thus the right to obtain “Aungsa”from husband, but such incidents do not bring her back station shewas at before the marriage. She remains in “Kinshipless” state. Inthis state she remain with greatly “deformed” personality.By denying to recognize the rights and interests, a girl child is forced toface several disadvantages and difficult circumstances. A few instances canbe cited as follows:• For not taken as members the family, daughters are simply theliability. Hence, investment on their education and otherdevelopment opportunities is something like “watering theneighbor’s flower plant." Rampant ignorance and illiteracy istherefore the result of defective societal value system. Ignorancesubjects women to vulnerability of exploitation of all forms.+

Gender Equality and Democracy : Y. Sangroula 121• 16 years as a minimum legal age for marriage, is desperatelyawaited by parents. The marriage being an unavoidable religious andmoral obligation of parents, it is a chance never to miss. Hence,child or early marriage is common phenomena. Such marriages leadto early pregnancies, leading to birth of unhealthy child and largermaternity deaths. Hence, right to property is integrally related withreproductive and health conditions of women.• Uneducated wives are virtually enslaved, and taken as “machines” toprocreate children for their husbands.The property law of Nepal defines the personality of women in terms oftheir sex and marital status. The “Aungsabanda” section of new Muluki Ain,in particular is an intensely gender segregate law. According to clause 16, if awoman is not married till 35 years of age, it qualifies her to share theproperty with other coparcener. But subsequent marriage would forfeit theshare obtained. A woman by virtue of marriage becomes a coparcener of thehusband’s property, and as such is entitled to share the property with thehusband. Nevertheless, the right is dependent on certain conditions to befulfilled: firstly, she has either to reach an age of 35 years or 15 years ofmarriage; secondly, the marriage should not be broken due to extramaritalrelation; and thirdly, there should no be a divorce. Absolute sexual loyalty isthe mostly required condition for entitlement for the right to be coparcener inthe husband’s property. The status of a woman is, therefore, clearly subjectedto her sex or marital status. The following analysis helps to betterunderstanding of the situation:• Daughters are secluded from “Aungsabanda” (becomingcoparceners of parental property) for they do not constitute memberof the natal family. It is the “sex” they are endowed with deprivesthem of the membership. However, sons’ position is different. Theyare recognized as having inherent right of “Aungsa” to the parentalproperty. There are no other grounds of difference but the “sex” fordifferential treatment. The identity of a woman as a “person’ in thenatal family is thus denied simply because of her “feminine gender."• Daughters, unlike sons, have to prevent themselves from gettingmarried if they want to be benefited from property of parental familyas coparceners. The legal stipulation that a woman must reach 35years of age and remain unmarried to receive the share in theparents’ property, is a legal instrument, which virtually defineswomen personality in terms of her marital status. It implies that awoman is not a “person” by virtue of her birth as a human being, but+

122 Gender and Democracy in Nepalby her” condition of matrimonial life." She is entitled to obtain“Aungsa” by reaching 35 years of age and remaining unmarriedimplicitly relates her “personality” to marital condition, because thusthere is only a limited probability of marriage. That is why there isan explicit provision to return the property obtained in “Aungsa”back to other coparceners in case she gets married subsequently. Theacquisition and termination of the right of “Aungsa” has no otherbasis but the marriage.• By marriage a woman is entitled to be a coparcener to the propertyof husband, but the termination of the marriage takes away the rightstoo. Here too, the marriage is a sole determining factor of her“personality."• The right to succession is also conditioned on marriage. A daughteris prohibited to succeed the deceased parents so long as the sons andsons’ sons survive, the married daughters get one share of theproperty whereas two shares go to unmarried daughter. Here again,the legal capacity is determined by marital conditions.• A divorced woman can claim alimony from the former husbandunder condition of her incapacity to earn livelihood of her own.However, the marriage subsequently terminates the right to receivealimony. The marriage is again a matter of determining the positionof right.• A widow is entitled to succeed the share of her husband’s “Aungsa,”but gets forfeited on consummating sexual relation with any person.The marriage and sexual relations are prescribed as fundamentalelements of women’s personality. These elements remain as “conditionprecedents” for acquisition and exercise of rights over property.The traditional concept of kinship is the fundamental basis of the genderbiased property law jurisprudence of Nepal. The Hindu societal value systemrecognizes only sons having capacity for continuity of ancestral lineage.Hence, daughters are seemingly secluded from having “kinship” relation withthe natal family. Fictitiously, daughters are supposed to constitute “Kinship”with the ancestors of husband. The “Ancestral kinship” is taken by theproperty law of Nepal as a “primary source” of any rights relating to identityand property, which, together with right to contract, constitute the ‘legalpersonality’ of every individual human being. Ancestral kinship is, therefore,the most fundamental element qualifying an individual for the membership ofthe given family. For daughters are considered as having no attachment of+

Gender Equality and Democracy : Y. Sangroula 123“ancestral kinship” with natal family, they are supposed to be disqualified toobtain the membership thereof. The marriage is taken as an instrument tocreate their kinship with filial family. Hence, gender based discrimination inthe Nepalese society begins at this point-kinship which is unavoidable qualificationfor family membership is obtained by son through birth, whereas thesame is obtained by daughter through marriage. Obviously, a daughter is aliability of the parents until she gets puberty. At the moment she achievepuberty, she is given away for marriage. This defective value system ispervasive in property and family law of Nepal. The following examples willabundantly explain the statement:• Not the mother, but the father is a source of nationality of thechildren. (Section 3 of Citizenship Act, 1964 and Article 8 of theConstitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990)• Marriage of girl at 16 years is valid irrespective of their consent.Parents can very much decide who should be her husband.• Since parents can decide on her marriage, her right to remainunmarried and qualify herself as coparcener to the family property iseasily evaded.• The divorce, extra-marital sex and sexual relation of widow terminatethe martial relation and thus the right to obtain “Aungsa” fromhusband, but such incidents do not bring her back to station she wasat while before the marriage. She remains in a “kinshipless” state. Inthis state she remain with greatly “deformed” personality.Being having been denied the “natal kinship” and consequential rightsand interests, a girl child forced to face several disadvantages and difficultcircumstances. A few instances can be cited as follows:• For not being taken as members the family, daughters are simplyconsidered to be the liability of parents. Hence, investment on theireducation and other development opportunities is something like'watering the neighbor’s flower plant’. Rampant ignorance andilliteracy is therefore the result of defective societal value system.The ignorance subjects women to vulnerability of exploitation of allforms. Trafficking has stroked roots in the defective value systemand flourished as a formidable for women’s sexual exploitation.• 16 years as minimum legal age for marriage, is desperately awaitedby parents to reach. The marriage being unavoidable religious andmoral obligation of parents, it is a chance not to miss. Hence, child+

124 Gender and Democracy in Nepalor early marriage is common phenomena. Such marriages lead toearly pregnancies, leading to birth to unhealthy children and largermaternity death. Hence, denial of property rights has direct bearingson health of women.• Uneducated wives are virtually enslaved, and taken as “machine” toprocreate children for husband.Right to ContractRight to contract is one of the basic rights associated with “personality” ofindividual. Defects on rights to contract seriously impair the personality.Generally, the right to contract is expressed in the form of “power to agree ordisagree” to something. The “marriage and associated matrimonial relations”like divorce, extra-marital relations, and judicial separations etc. fall withinthe scope of right to contract. However, women in Nepal are effectivelysubject to inferiority in exercise of the contractual rights, leading to seriousimpairment in their “right to identity." The situation is expressive in thefollowing circumstances:• Choice of husband is something not exercised by women, but imposed byparents. A woman is competent to make independent to take decision onmarriage when she reaches 18 years of age. 5 She has been consideredadult at 16 years, old considered adult at 16 years, and so is thought fit forlegal marriage. However, she is not permitted to consummate marriage byindependent decision of her. 6 Parents can give her away for marriage, butthe same is not recognized if it is consummated by the woman herself.This provision of law is not based on any rationality. Of course, thisprovision of law is an obvious infliction on right to contract of women.To give in marriage without absence of women’s consent virtuallyamounts to a “sell” if she is considered incompetent to express independentconsent for marriage of choice before 18, how she can be thought tobe competent “doing the same” when marriage is arranged by parents.The marriage arranged by parents is, therefore, an involuntary marriageimposed on women seriously impairing they’re right to contract.Independent consent for marriage of choice.• Husband is empowered to consummate the marriage with other women iffirst wife is not able to procreate the children. 7 However, the women isnot empowered to the same if the husband suffers infertility. If the womanmarries to other man, she gets forfeiture of the right to “Aungsa” from theformer husband. Empowering a person breach the trust of marriage on theground of infertility, is explicit violation of the right to contract.+

Gender Equality and Democracy : Y. Sangroula 125• Under the succession law of Neal, husband and wife are competent toinherit each other. However, the husband can, without any legalconstraints, consummate the marriage after the death of wife, and caninherit the property of wife too. The same privilege is not granted towindow. For succeeding and enjoying the property of husband, sheshould remain as windows through out the life.In practice, there are several other restrictions on performance ofcontract by women. For instance, a woman is not granted the passport withoutconcurrence of her father of husband. This result is an implicit ban ontravel by women independently. Similarly, a woman is denied to sign acontract of employment with a company outside of Nepal independently. Inmany property matters, women are restricted to perform independent disposalrights. Lack of control over family resources is an outcome of inability forexercising the right to contract.It is interesting to mention that the legal principles in law books(statutes) used to define women are related to marriage and sexual relations.Women characterized as “kanya” (virgin), bihe nagareko (never married),bihe (married) “lyayeko”(brought as wife but nor formally married). “bahirarakhako” (kept informally outside the home),”santan hune and nahune” (withor without children) and “bidhawa” (widow). These terms are derogatory ofthe personality of woman in themselves. But they also denote inferiority incompetency to contract relations with men.Imperfections or limitations imposed upon these three rights virtuallyrender the “status of women as subjects to men’s control.” Control oversexuality” is the main purpose of limitations on women’s personality. Theexisting legal system, despite the constitutional guarantee of equality of sexand safeguard against exploitation, maintains the men’s control over femalesexuality basically through the following instruments:• Restricting women from transmitting her identity to children. Theimplication of restriction extends to ban on transmission of mother’snationality to children.• Restriction on birth relation of women to their fathers’ ancestors.The implication of restriction obliges women to consummatemarriage mandatory, and to accept the family lineage of husband.The system of acquiring family lineage of alien family through theinstitution of marriage, disqualifies women to entertain rights overnatal property.+

126 Gender and Democracy in Nepal• Recognition of law for prevalence of parents’ decision on matters ofmarriages of daughters, virtually converts the marriage into aninstitution granting to husband the full control over sexuality ofwomen. The implication of the practice renders the women’s right toproperty dependent on their “sexual behavior."+

Gender Equality and Democracy : Y. Sangroula 127These three instruments maintain full domination of men over women’sposition in the Nepalese society. They also help in the elaboration of sets ofrules to be adopted or practiced by women folks in their general life, are asfollows:• Girls should be educated to behave well to their husbands, andshould remain always sexually faithful them.• Sooner the marriage, better chance for settled life.• Women should not interfere in public affairs.• Girls should learn domestic chorus since early age by helpingmothers in those affairs.• Education has no meaning for women, as procreating and rearingchildren is their natural obligation.• A woman unable to have a child, or having childless, is unlucky andabnormal.to:The social taboos and milieu based those indoctrination are responsible• degraded social status of girl children, and their Commodification;• seclusion of girl children from the mainstream development;• deprivation of girl children from investment on education andmental development;• de-personification of women;• emergence of a sex market, where men can buy “sex” throughbodies of women.Ignorance, illiteracy and exploitation of girls and women are thereforeoutcomes of the defective value system inherited and zealously protected bythe Nepalese society with the help of archaic laws.The lack of State’s (three organs plus political parties) commitment tobring about changes into laws discussed above, has nullified the potentialityof the constitution’s scheme of equality of gender. The State has virtuallyfailed to understand the role of empowered women in the development offamily and society at large. It is interesting to note that a woman who isconstitutionally capable of becoming a Prime Minister of this country but she+

128 Gender and Democracy in Nepalis not capable of transmitting nationality to her child. It is just ridiculous.This is only one example. There might be several laws which silently“nullify” the objectives of democracy. One just can not imagine a democracyworking with “Men becoming masters of Women."END NOTES1. Article 3 of the Citizenship Act, the nationality law of Nepal, is the fundamentallaw governing the acquisition of Nepalese Nationality. For obtaining Nepalesenationality by descent “the father of the child must necessarily be the citizen ofNepal." A mother, who is a bonfide Nepalese national, cannot transmit hernationality to her child, born out of wedlock with foreign husband. The law waschallenged in the Supreme Court through a writ petition by Walter Peter, a manwho was born out of wedlock of a Nepalese national with Indian husband. WalterPeter was born and brought up all through in Nepal. he took Nepal as country ofallegiance. He had never been to Father's country. He spoke Nepalese language asmother tongue and professed culture of Nepal as a culture of his family. Despitethe facts that he was “Nepali” by every criteria, the Supreme Court rejected writpetition on the ground that " he was not a child of Nepalese father."2. See “Brief Historical Overview of Legal and Justice System in Nepal” in Analysisand reforms of the Criminal justice System in Nepal, 1999. A Research carriedout by Yubaraj Sangroula and other for center for legal Research and ResourceDevelopment, CELRRd.3. If a Brahmin man married to a Chhetri Woman, the son born out from theirwedlock was entitled to have only one fourth share of the property compared withthose born out of wedlock with woman from same caste. Sons born out ofwedlock with woman from same caste enjoyed equal share with father. For moredetail see, Clause 3,4,5,6,8,10 and 11 of the Section on Aungsabanda of MulukiAin, 1853.4. Section on Marriage, Muluki Ain.5. Ibid.6. Section on Husband and Wife, Muluki Ain.+

+Gender Equality and Democracy:The Economic AspectMeena AcharyaINTRODUCTIONThe Constitution of Nepal guarantees fundamental rights of speech,association and political participation without any discrimination on the basesof sex, ethnicity religion, etc. Economic rights include right to earn, enjoy,own and transact wealth within the laws. The guiding principles embodied inthe Constitution make women’s equality a priority issue.Constitutionally women also enjoy equal rights to employment andequal pay for similar jobs. The Labor Act incorporates provisions of jobsecurity, minimum wages, clean and healthy working environment, security,and welfare measures, code of conduct and penalties, consultative andcooperative management and labor courts for dispute settlement. Togetherwith the Labor Regulations (1993) formulated under the Act, they have someprovisions specifically relevant to women.$ 52 days of paid pregnancy leave up to two pregnancies, replaceablein case of death of either of the previous children.$ Crèche facilities equipped with necessary toys and staffed withtrained caretaker for babies and children of the women workers, incases where the factories employ more than 50 women andnecessary breast feeding time for women with breast feeding babies.$ Separate toilet facilities for women and men in factories employingmore than 50 women.$ Working hours have been fixed at 48 hours per week or 8 hours perday including half-an-hour lunch break. Only 5 hours of continuouswork is allowed.$ Overtime work is allowed only for hour hours per day, which mustbe paid at 1.5 times the regular rate.129

130 Gender and Democracy in Nepal$ Women and under age children may not be generally employedoutside 6 A.M. to 6 P.M. except in cases of special agreementsbetween the management and the workers, and in hotel, travel,tourism and related business. In such cases women must beprovided with necessary security.$ Individuals may not generally be required to carry loads larger thantheir own body weight, except in cases of adult male workerscarrying pre packaged loads. An allowable load for girls of 16-18years of age is 20 kg. Boys in the similar age group may carry 25kg. Adult men and women may carry 55 kg. and 45 kg.Respectively.$ Government fixes equal minimum wages for agricultural and othersectors.Thus, politically all rights have been guaranteed to women. Butdemocracy has a severe problem of inclusion. Many of the groups who aresocially backward or economically asset-less are unable to compete for theirrights in public arena. In the case of women in Nepal, even legally laws applyto men and women in inheritance and ownership of property. Ownership ofasset is one of the most important factors governing the distribution ofresources in an economy. Lack of equality in inheritance rights, makeswomen a group disadvantaged in access to all productive assets.Even legally marriage becomes the overwhelming factor indetermining all her life options. This is reinforced by all round social normsand legal structures, every thing else is secondary to marriage. Single womeneven with many children are not given land in resettlement areas, even if suchhouseholds may be among the poorest of the poor. They may not claim anytenancy rights. Although many husbands may keep property in the name ofwives, such women may not make any transaction in the property without theconsent of her husbands and the sons, etc. This limitation is only partiallyapplied to husbands and the sons. Households get access to communityresources such as forests through household heads, which are usually men,women may have the derived user rights as long as her husband does notprobability event in an average woman’s life, she looses all access tocommunity property as well. Such processes are hard to capture by data,since no data are collected on such aspects.For the analysis of division of labor within the household, access andcontrol over household resources, mobility and male control over hersexuality, communities in Nepal were classified between two broad groups,Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan by Acharya and Bennett (1981). This+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 131classification is stall valid for intra-household analysis as illustrated by therecent ICIMOD publication of eleven case studies from different parts of theregion, covering eight countries in the Hindu-Kush-Himalayas. However,when it comes to access and control over the public resources and publicdecision making processes, women in all communities face various levels ofdiscrimination. Control over property and land is universally patriarchal inNepal. Moreover because of the gendered nature of the modernizationprocess itself, which is permeated by the capitalist, individualistic westernvalue systems, gendered education system and gendered technology, womenin all communities loose out in comparison to men. Such modernizationprocess reinforces the discrimination against women in the genderedsocieties. In other less gendered societies, the modernization forces introducegender discrimination by selective intervention in favor of men. How thishappens is extensively recorded by now and needs no elaboration here.On the positive side the modernization process could:$ Free women from the ardor’s tasks of collecting fuel and fodder;$ Give a choice in her fertility decisions;$ Lighten her work burden by introduction of technology;$ Increase her mobility due to development of transportation; and$ Open up new opportunities of employment.On the other hand the elements in the modernization process whichreintroduce or reinforce gender bias include:$ Dichotomization of production and reproduction;$ Marketization and globalization of the production process;$ Male oriented technology;$ Gendered education system both in terms of access and the gendersvalue systems;$ Privatization or public resources along the patriarchal lines;$ Gender institutions, both in terms of structures and value systems;$ Replacement of values of sacrifice and collective good byindividual greed and consumerism; and$ Increased physical insecurity for women girls on account ofcommoditification of human body.+

132 Gender and Democracy in NepalRecent economic policy initiatives in Nepal have focused on commercializationand liberalization of the economy, market friendly deregulation,development of infrastructure to facilitate foreign and local investment,downsizing of the government and privatization. The real sector liberalizationhas included all sectors, agriculture, forestry, the industrial and the financialsectors.The GDP growth rate accelerated to about 5 percent annual on theaverage until early nineties. The share of agriculture in the GDP is decliningperceptibly. Its contribution to GDP has come down by more than 10 percentagepoints between 1980/81 and 1998/1999. The role of manufacturing,trade, restaurants, hotels and constructions increasing proportionately (EconomicReview, 1998/1999). The recorded manufacturing output has increasedand its institutional structure is estimated to be changing substantiallyfrom home and village cottage industry based to factory based. Commercializationof agriculture is felt to be increasing slowly. Vegetable and fruitproduction, which is primarily for sale, has increased substantially, theirproduction index going from 100 in 1984/85 to 168. in 1998/1999 the indexhad reached a height of 198.The proportion of urban population increased by almost 50-percentagepoint in the eighties, from 6 percent in 1981 to 9 percent in 1991. With theconstruction of new roads, new townships are growing day by day and theprocess of urbanization is expected to continue.There are some distinct indicators of decline of the household economyand increased commercialization in terms of income. The proportion of nonagriculturalsector contribution to household income and the proportion ofcash in the wage/salary income have increased substantially between 1984/85and 1995/96. The proportion of non-agricultural enterprise contribution to thehousehold income has almost doubled during the period under review (SeeAcharya, 2000).How have these structural changes in the economy impacted on theemployment opportunities and workload of the women in Nepal?Another fundamental problem is non-recognition of women’scontributions to GDP economically and consequent devaluation of theirsocial labor.This article focuses on analysis of these spheres of economic life andhow they have effected women.The employment section analyses some available indicators on currentemployment work opportunities for women on the basis of MPHBS (NRB,+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 1331988) and NLSS (1995/1996) data. The following analysis is carried out byecological zones and by ethnicity separately, as the sample size is notadequate enough for a cross-classification by region and ethnicity.UNEVEN ACCESS TO NEWER OPPORTUNITIES OFEMPLOYMENT AND OTHER EMPLOYMENTRELATED PROBLEMSGender Issues in Changing Structure of EmploymentOccupational structure is an indicator of employment opportunities, both formen and women. The 1996 NLSS (CBS, 1997) has collected has beendefined as primary if he/ she had devoted the most hours of work in thepreceding twelve months to this activity. In case equal hours are allocated totwo activities, the first activity has been taken as the primary one. Theoccupational tables in the following analysis relate to primary occupationsonly. MPHBS data also relates to the primary occupation only. But thisinformation has been collected by direct questions on a person’s occupation.The increasing proportion of non-agricultural sector in the GDP shouldhave expanded opportunities for non-agricultural employment, both for menand women. As per the census counts the number of women employed in thenon-agricultural sectors had gone up from 64 thousand in 1981 to 249thousand in 1991. Women’s employment had increased significantly inpersonal and community services, in commerce and manufacturing, althoughrelatively they were still concentrated in agriculture (Acharya, 1994)But, a comparison of occupational distribution of the population, in the1984/85 MPHBS and the 1995/96 NLSS, shows slightly higher concentrationof both men and women in agriculture in the later year (Table 1). Overall, theoccupational employment pattern displays little change, either for men orwomen. Within the non-agricultural sector, particular declines are noticeablein the proportion of both men and women employed as ordinary labor andfemale workers in the category of production workers, that is, womenworking as skilled and semi-skilled labor in the manufacturing sector. Whatis surprising is the overall decline in the combined role of manufacturing andconstruction transport/communications sectors as employment generators inurban area as indicated by a decline in percentages of both men and womenworkers employed as production workers.Table 1 summarizes the occupational information by urban/rural regionsof the country. Most of the categories are self-explanatory and follow ILO+

134 Gender and Democracy in Nepalstandards. For example, the category of professional/ technical workersincludes primary school teachers to professors in the universities, fromdoctors to assistant midwives in the health sector, etc. Service sector workersinclude cooks, domestic servants, barbers, caretakers as well as workingproprietors engaged in sectoral work. The definition of the category ofproduction workers includes workers with some skill in the manufacturing,construction, transport and the communication sectors.Table : 1 Percent of Ten Years and Above Economically Active Men andWomen in Selected Sectors of Employment (Primary only)Sectors Male FemaleMPHBS NLSS MPHBS NLSS1984/85 1995/96 1985/85 1995/96Professional & Technical/Administration (All Nepal) 3.1 2.7 0.4 0.7Urban 7.9 9.9 3.2 7.7Hill 11.1 10.7 3.5 6.9Tarai 4.9 9.0 2.8 8.8Rural 2.7 2.3 0.2 0.5Mountain 3.5 1.3 0.1 0.4Hill 2.9 2.7 0.4 0.4Tarai 2.2 1.9 0.2 0.6Clerical Workers (All Nepal) 3.0 2.8 0.3 0.2Urban 13.8 17.9 3.0 4.9Hill 17.4 21.6 3.6 6.7Tarai 10.4 13.7 2.2 2.4Rural 2.2 1.8 0.14 0.1Mountain 2.3 0.9 0.0 0.2Hill 3.7 2.5 0.1 0.1Tarai 1.2 1.4 0.1 0.1Agriculture and Forestry (All Nepal) 72.9 78.9 86.1 93.7Urban 23.5 22.2 54.6 49.3Hill 19.2 15.2 51.5 39.7Tarai 27.6 30.2 58.9 62.1Rural 76.6 82.8 88.3 95.3Mountain 77.4 88.8 91.0 96.8Hill 65.7 82.0 68.6 95.4Tarai 81.1 82.4 89.0 94.9Production *(All Nepal) 6.1 5.7 2.9 1.7Urban 20.2 18.4 9.5 9.8Hill 19.6 13.5 12.3 14.9Tarai 20.8 23.8 5.8 3.0Rural 5.2 5.8 2.5 1.7Mountain 3.6 4.9 1.4 0.6Hill 7.6 5.1 3.2 1.7+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 135Tarai 4.0 4.7 2.1 0.8Contd….+

136 Gender and Democracy in NepalTable : 1contd..Sectors Male FemaleMPHBS NLSS MPHBS NLSS1984/85 1995/96 1985/85 1995/96Sales (All Nepal) 4.4 5.0 2.4 2.6Urban 16.0 20.4 8.4 18.0Hill 15.4 24.0 8.8 18.7Tarai 16.4 16.4 7.8 17.1Rural 3.5 3.9 1.9 2.0Mountain 2.0 0.9 0.7 0.2Hill 3.9 3.5 1.9 1.8Tarai 3.8 4.8 2.6 2.5Services (All Nepal) 2.8 1.9 1.3 0.8Urban 8.1 6.5 8.9 9.5Hill 7.8 9.4 8.8 11.5Tarai 8.4 3.2 9.0 6.7Rural 2.3 1.6 0.7 0.5Mountain 2.2 0.4 0.6 0.2Hill 1.6 1.4 0.6 0.5Tarai 2.8 1.9 0.9 0.5* Includes manufacturing, construction/transport/communication.Source: NLSS Reprocessed Table lb.Compared to urban Tarai, urban Hills indicate a much faster expansionof non-agricultural work opportunities for women. Employment opportunitiesfor women seem to have almost doubled in the group of professional andtechnical category in the hills. Service sector opportunities have alsoexpanded significantly.A declining trend is observed in the proportion employed in agriculture,as expected in the urban hills (see Acharya, 2000) the role of production as anemployment generator has increased for women as against a substantiallydeclining trend observed in the case of men. In the Tarai even urban areasshow increased concentration of women in agriculture and decreasedproportion in production.In the rural areas, a positive trend is noted only in the slight increasesobserved in proportions of women employed as professional and technicalworkers in the Mountains. In the rural Hills, no change is observed in thisrespect. The proportion of population engaged in agriculture is increasing,both for men and women and in rural areas of all ecological regions. But thisshift is more prominent for women than for men. Given limited landresources, this may be construed only as a fallback strategy rather than as a+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 137conscious shift. The proportion of working women engaged as productionworkers has declined in all ecological regions. As a source of employment forrural women, even the trade and service sectors indicate declining trend.Thus, decline is observed in proportion of women and men employed inthe category of production workers in general, with few exceptions. Thisdecline is larger for women (42 per cent) than for men (7 per cent). The trendmay be attributed to the fact that the indigenous local cottage and householdlevel manufacturing sector is disappearing due to the onslaught of massproduced goods, such as plastic products, aluminum utensils, textiles, ropes,even matting and furniture especially in rural areas. The service castes as agroup are out of job on an extensive scale.The increasing mountain tourism and trekking business do not seem tohave compensated for the decline in local demand for such products in therural areas of hills and mountains. Nor have services (including tourism) andtrade been able to compensate for the declining role of manufacturing as asource of employment in rural areas. Rural Tarai also shows aproportionately declining trend of non-agricultural employment opportunitiesfor women in general. The only exception is visible in the expanding ofprofessional and technical workers.Compared to 1984/85, a larger proportion of women are now employedin trading and as professional and technical workers, particularly in urbanareas. But they are concentrated at lower echelons of power. For example, theincrease in proportion employed as professional and technical workers isaccounted for largely for lower.Compared to 1991 census, the 1996 NLSS indicates an increase in theproportion of women in all occupational groups, except among productionand other workers. As per the NLSS, women now constitute 53 per cent ofthe agricultural labor force, 33 per cent among sales workers and 29 per centamong the service sector workers. The proportion of women among theproduction workers, however, shows a declining trend. All manufacturingand construction transportation/communication industries are included in thisgroup and these are expanding sectors of the economy as evident from thestructure of the GDP. But employment opportunities in this sector for bothmen and women seem to be declining more so for women than for men.Trade and services are predominantly informal and often complementagriculture as a fallback strategy. Without a detailed analysis of theseactivities it is not possible to say whether the women’s employment pattern ischanging towards a positive or negative direction trend for women, as theyown very little land and also because the productivity of labor in agriculture+

138 Gender and Democracy in Nepalis relatively low. Overall, in 1995/96 women constituted about 49 per cent ofthe employed population.Employment StatusAs per the census figures, the overwhelming majority of workers are stillself-employed, as account workers while less than one per cent areemployers. But the percentage of self-employed workers, which remainedmore or less constant at about 86 per cent between 1971 and 1981, hasdecreased to 75 per cent in 1991. In contrast to the increasing role of wageemployment in the economy, as indicated by census trends, a comparison ofthe NLSS information with the 1984/1985 MPHBS one sees that theproportion of self-employed workers in the total employment is increasingduring this period both for men and women. This may indicate decreasingwage employment opportunities greater self-employment opportunities orjust a definitional problem. In the rural hills women’s concentration if selfemploymenthas actually increased. Urban hills and mountains do showslightly decreased concentration in self-employment. This trend is true for themen as well (Table2).Table 2. Employment Status (1984/85-1995/96)Residence Male FemaleMPHBS 1984/85 NLSS 1995/96 NLSS 1995/85 NLSS 1995/96Wage Non-Wage Wage Non-Wage Wage Non-Wage Wage Non-WageUrban 54.8 45.2 50.0 50.0 29.8 70.2 30.8 69.2Hill 37.4 62.6 52.3 47.7 30.2 69.8 31.9 68.1Tarai 52.3 47.7 47.5 52.5 29.3 70.7 29.3 7.8Rural 31.3 68.7 30.1 69.9 17.6 82.4 14.6 85.4Mountain 20.5 79.5 21.5 78.6 7.4 92.7 8.9 91.1Hills 28.2 71.8 23.3 76.7 13.6 86.4 7.9 92.1Tarai 37.0 63.0 36.8 63.2 28.0 72.0 22.4 77.7Overall Nepal 33.0 67.0 31.4 68.6 18.6 81.6 15.3 84.8Notes: a) may not tally to 100 because of rounding affect.b) In tables self-employed and non-wage workers have been used interchangeably.Source: Ibid.(This figures differs from the women’s proportion in the totaleconomically active population as reported in the BNLSS Report because the+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 139current figure relates only to employed men and women as per their primaryoccupation while the NLSS figure includes the unemployed as those seekingemployment and these discouraged. Among the total economically activepopulation women constituted 52 per cent. Overall 71 per cent males and 66per cent of female were reported as economically active (NLSS Volume 11 p13)With the decline of the role of the household as an organization ofproduction, industrial activities become increasingly externalized and bothmale as well as female workers lose control over the production process asself-employed and become transformed into wage laborers. In this processwomen are affected more, since newly emerging organized industries neednot only more capital but also lay stress on more educated and mobilelaborers. In Nepal, the managerial class in these industries, which isdominated by the Indo-Aryan and westernized conceptions of genderspecialization, reinforces its own biases in hiring and firing (see Rana andShah, 1989)Wage Employment and EarningsMost of the women are concentrated in agriculture, both as wage workers andself employed. Among the agricultural workers, almost 13 percent (out of thetotal 93 percent) are wage employees. They earn about 4/5 of what about menearn as wages. Only about seven per cent of the female population, as against27 per cent men, is employed in the non-agricultural sector. Of this, wageemployment constitutes a meager 2.6 per cent for women and 16.4 per centfor men, the rest are self-employed.The NLSS data indicates some different in the pattern of wage/salaryemployment of male and female workers. Structurally, a larger proportion ofworking women is in the category of professional and technical workers andin the service sector, than men. However, both are primary manufacturinglaborers. Within manufacturing, women are concentrated among spinners,weavers and tailors.As compared to men, a smaller proportion of women is employed asordinary laborers in the non-agricultural sector. This is quite in conformity tothe tradition of hesitating to send one’s own woman for employment asordinary labor is socially degrading for a household. Urban/rural, orecological, regions make no difference in the fact that the largest proportionof employed women outside agriculture work as production workers.+

140 Gender and Democracy in NepalAs for the women in each of the occupational groups; services andprofessional/technical worker groups top the list, in all areas except for therural Mountains where the largest proportion of female workers are amongclerical workers. Overall, women constitute 11.8 per cent of the total nonagriculturallabor force (Table 3).Table 3. Proportion of Female in Employment outside AgricultureSectors Urban Rural NepalTotal Hills Tarai Total Mountain Hills TaraiProfessional &Technical 33.9 34.4 33.7 20.4 12.1 16.6 26.6 22.9Administrative &Managerial 14.0 14.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 11.2Clerical 12.1 15.0 7.2 6.3 19.1 6.3 4.5 8.6Sales 15.2 3.7 21.5 5.2 0.0 12.4 0.0 9.4Service 33.5 36.7 19.9 12.1 0.0 10.5 29.2 23.3Farm & ForestryWorkers 40.7 45.2 39.2 16.9 0.0 6.1 27.4 18.7Production Workers 28.5 42.7 0.0 11.0 9.8 19.8 3.0 12.7Construction/Transport/Communication 0.0 0.0 0.0 8.8 6.2 10.7 5.7 8.6Ordinary Labor 11.2 16.3 0.0 5.9 5.1 6.4 5.4 6.2Overall 21.0 25.1 14.7 10.5 7.2 11.6 10.2 11.8Source: Ibid.Women, in Nepal, devote 6-7 hours per day to wage outside ofagriculture. Generally they work lesser hours per day than men do in suchactivities. But women production workers work almost as many hours perday as men do (Acharya, 2000).Overall, women earn 12 per cent less than what men earn as daily wagesin the non-agricultural sector. In the total salary and wages, however, theyearn about 97 per cent of what men earn.In a regional perspective, only the urban Tarai women seem to devoteless than six hours per day to non-agricultural activities. This could be due toa lack of socially acceptable jobs for women in the Tarai areas. The Taraiwomen also work few days per year.+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 141Considering only average daily wages, contrary to expectations, earningof women in rural areas are higher than in urban areas (Table 4). Only themore competitive labor market in urban areas due to immigrant labor mayexplain this. In the total of wages and salaries, women in the Tarai andMountains seem to earn almost 20 per cent less than the Hill women. Due tothe price factor, which is much higher in the Hills and Mountain areas, wagesare generally higher there. In this case, mountain women are disadvantageboth because of the wage differential and the factor.Table 4. Hours/days and Wage/ Salary Earnings of Women OutsideAgriculture by ResidenceHours per Days of Work Average Wage +Day in a year Wage SalaryResidenceUrban 6.0 260.1 49.9 76.8Hill 6.3 262.7 56.1 89.2Tarai 4.9 253.7 43.9 46.3Rural 6.8 155.2 58.5 76.4Mountain 6.8 158.9 64.3 67.7Hills 7.0 152.2 70.0 80.1Tarai 6.6 156.9 47.6 72.7Ecological BeltMountain 6.8 158.9 64.3 67.7Hills 6.8 182.9 68.1 83.4Tarai 6.3 171.3 47.1 67.9Overall 6.6 177. 3 57.6 76.5Source: IbidEthnicity and Caste Factor in the Structure of Economic ActivitiesThe studies in the series on Status of Women in Nepal (CEDA, 1979-81)concluded that in Nepal ethnicity/caste played an important role in theeconomic activity pattern of Nepalese women. The sample population in theabove study, were classified in two broad ethnic groups – the Indo-Aryan andthe Tibeto-Burman. From a comparison of their economic activity patterns, itwas concluded that women from the Tibeto-Burman group tended to be moreenterprising and more involved in economic activities in the market thanthose from the Indo-Aryan group. Those conclusions were derived from ananalysis of 280 households, from eight villages from different parts of thecountry. The NLSS provides a larger data set, which is analyzed below by+

142 Gender and Democracy in Nepalethnicity/caste. Nevertheless, there is a large number of missing records onethnicity/caste in the NLSS data set. The following analysis should be readwith this limitation in mind.Irrespective of ethnicity/ caste, most economically active women areconcentrated in agriculture, percentages ranging from 83 per cent for Newarwomen to 98 per cent for Limbu women (Table 5).Table 5. Distribution of Labor Force by Broad OccupationalGroups and by Ethnicity /casteEthnicity /caste Forestry & Farm Workers OthersMale Female Male FemaleIndo-AryanBrahmin 77.7 91.6 22.3 8.4Chhetri 84.4 95.7 15.6 4.3Newar 54.8 83.0 45.2 17.0Yadav/Ahir 93.6 97.4 6.4 2.6Damai 70.1 90.6 29.9 9.4Kami 72.3 96.8 27.7 3.2Sarki 75.8 94.3 24.2 5.7Tibeto-BurmanMagar 90.4 95.5 9.6 4.5Gurung 82.4 88.2 17.6 11.8Tamang 89.8 96.9 10.2 3.1Rai 88.3 94.1 11.7 5.9Limbu 90.6 98.5 9.4 1.5Other GroupsTharu 89.4 96.3 10.6 3.7Muslim 61.9 89.4 38.1 10.6Other 73.3 93.1 26.7 6.9Overall 78.9 93.7 21.1 6.3Source: Achrya, 2000.On the basis of primary data on occupational distribution nine ethnic/caste groups including others, were formed for further analysis. The categoryof others includes those not classified elsewhere and has been left out infurther analysis. The grouping was necessary to expand the sample size ineach of the occupational sub-groups for a meaningful analysis. In the currentanalysis, this tradition is broken because from the primary processing, Rais+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 143seem to be much more advanced occupationally and closer to Gurungs thanLimbus (See Acharya, 2000 for more details on occupational classification).Outside of agriculture, a majority of Newar, Gurung /Rai and Yadav/Ahir women worked as production workers. Muslim women wereconcentrated among ordinary labor and almost half of Tharu women wereconcen-trated in the service sector. For Brahmin/Chhetri, Yadav/Ahir andGurung/ Rai professional/ technical/ administrative/ managerial professionsprovided bigger job openings. Damai/Kami/Sarki women were almost evenlyspread among professional/technical/managerial/ administrative/ managerialadmi-nistrative, agriculture/forestry, production and ordinary labor group.Male/female composition of occupational groups by ethnicity/casteseems too erratic to lead to any firm conclusions (Table 6). Only a fewremarks can be made. Trading seems to be predominantly a female businessamong the Gurung/Rai. Women constitute the larger half among the serviceworker within the Tharu, Tamanag/Mager/Limbu and Damai/Kami/Sarkigroups/ The agricultural labor force has more that 50 percent women in allethnicity/caste, except among the Yadav/Ahirs. Men predominate in all otheroccupational groups. Nevertheless, Gurung/Rai women constitute nearly 48percent in the professional/technical/ managerial/administrative professionalgroup within this community.Current findings partially support the thesis that women from theTibeto-Burman group will be more attracted to outside income earningopportunities as services and trading sectors seem to be predominated bywomen among the Tamag/Magar/Limbu and Gurung /Rai respectively. Thedata on composition of the overall occupational groups on the other hand donot support this thesis, as proportions of women in the overall employedpopulation of their respective groups are highest for Brahmin/Chhetris andMuslims. Other factors such as opportunities in the case of Brahnmin/Chhetri, and poverty in the case of Muslims, may be playing more importantroles in this respect.As for employment status, both men and women irrespective ofethnicity/caste are concentrated in self-employment, but proportionately morewomen than men are concentrated in such employment in all ethnicity/castegroups. This concentration, however, is lower for the service caste group,Damai/Kami/Sarki, both for men and women. Agriculture predominates as asource of self-employment both for men and women. Once again,proportionately, the degree of concentration of self-employed women inagriculture is more than that for men in all ethnicity/caste groups.+

+Table 6. Female Percent in Occupational GroupsEthnicity/ Professional Clerical Sales Services Agriculture/ Production Ordinary Construction/Caste Technical/ Workers Workers Forestry Workers Labor Transportation OverallAdministrative& ManagerialIndo-AryanBrahmin/Chhetri 17.6 12.2 39.1 30.5 56.1 35.5 0.9 21.1 52.5Newar 17.0 12.0 22.5 37.5 56.3 50.8 0.0 0.0 46.0Yadav/Ahir 35.3 0.0 39.0 0.0 41.2 33.3 0.0 0.0 40.2Damai/Kami/Sarki 18.5 0.0 34.6 52.7 55.7 15.0 2.8 18.2 49.1Tibeto-BurmanGurumg/Rai 47.6 2.8 72.2 44.0 53.7 42.7 0.0 29.4 40.2Tamang/Limbu 0.0 0.0 35.1 71.6 51.4 32.7 7.1 0.0 44.8Other GroupsTharu 22.4 0.0 21.1 61.1 50.5 12.9 27.6 0.0 48.7Muslim 0.0 0.0 33.7 28.0 54.0 21.0 0.0 0.0 52.1Source: Ibid. Table Ic.144

146 Gender and Democracy in NepalCompared to the higher castes, a much larger proportion of lower castewomen such as Sarki, Damai, Kami and Muslim are in wage employment, asexpected. Next to them nearly an equal proportion of employed Yadav/Ahirwomen are engaged in wage work. Thus, a larger proportion of women formthe Tarai are represented in wage employment than form other areas whichmay be explained by greater opportunities for wage employment in theseareas or a higher level of poverty among the households of these caste/religion groups.Women’s Entrepreneurial Activities and their Access tocreditThe NLSS does not provide data on proprietorship of the enterprises. Theoccupational information, nevertheless, does identify managers and workingproprietors. This information shows no women in managerial positions. But,female working proprietors are listed among all ethnicity/caste groups.Female proprietors constitute the largest proportion among the Gurung/Rai,Tharus and Brahmin/Chhetri groups (Table 7).Above information, once again, contradicts our thesis that Tibeto-Burman women have greater control over economic resources. Yet, oneshould note those women spouses of the male heads of the households,operating family enterprises, would tend to report themselves as proprietorseven if they are in fact unpaid family workers.The following section attempts to identify some features of femaleoperated enterprises by relating household-head information with enterpriseinformation. Overall, 24 percent of the households operated some enterprise.Out of them, female-headed households operated 6 percent. Brahmin/Chhetriand Newar groups operated ethnicity/caste wise, the largest proportion ofsuch enterprises. Ethnic/caste distribution of enterprises is more or lesssimilar among male-headed household and female headed households.Acharya attempts to test further whether her earlier findings (Acharya &Bennett, 1981) that, Tibeto-Burman women tend to be more enterprising thanBrahmin/Chhetri women are, holds with the current information. For this, theproportion of female-headed households was compared with the proportionof female operated enterprises by ethnicity. It was found that, in general,women headed households have less probability of operating enterprises.Further, the low caste Damai/Kami/Sarki groups, Gurung/Rai and Brahmin/Chhetri women household heads have lower within-group probability ofoperating enterprises compared to female headed households in other+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 147communities. This does not support the thesis that women from the Tibeto-Burman communities have more opportunity vis-a-vis men in their respectivegroups than women in more Indo-Aryan communities.Table 7. Per cent of Female Proprietors by Ethnicity/Caste and SectorsEthnicity/Caste Proportion of Female Proprietors (100=Male+Female) EthnicSales Services Manufacturing Total DistributionIndo- AryanBahun/Chhetri 44.8 64.5 5.7 43.0 28.8Newar 26.4 46.3 20.0 26.8 12.1Yadav/Ahir 39.0 0.0 50.0 40.5 2.5Damai/Kami/Sarki 56.0 0.0 0.0 33.5 0.1Tibeto-BurmanGurung/Rai 78.7 71.2 2.7 64.2 8.1Tamang/Mamagr/Limbu 29.8 73.3 0.0 31.2 4.8Other GroupsTharu 39.7 100.0 46.4 45.2 6.1Muslim 26.4 66.7 0.0 28.8 6.8Overall 34.5 60.9 20.3 35.5 100**Ethnically unclassified population operation the balance of 30.6 percent enterprise.Source: Ibid.Overall, most female-headed enterprises belonged to trade/hotels/restaurants and manufacturing sectors. However, enterprises operated by thelower caste belonged primarily to the manufacturing sector, More than 66percent of the enterprises operated by the disadvantaged ethnic Tamang/Magar/Limbu groups and 54 percent of Newar enterprises also belonged tothis sector. Thus, it seems that the more advanced of the ethnic groups, theGurung/ Rai, and the "high caste" Brahmin/Chhetri groups are primarily intrade and services.Access to institutional credit is much more limited for enterprises run byfemale headed households (FHEs) than that for household enterprises headedby men (MHEs). In total, about 17 percent of the MHEs and 10 percent of theFHEs had borrowed. While male-headed enterprises from all ethnicity/caste,except Gurung/ Rai, had borrowed some money from banks and financialinstitutions few female enterprises had borrowed from such sources. Womenwho borrowed from such sources were from the Brahmin/Chhetri house-+

148 Gender and Democracy in Nepalholds. Yet, only 5.3 percent Brahmin/Chhetri female entrepreneurs hadborrowed from the bank and financial institutions. Male enterprises access toinstitutional credit ranged from nearly 48 percent in the case of the Newargroup to 20 percent in the case of Tamang/Magar/Limbu groups.Overall, FHEs earn 2/3 of what MHEs earn. Female enterprises makemuch less in most ethnicity/caste groups. Education, training, capitals andcredit are crucial factors in prompting women’s non-agricultural activities.Women in educationally disadvantaged groups are usually unable to takeadvantage of the new employment and business openings. Low service casteshave very little access to education. But within groups, women have lessaccess to education than men do.NON RECOGNITION OF WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTIONSTO GDPAs mentioned in the introduction another major problem in the currenteconomic practice is the fact that a large proportion of women’s contributionsto GDP and household maintenance activities are still not recognized ineconomic calculations. This makes women’s labor contribution to socialreproductions process and women themselves invisible in economics exceptas consumers. This issue has been raised by women activist world over since1975 and some improvements are visible in economic definitions andconcepts at the international level. Accordingly some improvements arebeing made in Nepal also. The Ninth Five-Year plan has recognized thisproblem of women’s invisibility explicitly and promised to make amend themeasurement methods as per international standards. Accordingly specificefforts are being made to expand the concept of economic activities in theforthcoming census.United Nation’s new manual on the system of national accounts (SNA,1993) makes a distinction between the general production boundary and theSNA production boundary .The general production boundary encompassesall production of goods and services as per the third person criteria. Onlythose activities, which can not be effectively performed by others for person(e.g. eating, sleeping, recreations etc.) are beyond the general productionboundary. The SNA production boundary, on the other hand, is limited toinclude production of goods and services for the market and production ofgoods for its own use by households. Services which includes all householdmaintenance activities including cooking and childcare are still out of SNAexcept when performed by paid domestic hands.+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 149The market production as defined in SNA comprises of all goods andservices transacted in the market regardless of the institutional unit producingthem. Therefore, the issue of whether the goods are produced in the formal orinformal sector has very little relevance for GDP calculations. It is more anissue of labor statistics. Many products generated by the informal sectoractivities may already be in the GDP, so far as they belong to the exportsector (e.g. carpets, handicrafts) or are ancillary to the larger formalproduction units. The only issue here is the invisibility of female workerand not of the products themselves.Non-market production includes goods produced and consumed athome, non-financial corporations own use production and goods supplied bythe government free or at non-significant prices. Production and processingof primary products for own use, production of other goods for own use andproduction of fixed assets for own use – all such activities, although facingnumerous measurement problems, are conceptually within the current SNAboundary. Earlier, such product has lesser reflection in GDP. GDP alsoincludes the imputed value of home ownership and goods produced andconsumed in kind. Rest of the activities classified as services are beyond thecurrent SNA boundary (See Chart A1 in the Annex).From the perspective of developing countries and gender, the newsystem is a definite improvement over the earlier ones as defined by the 1968Manual. Many of the activities, previously classified of market and outsidethe National Accounting System, particularly processing of market goods forself consumption and water collection have been classified as productive. Allproduction of goods in households, whether for market or consumption isnow theoretically within the SNA.Nevertheless invisibility of women in GDP calculations still remains asmany of the activities and production thereof, which are classified asservices, such as cooking care of the sick, the old and the children and thehouseholds, maintenance to presented to illustrate the problem and theamendments proposed so far.In Nepal, presently the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) publishesestimates of GDP at current and constant prices annually by the InternationalStandard Industrial Classification (ISIC). On the whole the estimates arebased on the industry approach. No statistics are complied institutionally(Shrestha, 1997). Acharya (1999) analyzing the SNA of Nepal identifies thefollowing items as most likely to be missed in such accounts.• Small scale fodder collection and fetching water;+

150 Gender and Democracy in Nepal• Hunting and gathering for household consumption;• Food processing for household consumption;• Processing of primary and market goods for household consumption,e.g. weaving clothes, tailoring, knitting garments for householdconsumption;• Domestic services by domestic servants;• Rural tea/sweet shops, alcohol stops, overnight stops etc.; and• Porter services supplied individually or by the informal-sector.Measurement of Women’s Overall Contribution to theSocial Production Process and the Overall HouseholdWelfare-NepalAn exploratory study was conducted by IIDS in 1994 to construct anaccounting system including a satellite account on value added fromhousehold maintenance activities (See Table 9). This exercise was carried outfor 1991, because of availability of Census data of 1991. Table 4 issubdivided in three parts. The second part of the table presents an estimate ofthe magnitude of production, which theoretically should (as per 1993 SNAdefinition) but has most probably been not accounted for in the NepaleseGDP. This part amounts to 52 billion rupees, which is 45 percent of theofficial GDP of Rs. 116 billion in the year 1991. About 58 percent of those52 billion rupees are attributable to female work. The third box is an estimateof the monetary value of household maintenance activities, which are outsidethe 1993 SNA production boundary. Women contribute almost 93 percent ofsuch production.The results obtained show that women contribute to family maintenancemuch more than usually perceived (Diagram 1). Although the above statisticsare presented only as methodological examples only, they do illustrate themagnitude underestimation of women’s work and contributions to humanwell being.The scheme described above serves several purposes simultaneously. Itreflects human activities to a fuller extent than conventionally reflected inSNA and shows relative contributions of men and women to nationalproduction process and human welfare. Of particular interest for thedeveloping countries, is the second box, which tries to capture that part of theproduction, which is theoretically within the SNA production boundary, butin practice may be excluded from GDP calculations in many countries. The+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 151Most important example of such activities could be food processing for selfconsumption.Even by 1968 definition of SNA, processing of primaryproducts was supposed to be included in SNA But whether it is actuallyincluded in practice needs to be examined on country by country basis. Valueadded from the processing of purchased goods for self-consumption andwater collection has been outside the SNA, even theoretically until 1993.Further, historical records constructed according to this scheme wouldfacilitate an understand-ing of the dynamics of market non-marketinteractions and its impact on various sections of the populations.Table 8. Gender Contributions to GDP and HouseholdMaintenance Satellite Account 1991(In million rupees)Areas Male Female TotalI Regular GDP 84242 31886 1161281.Agriculture 32653 22715 553682.Trade, restaurants & hotels 9848 3054 129023. Others 41741 6117 47858II Additional Non-Market Products 21616 30186 51802III Household Maintenance 10592 135773 1463651.Cooking, serving and cleaning dishes and pots 6971 120690 1276612.Laundry and cleaning of house 888 6609 74973. Child care 2733 8474 112074. Shopping and other work1/ - - -Total I+II+III 116450 197845 314295Source: For GDP Economic Survey, 1993-1994.Note: US$ 1=Rs 50.00 (1993/1994). The 1990/91 GDP has been used because the labor forcedata is for 1991.1/ Value could not be imputed to this category because activities included in this category havedifferent values.Diagram 1: Gender Contributions to GDP and Household MaintenanceSatellite AccountRegular GDPAdditional Non-Market Product73%27%FemaleMale+40% Female60%Male

152 Gender and Democracy in NepalHousehold MaintenanceTotal7%93%FemaleMale37%63%FemaleMaleCONCLUSIONSDemocracy is a necessary and not sufficient condition for making progresstowards gender equality, given the initial situation of unequal and inegalitariansocial structures and gender relations. The modernization processsome times reinforces gender subordination. At other times new elements ofdiscrimination are introduced in relatively egalitarian communities.The modernization process and the liberalization policies followed afterthe democratic changes in the country have provided some non-traditionalemployment opportunities to women, particularly in the carpet industries andthe textile sector in general. But comparative to men their concentration inagriculture has increased.As a result of interaction of complex social and economic processes,women in Nepal face several disadvantages in the economic field. Besidestheir limited access to productive assets – the land and property, credit andmodern avenues of knowledge and information, other major economic issuesinclude their uneven access to new avenues of employment and concentrationof women in low productivity agriculture. This has led to high and increasingwork burden without concomitant increase in access to resources. Childlabor, women’s concentration at lower level jobs, poor working conditionsand lack of child care facilities at work places are additional problems relatedto their formal sector employment. The trade union’s generally neglect ofwomen’s problems. Women also face risk to personal security and sexualharassment in the formal sector.Progressive loss of proprietorship in the informal sector employmentand generally lower level returns on their enterprise are women’s additionalproblems. Women entrepreneurs face special problems of resource scarcity,marketing access, low level of technology and have low risk taking capacity.A problem to be noted is also the declining economic activity rates ofurban women probably signaling the “domestication of women” (SeeAcharya, 1997)+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 153Despite of HMG’s declared objectives of integrating women indevelopment since Sixth Plan, a diaspora of micro-credit and small trainingprograms for women, Proportion of non-agricultural employment opportunitiesfor women and men is decreasing in the country. Agriculture isgetting increasingly feminized. Women, in 1995/96, formed 53 percent ofthe agricultural labor force compared to 36 percent in 1981. Individualexamples of successes of women’s income earning and forestry groups (seefor example, PCRW evaluation reports, and Pandey, 1990 for an example inforestry) may abound. But such programs have not been able either to makedent in the traditional in-egalitarian socio-economic structures or to reversethe process of marginalization of women from social production, which is aspecial feature of advanced capitalism.The trends on wage employment opportunities are not clear. While thecensus information indicates an expanding trend in wage employment opportunitiesboth in and outside agriculture, MPHBS and NLSS compari-sonsindicate a reverse trend. Relatively more women are concentrated in selfemploymentin comparison to men. Women wage-workers are concen-tratedmore in agricultural than in non-agricultural jobs. Men wage earners arespread more evenly between agricultural and non-agricultural employment.Village craftsmen/women are out of jobs on a large scale. The proportionof production workers has declined substantially in rural areas betweenthe two surveys. This decline has been sharper for women. With very fewalternative employment opportunities women are falling back to agricultureor forced to earn livings by unwanted activities such as commercial sex work(see New ERA, 1998).Overall women earn about 4/5th of what men earn in agriculture but3/4th outside of agriculture as daily wages. What annual payments areincluded in daily average earning these ratios go up slightly.Generally women have much less access to institutional credit, both atindividual and household enterprise levels, irrespective of ecological regions,urban/rural areas are ethnicity/caste. However, Brahmin/Chhetri and Newarwomen have greater access to credit compared to women in other caste/ethnicity. Women from low caste and disadvantaged ethnicity have no accessto institutional credit at all. Women’s access to credit is limited because bothformal and informal credit institutions are geared to funding property owners.All formal credit institutions seek tangible collateral for loan and women areeffectively sidelined from institutional credit since women have little accessto inherited property. The village moneylenders are also interested more inearning high interest or acquiring the debtor’s property rather than financing+

154 Gender and Democracy in Nepalpeople in need. In-spite of the multiple credit packages women still have verylittle access to institutional credit as discussed below.Although using 1991 Agricultural Credit Survey data Sharma, (1996)found no significant difference in the poverty incidence between male headed(MHH) and female headed (FHH) households (50.7 percent vs. 47.2 percent),the employment and earnings scenario described above may have changedthe situation in favor of men. Further, Agricultural Credit Survey data relatedonly to rural areas, but gender inequality in employment and earningsopportunities may be reflected more in urban/rural differences and women’sconcentration in subsistence agriculture rather than in income differences inrural areas per se.The process of dichotomization of production and reproduction must bestopped. This could happen in two ways. First women’s access to betterquality jobs in the organized production sectors could be facilitated by improvingtheir access to education and improving their mobility by provision ofeasier transport facilities. Secondly, assistance in their reproductive responsibilitiesby work sharing and introduction of simple technologies at home andprovision of childcare facilities at the work place in the modernized sectorwould improve greatly their access to Jobs. In the context of mountain andhill areas road accessibility seems to be the most important factor forincreasing women’s mobility and access to education and health facilities.Although some poor women may lose porter’s work, transportation facilitiesare important to improve returns to women’s enterprises. Otherwise benefitsof productivity and income gains tend to be monopolized by the middlemen.It is well recorded by now that introduction of cash crops or market orienteddairy in the already dichotomized communities tend to marginalize women,increase their work load and reduce their control over household resources.Proper attention needs to be paid to such side effects in project designs andappropriate measures incorporated in the projects themselves to take care ofsuch unintended effects.It is also clear that policy packages must differ as per the culturalgroups. In Indo-Aryan groups with already entrenched patriarchal valuesystems, the policy packages must address the systematic gender discriminations,while for the Tibeto-Burman groups the policy packages must beculture sensitive and designed with care not to introduce gender bias inemployment or social behavior in general. Decentralization of decisionmaking and people’s participation in the real sense is a must in both cases.A well designed program of enterprise development seems to have had apositive effect on women’s status, both in the Indo-Aryan and the Tibeto-+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 155Burman groups in as indicated by the Dhampus case under the AnnapurmnaConservation Area Project in Nepal. From the Dhampus study, threeconclusions seem to be relevant for this article:a) Women’s workload has declined in general and women’s socialstatus has improved both in the Gurung and Brahmin/Chhetricommunities, both in the private and public arena.b) Gurung women have benefited most.c) Social differentiation is clearly visible; the low caste and the poorBrahmin/Chhetri women/men have benefited the least. Theconclusion that the life-styles of the poor have remained more or lessthe same in-spite of the general prosperity of the area and expandjob opportunities is most telling. As such development programsmust also be poverty-sensitive to reduce poverty.Women’s economic opportunities can be increased on a large scale onlythrough mainstreaming the gender perspective within sectoral programs. Thisis because development policies and programs impact on a large scale andcannot be reversed with small-scale individual project interventions.Individual projects should be promoted as catalysts, but they cannot solve theproblem in a holistic manner. Acharya (1997), analyzing Nepal’s casesummarizes the emerging gender issues at the sectoral level as follows:a) ensuring adequate analysis of all programs and projects with agender perspective;b) gender sensitization of the implementation mechanism andmachinery;c) ensuring adequacy of measures initiated to ensure gender equity inproject benefits; andd) development of indicators and mechanisms, for a continuous monitoringand evaluation of policy, programs and project impact onwomen. This evaluation must be carried out in terms of not onlytheir participation but their empowerment as well. In the currentpaper’s perspective we may rewrite the points to incorporateecology, ethnicity/caste and poverty sensitivity to sectoral programs.Land rights and other facilities in project resettlement of families shouldbe given serious consideration in those areas where such rights do not exit.Any assistance to resettled families and small businesses should includewomen on an equal basis.+

156 Gender and Democracy in NepalAs far as measurement of women’s contributions to GDP and economicwelfare of the society goes Nepal is moving slowly to international standards.Efforts should be made to reflect the second part of the GDP schemediscussed above more fully. Measurement of the third part may constitute aseparate exercise as suggested by SNA (1993). The recent labor force surveyhas made an effort to apply the new definitions in the classification ofeconomic and non-economic activities. It also provides data on time devotedto household maintenance and child care activities. The forthcoming censusalso will adopt these new definitions.REFERENCES CITEDAcharya, Meena2000 Labor Market Developments and Poverty: With Focus on EconomicOpportunities for women. (Forthcoming)1994 The Statistical Profile of Nepalese Women: An Update in the PolicyContext, IIDS, Kathmandu.Acharya, Meena and Lynn Bennett1981 An Aggregate Analysis and Summary of 8 village Studies. The Status ofWomen in Nepal. Vole II, Part 9. CEDA, Kathmandu.Acharya, Meena and Pushpa Acharya1997 Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women. A Status Report, UNFPA,Kathmandu.Bhatta, Nina, Laju Shrestha, Thomas S. Barbara and Indira Koirala1994 Managing Resources in Nepalese Village: Changing Dynamics of Gender.Caste and Ethnicity. IIDS Kathmandu & Clark University, Worcester, USA.Central Bureau of Statistics1995 Populations Monograph of Nepal. NPC/HMG, Kathamdnu.1996 Nepal Living Standards Survey, 1995/96. Main Findings Vol. I. & II.NPC/HMG, Kathmandu.Chhetri, Devendra1996 Child Issues and Poverty in Nepal, APROSC & IDRC, Kathmandu.Gurung, Devendra1996 Searching for Women’s Voices in The Hindu Kush Himalayas ICIMOD,Kathmandu, Nepal.Gurung, Dibya1995 Toursim and Gender. Impact and Implications of Tourism on NepalsesWomen. ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal.+

Gender Equality and Democracy : M. Acharya 157Mehta, Manjari1993 Cash Crops and The Changing Context of Women’s Work and Status: ACase From Tehtri Garhwal, India ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal.National Planning Commission/HMG1981 Sixth Five Year Plan. HMG-N, Kathmandu.New ERA1998 A Situation Analysis of Sex Work and Trafficking in Nepal withReference to Children, October 1996. Submitted to UNICEF, Nepal.Nepal Rastra Bank1989 Income and Employment Generation From Tourism in Nepal, NepalRastra Bank, Kathmandu.1988 Multiple Household Budget Survey: A Study on Income Distribution,Employment and Consumption Patterns in Nepal. Nepal Rastra BankKathmandu.Pandy, Shanta1990 Women in Hattisunde Forest Management in Dhading District, Nepal.ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal.Rana, M.S.J.B. and A.J. Shah1987 Role of Women in Nepal’s Industrial Development: Status, Constraints,Opportunities and Prospects. Vol. I & II (Prepared for HMG/Nepal andUNIDO/ Vienna).Sharma, Salikram and Pushupa Acharya1997 Improving the Access of Women to Farm Credit and FinancialInstitutions in Nepal. IIDS, Kathmandu.Sharama, Shiva1996 Female Headed Households and Poverty in Nepal, MIMAP, APROSCand IDRC. Katmandu, Nepal.+

158 Gender and Democracy in NepalANNEX- TablesTable I. Percent of Ten Years and Above Economically Active and Womenin Selected Sectors of Employment (Primary only)Sectors Male FemaleMPHBS NLSS MPHBS NLSS1995 /96 1984/85 1984/85 1995/96Professional &Technical/ Adm. (All Nepal) 3.1 2.7 0.4 0.7Urban 7.9 9.9 3.2 7.7Rural 2.7 2.3Clerical Workers (All Nepal) 3.0 2.8 0.3 0.2Urban 13.8 17.9 3.0 4.9Rural 2.2 1.8 0.1 0.1Agriculture and Forestry (All Nepal) 72.9 78.9 86.1 93.7Urban 23.5 22.2 54.6 49.3Rural 76.6 82.8 88.3 95.3Production* (All Nepal) 6.1 5.7 2.9 1.7Urban 20.2 18.4 9.5 9.8Rural 5.2 5.8 2.5 1.7Sales (All Nepal) 4.4 5.0 2.4 2.6Urban 16.0 20.4 8.4 18.0Rural 3.5 3.9 1.9 2.0Services (All Nepal) 2.8 1.9 1.3 0.8Urban 8.1 6.5 8.9 9.5Rural 2.3 1.6 0.7 0.5* Includes manufacturing, construction/ transport/communication.Source: Acharya, 2000.+

+Reconsidering the Issue of Women’sHuman Rights and Political RightsKapil ShresthaINTRODUCTIONMore than 50 years have passed since the adoption and proclamation of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948 which statesthat “the recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienablerights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom,justice and peace in the world”, and whose Article 2 provides the “everyoneis entitled to all the rights of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language,religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth orother social status.” Similarly, more than 20 years have elapsed sinceadoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Its Article 1 categorically states,"discrimination against women, denying or limiting as it does their equalityor rights with men, is fundamentally unjust and constitutes an offensesagainst human dignity.” However, in spite of the progress achieved in theenactment of numerous progressive and gender-sensitive international humanrights instruments, commitments and guarantees over the last half centurywhich are aimed at ensuring the dignity, equality and justice for women, theoverall progress has been rather slow and even dismal. Indeed, the continuingdenial of women’s human rights or political rights is not a fabrication inminds of the wronged women, feminists media practitioners, human rightsactivists and other opinion makers who have spoken against it. It is thelogical consequence of women’s oppression and gender discrimi-nationrelated with other socio-economic, cultural and political factors and could beobserved in the household, community, nation state and the world. Hence,women activists and their supporters all over the world have been stronglydemanding for the need to give the special emphasis to the issue of women’shuman rights in order establish it as the priority agenda of the human rightsstruggle and discourse.159

160 Gender and Democracy in NepalThere is also growing realization that one of the main reasons for thesystematic discrimination of women and continuing denial of women’shuman rights is primarily a political question and is reflected in lack ofaccess to the political decision-making centers. Both issues related to therealization of women’s human rights and political rights are closelyintertwined and interrelated. It is not realistic to expect progress in one sectorwithout corresponding progress in the other one. While searching for anindependent identity and political “Space” for themselves in the so calledmale bastion of politics, women all over the world have seriously questionedand challenged the existing structures, mechanisms and value systems thatperpetuate the inequity, injustice and discrimination in the society andpolitics. Obviously then such attempts by women to empower themselveshave brought them into the situation of conflict and confrontation with theforces of status quo and reaction.A review of the experience of Nepalese women’s struggle to achievehuman rights and political rights during the decade since the dawn ofdemocracy also shows that it is not very different from that of their globalcounterparts, particularly the South Asian sisters. Instead, in Nepal’s context,the situation of women is even more pathetic and grave as they are stilltreated as the second class disinherited citizens. Extremely low social statusand disproportionately low representation of women in all walks of the publiclife mirrors the marginalization, subordination and dehumanization ofNepalese women.REVIEW OF ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE HUMANRIGHTS SITUATION OF NEPALESE WOMENThere is no denying the fact that since the dawn of democracy in 1990 theGovernment of Nepal has been making continuous efforts to enhance thewomen’s status and empower them by guaranteeing the “right to equality”under the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 and implementingvarious gender sensitive development programs and ratifying 16 importantinternational human rights instruments, including the CEDAW.The constitutional provisions related to the “Directive Principles andPolicies of the State” have set guidelines for the state to pursue a policy ofencouraging the women to participate in national development by makingspecial provisions for their education, health, employment and welfare.Moreover, the Constitution also makes the mandatory reservation of 5% seatsfor women in both houses of the parliament. “The local Representatives Act,1996” makes the reservation of 20% seats for women in the grassroots+

Gender Equality and Democracy : K. Shrestha 161political units–the Village Development Committees (VDC) and Municipalities.As part of the post-Beijing Conference initiative, a separate Ministry ofWomen and Social Welfare has been established. The newly establishedMinistry has formulated the Gender Equality and Empowerment NationalWork Plan, 1997. The ongoing Ninth Five-year Plan Document has speciallytargeted the women in its overall poverty alleviation strategy. Moreover, inaccordance with its commitment in the Beijing Conference, 1995, HMG’sMinistry of Law and Justice has submitted a gender sensitive amendment Billto the Parliament with a view to amend various discriminatory and derogatoryprovisions in the Civil Code (Muluki Ain). This proposed amendmentprovides women an increased leverage in the inheritance rights, marriage,divorce, adoption, abortion, violence, rape etc. Nepal has also been activelyinvolved in the preparation of the draft of the “SAARC Convention onPreventing and Combating Trafficking of Women and Children forProstitution.” Which is expected to be ratified in the forthcoming overdueSAARC Summit. It could be regarded as a significant step in promoting therights of girls child and women in the region as well as in fighting against themost abominable trade and trafficking of innocent girls and women forimmoral purposes.No less noteworthy is the emergence and growth of the NGOs andhuman rights organizations committed to the cause of women. Not only havethese organizations contributed a great deal through advocacy and action tothe sensitization of the society to the issues related to women’s empowermentand welfare, they have also succeeded in forcing the otherwise reluctant andindifferent government, political parties, legislature and judiciary to respondto women’s issues on many occasions. As a matter of fact, the impact of theeffectiveness of the activities of the civil society can be seen in most of thegovernmental initiatives on women issues recently.REVIEW OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OFWOMENThe under representation of Nepalese women in polities is a social andhistorical reality. Women are silent, invisible and disproportionatelyrepresented in Nepalese politics. Women have been treated as the ‘VoteBanks’ only by the political parties and politicians alike. Looking at thefunctioning of political parties in Nepal it appears that women are treatedonly as the ornamental showpieces or the auxiliary force. This is also evidentin the only nominal representation in the party central committees as well as+

162 Gender and Democracy in Nepalin the low priority or position accorded to the party sister organizationscompared to other party related fraternal organizations like the students andyouth groups.The inflexible and conservative attitude of almost all political parties,irrespective of their high sounding promises and radical rhetoric, is evidentfrom the fact that none of them could display the spirit of magnanimitytowards women candidates in distribution of the parliamentary ticketsexceeding the mandatory limit of 5% set by the constitution in all the generalelections held so far the pervasive gender discrimination in politics makeseven the veteran woman politicians feel bypassed, ignored and insecure. Veryfew of the women politicians or members of the parliament projected bypolitical parties possess an independent identity of their own. Their politicalbackground has been usually characterized the ascriptive dynastic patronageby a powerful leader and non-merit factors etc. It has been experienced thatin a country with patriarchal society like Nepal powerful socio-economic,cultural and institutional barriers have blocked all but the most tenaciouswomen from politics. This could be the main reason for fitful, sporadic andepisodic participation of woman in politics.Hence, because of the dependence of women politicians upon thepatronage and support of the senior male politicians in the party and becauseof their political vulnerability a decade long experience of women in thelegislature shows that they have not been able to develop sufficientconfidence or capacity to push through the woman friendly legislation’s likethe “Women’s Inheritance Bill” or “Reproduction Rights Bill” etc. Neitherhave they been able to espouse the agenda different from male counterparts,aimed at restoring the health of our dysfunctional political system.In the last general elections held on May 1999, out of 2,238 candidatesfor 205 seats only 135 were women and as many as 113 constituencies didnot have any women candidate at all. Looking at such political exclusion andmarginalization of women, it could be conjectured that at this rate womanwill take many more centuries to enjoy equality with men.Nevertheless, in spite of the dismal scenario at the national level,women’s representation in the local level politics has undergone a dramaticexpansion following the enactment of the Local Bodies Act, 1996 whichrequired the election of at least one woman from each ward committee of theVDC and municipalities. As a result, the elections to the local bodies held on1,007 and 1998, returned more than 40,000 women representatives. Itconstitutes almost 20% of all the elected office bearers. Without doubt, therepresentation of such a large number of women belonging to the+

Gender Equality and Democracy : K. Shrestha 163heterogeneous socio-economic and political backgrounds in the grassrootsunits of the political system can be expected to have a long-term catalyticimpact in the society and politics.ISSUES AFFECTING REALIZATION OF WOMEN’SHUMAN RIGHTS AND POLITICAL RIGHTS• Patriarchal and male dominated society, which, on one hand, oppressesand marginalizes women by compelling them to accept the lowsubordinate status in the society and on the other hand, discourageswomen’s political participation by making it matrilineal dynastic,ascriptive and patronage oriented;• Lack of political will and appropriate implementation machinery hasmade mockery of a number of progressive legislation with goodintentions;• Low priority given to women’s programs by the government alwaysresults in ‘tokenisms’ and resource shortages;• Growing criminalization, violence, corruption, derailment of democraticnorms, values and rising cost of electioneering acts as deterrent againstwomen’s participation;• Lack of strong, confident, competent and credible women leaders whocan act as the ‘role models’ in motivating increasing number of womento participate in politics and human rights activities;• Weak civil society, political indifference and apathy of women activists,upper caste elitist social background of civil society activists;• Low level of female literacy and political awareness among women; and• Economic dependency of women and lack of family support for activepolitical participation.RECOMMENDATIONS• Policy reforms, legal reforms, social reforms;• Need to repeal all discriminatory and unjust laws;• Need to ensure both qualitative and quantitative increase in reservationquota for women in all levels of political system and public life;+

164 Gender and Democracy in Nepal• Need to create special educational and employment opportunities forwomen belonging to ethnic groups and Dalit groups;• Need to initiate a massive awareness building campaign throughout thecountry to sensitize people, politicians, administrators, judges, socialactivists etc.;• Need to evolve special agenda of reform and transformation in societyand politics by women politicians;• Need to develop cross-political linkages and consensus among womenpolitical activists on women’s issues;• Need to initiate democratization of civil society movement with a viewto involve the heterogeneous cross section of women and theirsupporters; and• Need for the recently formed Human Rights Commission to undertakeproactive position on women’s issues.+

+Socio-cultural Aspect ofGender Equity/ Equalityand Democracy in NepalKrishna B. BhattachanINTRODUCTIONIn Nepal, women had experienced unfairness and injustice in the autocraticpolitical systems of the past and continue experiencing it in the democratic,multi-party political system of the present in legal, political, economic andsocio-cultural fronts. Legal, political and economic aspects of genderdiscrimination and democracy are the subject matters of other three articles. I,therefore, will focus on discussion and analysis of socio-cultural aspects only.This article is divided in five sections: (1) meaning of democracy, (2)meaning of gender equity/equality, (3) socio-cultural fields of genderinequality, (4) socio-cultural factors of gender inequality, and (5) means toreduce/eliminate socio-culture-based gender inequality.MEANING OF DEMOCRACYDemocracy means different things to different people. Its meaning differsamong individuals, ideologies, paradigms, cultures, and contexts (Diamond,Linz and Lipset, 1989:xvi). Max Weber defined “democracy” as the universalaccess to public positions and increasing sphere of influence of publicopinion. Diamond, Linz and Lipset (1989:xvi) write, "... democracy—or whatRobert Dahl terms “polyarchy”—denotes a system of government that meetsthree essential conditions: meaningful and extensive competition amongindividuals and organized groups (especially political parties) for all effectivepositions or government power, at regular intervals and excluding the use offorce; a highly inclusive level of political participation in the selection ofleaders and policies, at least through regular and fair elections, such that nomajor (adult) social group is excluded; and a level of civil and political165

166 Gender and Democracy in Nepalliberties—freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom to form andjoin organizations—sufficient to ensure the integrity of political competitionand participation.”Jayal (1999:25) writes, “On the societal front, the limits on effectivedemocracy stem from a combination of (i) inequalities in social relations, and(ii) the logic of democracy itself. Inequitous social relations may derive notonly from economic inequalities, but also inequalities based in, for instance,gender or caste. The concentration of social power is not reducible to, andcan be undesirable as the concentration of economic power, and indeed weknow that the institutions of society are frequently undemocratic, as theyactively neglect or subordinate weaker social groups. Social relations ofdomination and subordination tend to distort democracy, such that the voiceof the powerful gets expressed (through interest groups, for example) whilethe powerless go largely unrepresented, except in the formal and ineffectualsense of periodically participating in elections.”Political scientists have identified various types of democracy. Lipsitz(1986:4-7) mentions majoritarian, liberal and egalitarian democracy and Held(1987:5) mentions liberal, protective, developmental, competitive elitist,radical development, legal, classical, direct and participatory democracy.Barber (1995:3-6) has identified three essentials of democracy: nationalgovernment elected by the people, constitution and human rights. He furthermentions four requirements of democracy: democracy must control violence;democracy must provide freedom and equality; democracy must require reallaw; and democracy needs reason.I, however, use the term “democracy” to mean a political process inwhich diverse groups of people cooperate among themselves in a participatoryway for their common good.In the history of two and a half century of territorial unification ofNepal, Nepalese people experienced 18 month-long democracy in 1959-1960and 10 years of democracy after the people’s movement of 1990. Till now,unfortunately all disadvantaged groups, including Dalits, women, indigenouspeoples, Muslims and Madhesis, have not yet experienced the taste ofdemocracy other than freedom to be organized and make demands.MEANING OF GENDER EQUITY AND/OR EQUALITYMany Nepalese scholars and gender activists are often confused when theyuse the terms equity (Gofof]lrt_ and equality (;dfgtf_ synonymously; some useit exclusively either gender equity or gender equality; and some use it as+

Gender Equality and Democracy : K. Bhattachan 167supplementary and complementary to each other. Anyway, discourse on‘equity’ and ‘equality’ indeed has different wavelengths.UNDP (n.d.:52), in its Gender Reference Guide about MainstreamingGender Equity defines gender equality and gender equity to mean subjectiveand objective situations. Gender equality “refers to norms and values,attitudes and perceptions, required to attain equal status between women andmen, without neutralizing the biological differences between being womenand men.” Gender equity refers to “fairness in women’s and men’s access tosocio-economic resources” and also it is a “condition in which women andmen participate as equals, and have equal access to socio-economicresources.”Equity means fairness or right judgment; and equality does notnecessarily mean equity. I, therefore, feel that the taken-for-granted meaningof equity and equality is very problematic in Nepal as elsewhere in the world.“’Equity,’ in law, is a set of rules that was originally developed to overcomeinflexibility in government decisions. ‘Equity’ is based on broad principles ofreason and justice. It allows the law to adjust to special circumstances ofcase.” “In the early days, the laws were often applied so strictly that theycreated injustice.” According to the MIT economist Lester Thurow, “Equityis the more philosophically and economically complex concept because it ishighly normative and focuses on the just distribution of economic resources.”“Equality does not necessarily imply equity.” Equality is a morestraightforward mathematical concept that reflects the extent of differenceswith respect to the possession of any desired goods, resources, or services.According to C. Douglas Lummis (1997) ‘equality’ has “taken on certaintoxic meanings” in development discourse. According to him:“In the various notions of equality, it is possible to distinguish twofamilies of meaning. In the first, equality indicates a kind of justiceor fair treatment. In the second, equality indicates sameness orhomogeneity. In some contexts the two meanings may overlap orconverge, but they are different. To treat people justly may requiretreating them differently; on the other hand, to treat them as if theywere the same is not necessarily to treat them justly. Moreover, thetwo meanings are different in kind. Equality as justice is a valuestatement concerning how people ought to be treated; it refers torelations between persons. Equality as sameness, however, is anallegation of fact; it postulates common characteristics in people. Avalue statement may be derived from it. However, if equality assameness is asserted as a value, it may turn out to allege not a factthat is, but a fact that ought to be created. When this notion+

168 Gender and Democracy in Nepalbecomes attached to power, the consequences can be frightening.”(Lummis, 1997:51).+

Gender Equality and Democracy : K. Bhattachan 169Sometimes equality may not be desirable. For example, many menpractice polygyny and very few women practice polyandry. Equality does notmean that if men practice polygyny, women should demand for polyandry tobe equal. Similarly, in polyandry society, it does not mean that men shoulddemand for polygyny. Instead, in both types of polygamous society it isdesirable to demand for monogamy with equal respect for husband and wife.Similarly, sometimes equality produces inequality. For example, in equalityof opportunity, “What is equal is not the people, but the rules of the game.”The main object of this competitive game is to produce inequality. It is adevice for legitimizing it. “To accept equality of opportunity is to accept thegame, and to accept the game is to accept the identity of player.” InJurisprudence, “formal equality” accepts sameness but in “substantive modelof equality” equality in result is desired, not just equal opportunity, and defacto equality, not just de jure equality, and special measure (unequal), as thecorrective measures against socially constructed and historically determineddiscrimination.Inequality is a political problem, not of poverty as some people believe.Till now, Minister for Justice and the Ministry of Justice, Justices orJudiciary, Executive, Legislative, Media, Civil Society Organizations,including Human Rights Organizations, have failed to give due justice towomen. For example, implementation of CEDAW (Initial Report v ShadowReport), equal property rights Bill, pro-abortion Bill, elimination of womentrafficking, etc. have not been implemented seriously yet. Also, it is difficultto imagine fairness and justice under the Muluki Ain (National Code) basedon Dayabhag and Mitakshyara Sampradaya of Banaras and Bengal Gharanaand also under the Hindu State and Hindu-biased Constitution.SOCIO-CULTURAL FIELDS OF GENDER INEQUALITYIn Nepalese society there are many socio-cultural fields of gender inequalityand some may be common to all culture but many vary from one culture toanother. Some socio-cultural inequality occurs at the household level andsome occurs at the community level. Many researchers and gender expertshave noted that the status of women of indigenous ethnic groups is relativelybetter than those of the Hindu women. This true to the extent that the formersociety is characterized by egalitarian or flat or horizontal social structurewhereas the latter is characterized by a vertical or hierarchical social structurewith purity and pollution of caste, women and foods. It, however, should benoted here that many indigenous ethnic groups have been influenced greatlyby the process of Hinduization and Sanskritization initiated by the Hindu+

170 Gender and Democracy in Nepalrulers under the state patronage. Therefore, status of women in suchHinduized families is similar to those of their Hindu counterparts.Socio-culture-based Gender Inequality at the Household LevelGender inequality at the household level is very conspicuous. Genderdiscrimination is widely prevalent from birth to death. Family members learnit through the processes of socialization such as conditioning, imitation,indoctrination, anticipatory socialization and active gender roles. It is a bitterfact that most of the families in Nepal are authoritarian, not democratic forwomen and girl child of the family because of persistence of the followingtypes of gender discrimination:Daughter as a liability: In Hindu society and culture daughters are takenas liabilities. Parent and other family members want sons, not daughters. Ifson is born, parent celebrates by throwing out a big party for all relatives,friends and community members but if daughter is born they become sad.Sons and daughters are further discriminated in child care, foods, clothing,education, play, work and social mobility. Most of the parents do not want toinvest money for daughter because they believe that she is some one’sproperty, not theirs.In non-Hindu society and culture, particularly those of the indigenouspeoples such as Gurung, Magar, Rai, Limbu and Tamang traditionally therehas been no discrimination between son and daughter. They generally do nottake daughters as liability. However, in the last 230 years, the process ofinternal colonization or Hinduization or Sanskritization has forced someindigenous people to emulate Hindu social and cultural values. In suchfamilies, like in Hindu families, daughters are taken as liability.Daijoo/Tilak related Torture: In Hindu society and culture daughters donot get parental property but during daughter’s marriage, the groom’s familydemand cash and kind which many bride’s parents cannot afford.Daijoo/Tilak is widely prevalent in the Madhesi communities of the Terai.The problem is indeed very acute in these communities. If the bride bringsless amount of Daijo/Tilak, she is often harassed and nowadays, there isincreasing cases of bride-burning by the groom’s family members. Also,many brides commit suicide due to depression resulting from suchharassment.Untouchability: All Hindu women are treated as untouchables for fourto five days during menstruation and for few days after child delivery.Untouchability is not practiced by indigenous peoples but it is practiced halfheartedlyby those who are Hinduized or Sanskritized. In far-western and+

Gender Equality and Democracy : K. Bhattachan 171mid-western Nepal, Hindu women must live in a small hut called Chhaupadior in cowshed during menstruation and child delivery.Dalit women (and men) have been traditionally treated as“untouchables.” Though the Muluki Ain (New National Code) of 1963abolished untouchability, its practices continue unabated. Dalit women arenot allowed to fetch water from public water sources, enter the temple andother public places. Many Dalit women are sexually exploited but if theyshould become pregnant boy friends abandon them or if their boy friendsmarry them, they are not accepted by their (husbands’) families. Theirchildren become citizenshipless as they are not entitled to get citizenshipcertificate without known fathers.Child-marriage, polygamy, mismatch marriage and lesbianism: Childmarriage is still prevalent in some Hilly areas and in most parts of the Terai.Although the Census data of 1991 show that mean age at marriage hasincreased from 15.4 in 1961 to 18.1 in 1991, 7.6 percent girls are married atthe age of 10 to 14. Married girl child are deprived of education, increaseworkload, and suffer from health, including reproductive, problems.Polygyny is widely practiced, whereas Polyandry is practiced by somemountain–communities, such as: Dolpali, Lhopa, Baragaunle and Manange.Polyandry has been a customary practice but polygyny exists though the lawshave made it illegal.Mismatch marriage is also common in the Hills and Terai. Often thehusband is aged and girl-wife is either a teenager or very young. Most ofthem become widow when they are still young and widows have low socialstatus in the Hindu society and culture.It appears that there are few but gradually increasing cases of lesbianmarriages. Such practices are not allowed in the Nepalese society, they,therefore, are facing hard times in living normal conjugal life.Domestic violence: Domestic violence, both physical and mental,appears to be one of the very widely prevalent problems in Nepal. Almost allwomen victims do not speak out against the violence done by their malefamily members.Socio-culture-based Gender Inequality at the Community/Societal LevelThere are many socio-culture-based gender inequalities at the community/societal level. These are:+

172 Gender and Democracy in NepalProstitution and Trafficking of women and girl child: This is acommon problem of poor women and girl child of many castes and ethnicgroups. Every year thousands of innocent women and girl child are sold bytheir fake husbands, relatives, friends and brokers in brothels in India. Manywomen and girl child resort to prostitution in the country as a last resort fortheir livelihood. It is indeed a shame to have a prevalence of trafficking ofwomen and girl child in democracy.Bonded labor: In the western, mid-western and far-western Terai,bonded labor (Kamaiya) was prevalent until it was abolished recently by HisMajesty’s Government. All the family members of such laborers wereexploited by their landlords throughout their life by engaging them inagricultural and domestic works. After freedom from bonded labor, thesebonded laborers are having a hard time to make a living due to government'sfailure to rehabilitate them properly.Deuki, Jhuma, and Kumari: Due to some traditional religious practices,some women lose their freedom to live the life of their own choice. InBaitadi, adistrict in far-western region, some girls, from the poor families arepurchased by rich “high caste” people and offer to the gods as Deuki. Later,these girls practice prostitution.In the mountain region, Buddhist families offer their second daughter tothe monasteries where they live a life of Jhuma. They must practice celibacyfor life.The Newars of Kathmandu Valley have a tradition of living goddesscalled Kumari. These Kumaris must live in the temples until they menstruate.After menstruation they are no more eligible to be the goddess Kumari andlater many of them remain single because of the belief that whoever marrythem should die.Badi: Women of one of the Dalit caste groups called Badi located inNepalgunj and some villages in Banke district in mid-western region and insome villages in Dhangari district in far-western region have been forced bythe society to engage in commercial sex works as their only profession.No rights on women’s own body: Nepalese women do not have right onone’s own body. They have no right on their reproductive health. They haveno right to decide when to become pregnant, how many times to becomepregnant, and whether or not to do abortion. Decisions about such criticalmatters are usually done by men and women have to follow them faithfully.Patrilienal/Patrilocal: It is tradition that married women change theirfamily names to adopt the family names of their husbands and live in their+

Gender Equality and Democracy : K. Bhattachan 173husband’s home. As women have to leave their maiden family name andnatal home, obviously, they are psychologically dominated by their husbandsand their family members, who are more like strangers than family members.Husband and wife relationship would change substantially if both husbandand wife should live in a new home. Son(s) and daughter(s) inherit father’sfamily name. Therefore, it is not surprising to hear common beliefs that sonsopen the door to heaven and that parent make efforts for having a son even ifthey already have many daughters only.Illiteracy: According to the Census of 1991, the overall female literacyrate (6+ years) of both male and female combined is 39.6 and that of womenis 25. The literacy rate of both Dalit and indigenous women is negligible. Theliteracy rate of Dalit women is low because of social discrimination,particularly untouchability and that of the Indigenous women, who speaktheir own mother tongues, is low because of imposition of Khas Nepalilanguage in the class rooms and the offices. As long as literacy rate remainslow, women will not be able to become public and subsequently, they will bedeprived from meaningful participation in the public sphere, includingpolitics.Social values: Hindu social values have a direct bearing on genderdiscrimination. FWLD (2000:25) have listed some of the popular beliefs,including dhilo paye, chhora paye (“let it be late, but let it be a son”), chhorapaye swarga jaane (“the birth of a son paves the way to heaven”), chhori kojanma hare ko karma (“a daughter is born with doomed fate”), chhora payekhasi, chhori paye pharsi (if a son is born, it is celebrated by sacrificing agoat, if it’s daughter, a pumpkin is enough”), mare paap, pale punya (“it’s asin if the groom kills the bride, charity if nurtured”), and swasni machekobuddhi pachhadi (“women are always shortsighted”).SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS OF GENDERINEQUALITYEven in democracy, if certain dominant socio-cultural factors are notaddressed properly, gender inequality would continue to reproduce anddemocracy may be challenged by these factors.PatriarchyIn Nepal we have mostly patriarchal societies. Patriarchy, following SylviaWalby (1990), is “a system of social structures and practices in which mendominate, oppress and exploit women” (quoted by Bhasin, 1994:5). In suchsystem men control women’s labor power, reproduction, sexuality, mobility,and economic resources, including property (Bhasin 1994:6-8). In Nepal and+

174 Gender and Democracy in Nepalother South Asian societies, patriarchal institutions include family, religion,legal system, political institutions, media, and educational institutions(Bhasin, 1994:11-12). It is recognized by all that the position of womenbelonging to indigenous peoples is better compared to the Indo-Aryans orHindus. Girl child and women of Indigenous peoples have better social statusat home and in the community but they are totally absent in public offices.Many indigenous peoples were coerced to go through the process of Hinduizationor Sanskritization or Nepalization resulting the loss of their traditionallanguage, religion and culture. In such cases, the males of indigenouscommunities may be even more stricter than their Hindu counterpart inexploiting, subjugating and oppressing women as the saying goes, naya jogilekharani dherai ghascha (“new hermits rub their bodies with more ashes”).Hegemony or Dominance of Hindu Cultural Values (Bahunbad)Historical unfairness and injustice were and are created by Bahunbad orBrahmanbad (Brahamanism) or Hindu cultural values. Women in generalhave become its victim and women belonging to so-called “low caste” orDalits and indigenous ethnic groups have become double victims: one aswomen in general and the other as Dalit/indigenous women.One of the emerging patterns of Nepal’s democracy is a tendency of theruling political party or parties to maintain, sustain, and reinforce the processof hegemony or domination, on the one hand, and homogenization of cultureand ideology, on the other; both have been continuing since the project ofterritorial unification in 1768. Such a coercive practice goes against the verysocial structure of Nepal and the spirit of democracy. It is a fact that Nepalisocial structure has been characterized by diversity in ecology, caste andethnicity, language, religion, region, and culture. It is also a fact thatdemocracy implies pluralism, and therefore, it is only in democracy variousgroups, including those of the minorities, interests and demands can bearticulated, fulfilled, safeguarded, and preserved. Equally true is a fact thatdemocracy would no more remain as democracy if diversity or pluralism isdestroyed. Contrary to democratic spirit, there has been a domination orhegemony of specific caste (Bahun-Chhetris), regional (pahadiyas), gender(men), linguistic (Nepali), religious (Hindu) groups in all public sphere,including politics, bureaucracy, police, military, education, medicine, engineeringand culture for the last two and a half centuries. It should be notedthat although Nepal is a small country in terms of geography, but bothbiological and cultural diversities are great. There are well over 100 differentcaste/ethnic/religious/linguistic/cultural groups (see Bhattachan andPyakuryal, 1996). If democracy has to function in its true sense of the term,+

Gender Equality and Democracy : K. Bhattachan 175people belonging to all these different groups should have equal opportunityto contribute for the national development of Nepal.Religious, cultural and social dominance of Hinduism, Hindu values,and caste and ethnic fairness and justice have negatively affected to non-Hindu women. Women of so-called "high castes" are victims by their socalled"high caste" men. Due to the Hindu values of purity and pollution ofcastes and foods and hierarchy Dalit women have become triple victims by"high caste" men and women, by their own and other men. Similarly womenof so-called “Matawali” (“liquor drinking caste”) or indigenous ethnicgroups, who are more than 61, and other religious/linguistic groups aredouble victims Once they are victimized by men as a women. Additionally,they, as a group with their own distinct culture, religion, language, arevictimized by the dominant groups who follow Hindu culture and religion,and speak Khas Nepali language. Similarly, Hindu men and women dominatenon-Hindus, particularly animists, Bon, Buddhist, Lamaist, Islam andChristians. Khas Nepali language speaking men and women dominatewomen who speak their own mother tongues—there are more than 125languages and dialects in Nepal. Also, Pahadi or Hill men and womendominate Madhesi men and women. These differences have come to surfacebecause of socio-cultural diversity. Principle of equality is based on acriterion of inclusion and subsequently “cultural differences betweencommunities, their ways of life, systems or moral values, modes of dress andaddress” are now accepted positively (Mahajan, 1998:6-7). Mahajan (1998:7-8) has noted that the theorists of cultural differences have made twoarguments about the inadequacies of the principle of formal equality: one,“equality assumes that equals should be treated equally and unequalsunequally” and hence, ‘by ignoring cultural differences, however, the idea offormal equality treats unequals equally”; and two, “equality requires thatequal treatment be given to all culturally distinct communities.”It is unfortunate that women activists and leaders of so-called “highcastes” are for gender equity and gender equality but they have shown verycold approach towards the sufferings of women belonging to Dalits,indigenous ethnic groups, Madhesis and Muslims. Also, they are notsensitive enough about domination, suppression, oppression and subjugationof the later groups by default of being the women belonging to “high castes.”Continuing exclusion, marginalization and alienation of Dalit, indigenousnationalities, Madhesi, and Muslim women do not help to achieve genderequity and gender equality in Nepal.+

176 Gender and Democracy in NepalSocio-cultural Diversity and Differential ProblemsNepalese society is characterized by socio-cultural diversity and it hasimplications in differential gender inequality. The diversity is reflected incaste and ethnicity, language, religion and region.In terms of race, Caucasians and Mongolians together comprise most ofthe population of the country and Dravidians and Proto-Australoids compriseminority population. Among the Caucasians, Brahman/Bahun, Kshatriya/Chhetri, Vaisya and Sudra are further divided into numerous caste and subcastes.The remaining three racial groups comprise 61 indigenous peoples ornationalities. There are Muslims, Sikhs, Bengalis among other groups.Compared to so-called Hindu “high caste” women, other women, togetherwith their male counterparts, are discriminated in language, religion andculture. In the case of Dalit women (and men), they have been treated as“untouchables” though the New National Code of Nepal abolisheduntocuhability in 1963.Women belonging to various nationalities, Madhesis, and Muslims whospeak their own mother tongues are discriminated by the state in the use oftheir language in the local bodies, government owned media and schools.Subsequently many girl children and women remain illiterate anduneducated. Girl child and women belonging to Khas Nepali languagespeakers are in more advantageous positions because of the Constitutionalprovision of Nepali as the only official language.Religion also affects women differentially. Hindu women are moreprivileged than non-Hindus such as Animists, Bon, Buddhists, Lamaists,Islam and Christians. The democratic constitution of Nepal has declaredNepal as the Hindu country.There are regional variation as well. Women living in far-western, midwesterndevelopment regions are more disadvantaged than women living inwestern, central and eastern development regions.It is an irony that even in democracy many women are victims of doubleinequalities, one as women and another as women belonging to specificcaste, ethnic, religious, linguistic and regional groups. It obviously poses acomplex question: When women demand from equality, equality withwhom?+

Gender Equality and Democracy : K. Bhattachan 177MEANS TO REDUCE/ELIMINATE SOCIO-CULTURE-BASED GENDER INEQUALITYThe most important means to reduce, if possible to eliminate, socio-culturebasedgender inequalities are gender struggle for decentralized household,selective cooperation and partnership and selective antagonism andconfrontation, positive discrimination (equality of opportunity and equality ofoutcomes), reform or movement or revolution.Gender Struggle for Decentralized HouseholdOne of the main gender struggles that should be waged is at the householdlevel. Such struggle should be directed in two fronts, one within thehousehold and another between households and larger institutions. Thestruggle within the household, following Hartmann (1987:112) should focuson both fronts, production and redistribution. At the production front, womenshould struggle to achieve equity in housework and in redistribution offamily income. I believe that women, as indicated by Hartmann (1987:126),should “resist doing housework and rearing children, at least many children”and perceive their economic security in self-reliance. Similarly, strugglebetween households and larger institutions, following Hartmann (1987:112),should focus on household production versus production organized by capitaland the state and in redistribution in terms of taxes.In Nepal households are very authoritarian or undemocratic as it ishighly centralized and men have full control over its power and authority.Therefore, one of the preconditions for reducing or if possible eliminatinggender inequality is the decentralization at the household level.Selective Cooperation and Partnership and Selective Antagonism andConfrontationEven in democracy, many men tend to believe that women’s equal rightmovement is directed against men and that women can actually gain nothingwith such confrontational approach. They interpret equal property rights andright to one’s own body as women’s ploy against men. Also, gendersensitization programs have been blamed for increasing family conflicts. Onthe other hand, some gender activists believe that the whole movement is notreally against men—therefore confrontation or antagonism is not required.They say that what is required and desired is partnership between women andmen and girls and boys. Some other gender activists believe that selectiveconfrontation is required if women’s plight should be heard by men and alsoif women should really achieve gender equality and equity.+

178 Gender and Democracy in NepalPositive Discrimination (Equality of Opportunity and Equality ofOutcomes)One of the most debatable social issues in Nepal (and also in other SouthAsian countries) is positive discrimination or affirmative action for womenand other disadvantaged groups. In Nepal although policy makers are yet tobe convinced but all gender activists and activists of other disadvantagedgroups very strongly believe that it is one of the very effective means tobridge the gender gap that has been manufactured in centuries.Mahajan (1998:12) has aptly written, "although advocates of democracybelieved that a colour-blind policy would ensure equality in all spheres ofsocial and political life, the ideologues of cultural differences has shown thatthe obliteration of differences cannot ensure equality and by treating unequalsequally, it actually violates the principle of equality” (Mahajan, 1998:12-13).Mahajan writes,“..it was evident that the task of democracy was still unfinished.While legal barriers to equality had been removed and public placesand institutions were now open to all, people of different races andgender could neither participate on equal terms, nor use theavailable opportunities to an equal degree. Year of subordinationhad seriously handicapped the members of the discriminatedcommunities and placed them at a disadvantage in at least threeways, (a) It had diminished their motivations and aspirations... (b)Although jobs were formally open to all, the marginalized groupswere unable to compete successfully with the members of thebetter-off social groups... (c) …children of the dominant socialgroups performed better in standard examination.”Mahajan has aptly noted that “the framework of individual rights aloneis inadequate for fighting against existing forms of discrimination” and that“it is the moral responsibility of society to take care of those who have beendisadvantaged on account of its social practices.” In Nepal gender activistsare demanding for substantive equality because the Constitution of theKingdom of Nepal, 1990 has already granted formal equality. TheConstitution has made it mandatory to all political parties to reserve fivepercent of candidacy during the general election, gender activists aredemanding for 20 to 33 percent of such reservation, not just for candidacy toloose but to win.+

Gender Equality and Democracy : K. Bhattachan 179Reform or Movement or RevolutionSo far women’s equal right movement has been more reformist than a realmovement or a revolution. In the past women’s movement was welfareoriented, which was essentially a reformist approach. After the reestablishmentof multi-party political system or democracy in 1990, women’sright activists have gradually moving towards generating a movement butcritics often charge that domination of educated, urban and upper and uppermiddle class women of certain caste, religion, language and culture and theirorientation to projects have distorted the nature of the movement. I see noharm even if it is so as long as they do it sincerely for the common good, thatis to eliminate all kinds of gender discrimination. It is true that until nowinstead of being a grass roots level movement women’s movement hasbecome a policy targeted movement with little success. In the last five yearsincreasing number of women, initially indigenous nationalities and Dalits,have joined in the ever expanding Maoist insurgency.CONCLUSIONIf we look at gender equity and gender equality and democracy from socioculturalvantage point, we must say that there is neither gender equity/equality nor democracy for women and girl child. To realize gender equityand gender equality we need equitable democracy but not the democracy ofthe present form, which essentially is a rule of the men, by the men, for menand to the men. Instead, it should be a rule in partnership of both women andmen, by both women and men, for both women and men, and to both womenand men. Gender equity/equality and democracy can and should go together,not in isolation. While doing so utmost care should be given so that right towomen should not turn into right to women belonging to dominant caste.language, religion and culture to dominate women belonging to minorities.REFERENCESBarber, James David1995 The Book of Democracy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs.Bhattachan, Krishna B.1997 “Democracy and Communicative Action in Nepal,” p.2, The TelegraphWeekly, January , 1997, Kathmandu, Nepal.1998 Sociological Perspectives on Gender Issues in Changing Nepalese Society.Paper presented at a workshop on Gender Issues in Changing NepaleseSociety organized by the Women’s Studies Program, Central Department ofHome Science, Padmakanya Multiple Campus with support of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Germany, Kathmandu, May 22-23, 2000.+

180 Gender and Democracy in NepalBhattachan, Krishna B. and Kailash Nath Pyakuryal1996 “Ethnoregional Approach to the Issue of National Integration in Nepal,” pp.17-38, Occasional Papers in Sociology and Anthropology, Emerging Ethnicityand Community Adaptation, Volume 5, 1996, Edited by Krishna B.Bhattachan, Ganesh Man Gurung and Ananda Aditya, Kathmandu, Nepal:Central Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Tribhuvan University.Bhasin, Kamala1994 What is Patriarchy? New Delhi: Kali for Women. Second Impression (Firstpublished 1993).Diamond, Larry, Juan J. Linz and Seymour Martin Lipset (Eds.)1989 Democracy in Developing Countries. Asia. Volume Three. Boulder,Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers London: Adamantine Press Limited.FWLD2000 Baseline Study on Inheritance Right of Women. Kathmandu: Forum forWomen, Law & development (FWLD).Hartmann, sandra I.1987 The family as the Locus of Gender, Class, and Political Struggle. TheExample of Housework. pp. 109-134. In Sandra Harding (Ed.) Feminism &Methodology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press and Milton Keynes:Open University Press.Held, David1987 Models of Democracy. Stanford, California: California.Jayal, Niraja Gopal1999 Democracy and the State. Welfare, Secularism and Development inContemporary India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Lipsitz, Lewis1986 American Democracy. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Lummis, C. Douglas1997 “Equality” pp.51-70. In Wolfgang Sachs (Ed.) The Development Dictionary.A Guide to Kanowledge as Power. new Delhi: Orient Longman Limited.Mahajan, Gurpreet (Ed.)1998 Democracy, Difference and Social Justice. Delhi: Oxford University Press.UNDPn.d. Gender Reference Guide. Mainstreaming Gender Equity. Nepal: UNDP.Walby, Sylvia1994 Theorizing Patriarchy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. (1990).+

+Summary of the Floor DiscussionIndira SharmaThe participants felt that Mr. Yubaraj Sangroula's prsentation on "Women's:Defined in Terms of Their Sex and Marital Status" was very powerful andclear. Ms. Shilu Piyari Karmacharya, Member of Parliament, suggested theDepartment to contribute significantly in women's empowerment. Sheaccepted that there has been no significant achievements made in reducinggender gap in Nepal but she was optimistic that Nepalese women shouldcome forward if the twenty-first century, dubbed as "women's Century"should be made meaningful. Mr. Upemdra Man Malla, a former member ofthe National Planning Commission, opined that law is ultimately a socialillusion and he suggested both men and women to work together to make anequitable society. Some participants raised questions related to inter-castemarriages.The paper presented by Dr. Meena Acharya mainly focussed on three broadareas:• Employment structure and conditions;• Access to assets and capacity to build assets; and• Measurement and recognition of women’s work.Several participants expressed their views on the issues raised in thepaper. The majority of the participants expressed that the valuation ofwomen’s work was very important for raising the consciousness aboutwomen’s work output. In Nepalese culture men’s work is given thesupremacy whereas women’s work is given less importance. Many womenthemselves consider men’s work as being superior and women’s work asbeing inferior. The notion of superior and inferior work might have comebecause of cash earning capability. But it should be well understood thatwomen’s work at home serves as a prerequisite for men’s productive workoutside the home. Hence women’s work should have an equal value as that ofmen’s. However, the paper doesn’t specify how a gender contribution toGDP and household maintenance satellite account 1991 is calculated in terms181

182 Gender and Democracy in Nepalof money in rupees (Table 8). As expressed by participants existing technicalequipment are usually male oriented are inconvenient for women’s use. Needof better planning and policy to involve larger number of women in scienceand technology may be the solution of this particular problem. Manyparticipants discussed the issue of property rights in the present situation andthe present cultural background was not considered to be most appropriate.In this regard women should not be discriminated for property rights.The most important thing the parents can do for their children (both boys andgirls) is to educate them and make them self reliant and independent. Theinherited property should be prioritized in providing them quality educationand quality life.Speaking from the chair Prof. Dr. Pushpa Laxmi Shrestha said that thepaper was very thought provoking though the democratic aspect wasuntouched in the paper. She emphasized on the representation of women inthe planning and implementation level and effort to made to implement theplan from grass root level.As a whole, the paper was very critical in comparing the effect ofdemocracy on employment on the economic status of women. Thecomparison of data before and after democracy is evident to show the effectof democracy. The data explicitly shows that after democracy women haveenjoyed a better employment opportunity (see Table 1). However, thesituation is not that very encouraging as compared to that of the urban sector.Dr. Acharya has missed to show the effect of democracy on female’semployment outside agriculture (see Table 3), hours per day and wage salaryearnings of women outside agriculture by residence (see Table 4),distribution of labor force by broad occupational group and by ethnicity andcaste (see Table 5), female percent in occupational groups (see Table 6) andpercent of female proprietors by ethnicity, caste and sectors (see Table 7).The references cited at the end of the paper served a good cross-referencewhich would provide an in depth knowledge on the subject.This paper was taken by the participants as a good effort to providechanging economic status of Nepalese women. The data given was verymuch appreciated as strong aspect by most of the respondents. At the sametime they also expressed that it missed the strategies to overcome thesituation, which would have been more fruitful.Many participants were provoked by Dr. Krishna B. Bhattachan'spresentation on Socio-cultural Aspect of Gender Equity/Equality andDemocracy in Nepal. Most of the questions were related to indigenous+

Gender Equality and Democracy : I. Sharma 183nationalities, polygamy, gender division of labor, and how women should beselectively cooperative and to what extent they should fight for their rights atthe household level. Some participants suggested that positive discriminationshould be adopted for various indigenous nationalities and other minoritygroups. The participants denounced the media for promoting genderinequality. Prof. Kailash Nath Pyakuryal noted that sex, income, religion,education, ethnicity, etc. create inequalities in society.After paper presentation by Kapil Shrestha on Reconsidering the Issueof Women's Rights and Political Rights, participants mused on issues such asthe violation of human rights both by the government and the Mosists.Chairperson of the session, Mr. Nutan Thapaliya emphasized on the need forthe protection of women's rights and suggested women's rights activists towork hard in an integrated way to achieve gender equality in democracy.+

+PART THREECREATING AWARENESSON EQUAL RIGHTSAT THE VILLAGE LEVEL184

+IntroductionSoni JoshiNearly half of the human resource which is available for funding the developmentalpace of a country are the women, who are equally or even morecapable in their work as compared to men. But we still find that women arefound to be exploited and relegated. Their increased participation in politicsand government administration is undoubtedly the key to their empowermentand their arrival into the mainstream of development. Yet though women aredaughters, wives and mothers, they are not recognized as individuals withtheir own identity, despite the fact that they are as human as men are. Societyhas relegated them to the lowest rank and to a submissive role, confinedwithin the walls of their home and health with their responsibilities.Discouraged and prevented from taking part in public life they areuninformed of the few rights they are entitled to within the legal framework.One of the most fundamental rights, that of equal property rights iscompletely denied to them, so that they are dependent upon their fathers aschildren, on their husbands after marriage, and on their sons in old age.It is essential that women be represented at all levels of government theexecutive, judiciary and legislative including the grassroots level. Society isdynamic and change has and always been inevitable. People must shed theold habit of blindly resisting change and take up the challenge of directingthe process of social evaluation and on new and more equitable lines. Theissue of property rights, political rights and other issues beg of much moreserious thoughts than people care to give it.The reality is that the majority of women are deprived of the basic rightsand discriminated against. This has been identified as the major cause ofmassive poverty and backwardness in the Nepalese society. With thisrealization the government has incorporated empowerment and developmentof women in its programs for poverty alleviation and sustainabledevelopment of the country with the notion that unless women are brought tothe main stream of development and provided equal rights, the developmentrights of the government may not yield results.186

+The status of women in Nepal must be enhanced this is a known andaccepted fact by all. Despite equal rights and opportunities guaranteed by theConstitution, women in real life have not been able to enjoy the same. Thecondition in the rural areas is even worse. Realizing the importance andimpact of creating awareness amongst the women at the Village DevelopmentLevel (VDC) a Workshop/Seminar on the very same subject wasorganized by the Women’s Studies Program and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES) at Bajrabarahi in the ChapagaunnVDC.Durga Ghimire, in her article "Women's Political Participation -Constraints and Challenges," analyzes women's political participation in thepast and present, She has identified patriarchal values and norms, criminalization,economic dependency, etc. as the main constraints and challengesfacing Nepalese women. She has provided a number of useful recommendationsand suggested future strategy.Yasso Kanti Bhattachan (Gauchan), in her article entitled "Pre-test andPost of a Workshop on 'Creating Awareness on Equal Property and PoliticalRights' in Selected VDCs in Lalitpur District" provides the findings of thestudy in a very lucid way. The pre-test results revealed that 46% of theparticipants had no knowledge about the rights of women. Interestingly, posttestresults revealed that these women were able to express their opinion onmost of the issues related to women's rights, including property and politicalrights+

+Women’s Political Participation-Constraints and ChallengesDurga GhimireBACKGROUNDWomen’s participation in the various levels of decision making is anessential prerequisite for the establishment of equality, development andpeace. Women constitute about 50% of the total population of Nepal but yettheir participation in the various levels of decision making is negligible. Thepolitical space all over the world is monopolized by men. In many countrieswomen have played a very important role in the independence movements fordemocracy, but their participation in the various spheres of public life hascontinued to remain minimal in comparison to their male counterparts.The political participation of women in the South Asia region is not veryencouraging. In many countries of South Asia special provisions; have beenmade to increase women’s political participation, yet the percentage ofwomen in the higher levels of the political power structure has not risen.There are various factors that have discouraged women from taking an activepart in politics. The main reasons are due to the amount of violence,corruption and manipulations, which are present. Many women who haveexcellent leadership qualities are unwilling to participate in politics becauseof these factors. It is therefore essential to make politics clean and green sothat the flow of women into the political arena in enlarged.POLITICAL HISTORY AND WOMEN’S POLITICALPARTICIPATION IN NEPALFor about a century of isolation, roughly between 1850-1950, Nepal wasruled by a feudal family--the Ranas, who called themselves kings. The Ranasruled in Nepal for 104 years, during which time the people were deprived offundamental rights. In 1950, the autocratic rule of the Ranas was overthrown188

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: D. Ghimire 189by a movement jointly involving the people of Nepal and the king. Duringthis historical mass movement the women of Nepal played significant roles.They not only participated in demonstrations but also raised the awareness ofthe people through radio programmes and establishing women’sorganizations to motivate women. Many female leaders worked undergroundand some of them were arrested for distributing pamphlets. Even at the timeof autocratic rule female leaders worked hard establishing schools,demanding voting rights for women and mobilizing a lot of women throughorganizations with an objective of fighting against the Rana rule. After thepolitical change of 1951, when democracy was established women’sorganizations were influenced by party politics. Women were represented inthe National Level election of 1958. One women was elected into parliamentand several were nominated into the National Assembly. But in 1960 theparliamentary system of government was banned by his Majesty the king andthe partyless autocratic Panchayat System was established. Women activistsprotested hard against this Royal proclamation which was undemocratic. Afew women activists were jailed for a long time or more than two years dueto their views and actions.For more than thirty years there was no party system but women workedunderground mobilizing other women. Though there were women’ sorganizations established by the government under the Panchayat system,they were not able to mobilize large numbers of women. Constitutionalprovisions to involve women at the grassroots level were made but thenumber of women in Parliament was very limited during this period.In 1989 there was mass movement for the restoration of democracy.Many female leaders were jailed. The participation of Nepalese women forthe restoration of democracy is a milestone in the history of popular massmovement women from various political parties, social worker, NGOactivists and students leaders all contributed greatly to the success of thismovement. After the restoration of democracy a new Constitution of Nepalwas promulgated which provided women with equal political rights. Theprovision formulated states that women can vote, compete in local andnational elections, involve themselves in political parties and support andadapt any political ideology. The constitution also states that all politicalparties must have at least 5% candidates for house of representative. Threeseats must also be reserved for women in the upper house of Parliament+

190 Gender and Democracy in NepalWOMEN’S PARTICIPATION AFTER 1990The new ordinance Act of 1997 made another provision to increase theparticipation of women at a local level. This act states that one seat must bereserved for women in each ward of the Village Development Committee.Due to this compulsory provision about 40,000 female candidates wereelected in the local level election of 1997. This provision really forced allparties to support a female candidate and encouraged women to becomeinvolved. Women’s political participation at a grass roots level has clearlyincreased but it is too early to say whether any positive change in the lives ofwomen will come about or whether female politicians will be able to raisewomen’s issues strongly.The number of women involved with politics on a National level isnegligible. The following tables show the number of male and femalecandidates who contested and were elected in the election of 1991.Table 1. Candidates ContestedSex National % District % Village %Male 1,264 94 2,112 99.7 101,546 99.1Female 81 6.6 7 0.3 956 0.9Total 1,345 - 2,119 - 102,502 -Table 2. Candidates ElectedSex National % District % Village %Male 197 96.1 1,067 99.4 44,421 99.5Female 8 3.9 7 0.6 241 0.5Total 205 - 1,074 - 44,662 -WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE POLITICAL PUBLIC LIFE+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: D. Ghimire 191The following tables reveals low level of women’s participation in politicalpublic life.Table 3. Candidacy for Election of House ofRepresentative 1999 by political partiesPolitical Party Candidacy for Election of House of Representative 1999Female Male Total Fe %NC 14 191 205 6.82ML 11 187 198 5.55UML 12 183 195 6.15RPP 14 183 197 7.10RPP (C) 13 171 184 7.06NSP 5 63 68 7.35Others 66 1099 1165 6.00Total 135 2077 2212 6.10Source: Data collected and analyzed by FWLDNote: NC = Nepali Congress; ML = Nepal Communist Party (Marxist Leninist); UML = NepalCommunist Party (Unified Marxist Leninist); RPP = Rastriya Prajatantra Party; NSP = NepalSadvabana Party.Table 4. Number of elected women candidates at the House ofRepresentatives.PoliticalElected women candidates ofParty House of Representative 2056NC 5UML 5RPP 1RPP (C) 0NSP 0Others 0Total 11 = 5 %Source: Data collected by Election Commission+

192 Gender and Democracy in NepalTable 5. Women Minister in CabinetDate (in B.S.)No. of Women Minister1990/4/19-1992/7/26 11992/4/27-1995/12/12 X1995/12/13-1997/3/23 11997/3/24-1994/9/5 21994/9/6-1994/12/2 X1994/12/3-1998/4/19 11998/4/20-1998/8/25 31998/8/26-1998/12/24 21998/12/25-till dateXSource: Data collected and analyzed by FWLDTable 6. Representation of the women in theCentral Working Committee of the political Party.Name of the No. of member of No. of Women Percentagepolitical party Central Working member of CentralCommittee Working CommitteeNepali Congress (NC) 31 3 9.67Rastra Prajatantra Party (Thapa) 35 3 8.57Nepal Communist party (UML) 34 3 8.82Nepal Sadavawana Party (NSP) 31 2 6.45Nepal Communist Party 35 3 8.57Source: Data collected by FWLDThese tables also clearly indicates that the political participation ofwomen has not increased very significantly in the recent election. Manypolitical parties did not give even five percent candidates which is theconstitutional provision. Even major political party did not give more than 6percent women.These tables clearly indicate that female-politicians in the NationalLegislative only made up 3.9% of the total number. In the NationalAssembly, the Upper House of Parliament three out of sixty members were+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: D. Ghimire 193females. Therefor 4.9% of the total numbers of Parliament were female in1991. When this figure is compared with the percentage of females inParliament in 1986 (5.7%) it is clear to see that a decreasing trend in femaleparticipation is present. This trend is further confirmed by the mid-term pollof 1994 where the number of women elected was only seven.Participation in Village Development Committees (VDC) and Municipalitiesis also very low. According to the Election Commission's report of1992 the number of candidates in the VDCs were 102,502 out of which thenumber of women candidates were 956 which is 0.9%. The number electedwere 241 which 241 which 0.55% out of 44,662 members.Even the constitutional provision for integrating women into the variouslevels of the political power structure has failed to increase women’sparticipation. The decreasing trend has not only been seen in Nepal but inmany countries of the world. Women’s movements have been able togenerate awareness and encourage women to fight for their rights but stillfew women are taking up active roles in the political scene.Many countries of South Asia; except Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives,have produced female Prime Ministers and President yet even thesesuccessful examples have failed to encourage women to participate inpolitics. Women have the legal rights and the ability to be excellentpoliticians, what is stopping them?CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTSPatriarchal Values and NormsThe main reason for low political participation of women in politics is thepatriarchal structure of society. According to our traditions and culture theparticipation of women in politics and the public eye is against the generallyaccepted role of women. The patriarchal values have subjugated anddistempered women.Lack of Institutional SupportThough there are many institutions established for the over all developmentof women there is a lack of institutional mechanism, which can encourageand support women to take part in elections. There are many women’sorganizations related to different political parties but they have not been ableto provide moral and financial support to women who are interested inbecoming involved in politics.+

194 Gender and Democracy in NepalCriminalizationCriminalization in politics has increased rapidly in recent years. Mafia,money, manipulation and muscle power, i.e. 4-M, have played dominantroles in South Asian politics. Because of this scenario it is very difficult tomotivate and encourage women to come forward and take part in this “dirtygame." Women feel that it is not their territory, that men are better playersthan themselves. This view is simply not true. Women can be just as good, ifnot better when it comes to these dealings.Lack of Family SupportFamily support can either prevent or promote women from participating inpolitics. Women who come from families with a strong political history willoften be encouraged to continue the work of past relatives. Women generallyneed to receive permission from their husbands or fathers in order to embarkon a political career. Without this permission and support it would verydifficult for women to become successful politicians. This is not only becauseof the financial help, which is so often required, but also for moralencouragement.The role which women have in the home gives additional ties to femalepoliticians, which reduce their mobility. Women who are married and tryingto bring up children while keeping a home will find it almost impossible towork full time as well. This problem is enhanced in a country like Nepalbecause of the large family sizes that put additional burdens on women. Toparticipate in politics women often find that they must either be lesscommitted to their families and homes or put marriage and married life onhold until they have finished their political careers.Wrong Social and cultural ViewsIt is generally expected by a majority of people, both male and female, thatthe women’s role is in the home. Women are considered stupid and ignorantwhen it comes to matters of any real importance. When they are constantlybeing told that they are not intelligent enough to participate in politics it is nowonder that they do not believe in themselves. Women are encouraged tobelieve that politics is much too complicated for them to understand and so itis best left to men. They should stay at home, cooking and cleaning andhaving children. Women who do have a slight inclination to achievesomething in life might be encouraged to be a nurse, midwife or schoolteacher as these are jobs in their league.+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: D. Ghimire 195Lack of Education and AwarenessWe have already seen that the literacy rate of women is considerably lowerthan that of men. Boys are encouraged to attend school whereas girls are ofmore use in the home. This denial of a basic education means that themajority of women do not realize that they are not receiving their full rights.It is difficult to teach them when they cannot read and difficult for them tostand up for themselves when they can not write.Economic DependencyAs already mentioned, funds are required in order to embark upon a politicalcareer, the majority of women are financially dependent upon their husbandsor fathers. Women without money do not have the freedom to make theirown decisions and do as they want. A women who wants to become involvedin politics but has no funds must have funds must have the support of herfamily. This can be difficult to obtain because of the cultural way of thinking.RECOMMENDATIONS AND FUTURE STRATEGIESIn order to encourage more women to participate the following activitiesshould be formulated:Awareness raising programsThere is a definite need to raise awareness throughout the country to theability and potential of female politicians and also to encourage women tocome forward as political candidates. People must be encouraged to vote forfemale politicians. The programs must try to change the concept that politicsis a “dirty game” that is not suitable for women.Leadership developmentLeadership development programs for women would promote theirconfidence and teach them that they are capable of occupying politicalpositions. The public relations and management skills of women could alsobe developed in these programs. Training would encourage them to take partin politics as well as raising the political consciousness among women.There is a great need for political reform. Clean elections need to bebrought about along with an election system that is favorable for women’spolitical empowerment.+

196 Gender and Democracy in NepalSupport from women’s pressure groupsPressure groups and support groups should be formed throughout the countryto work as lobbying groups in conjunction with political parties. Their aimsshould be to increase the political participation of women at various levels ofthe power structure and to support women eager to take part in politics.Increase the number of seats reserved for womenThe existing constitutional provision related to women’s politics is verylimited. More seats should be reserved for women at all levels of the politicalpower structure, not only at the higher level.Economic empowermentWomen must be given the opportunity to become economically independentso that they are able to make their own decisions without needing thepermission of their husbands of fathers. There is a great need to change allthe discriminatory laws related to women.Change in the negative role the mediaIn many countries of South Asia the media have been playing a negative roleby projecting stereotype roles for women. There is a great to change theattitude of the media through various gender sensitive-training programs.Change in traditional beliefs and the values systemThe belief that women are weak, sexual objects must be changed. Thesetypes of beliefs are deeply rooted in our society. The main task is to changethe traditional believes of people through positive promotion of the values ofwomen.Awareness about women’s rightsWomen’s rights are human rights. This message should reach all segments ofsociety. Various awareness programs should be organized to create awarenessabout these issues.Encouragement from the political partiesThe role of the political parties is very important for increasing women’spolitical participation. It has been observed that women are not encouragedby the political parties to participate in political sphere. All the political+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: D. Ghimire 197parties should reserve at least 30-40% of their positions for women in allparts of the party hierarchy, especially at the decision making level.CONCLUSIONIt will be impossible to create any change in policies without increasing therepresentation of women in the various levels of the political power structure.Women need to learn about politics, its impacts and its positiveconsequences. They must understand the importance of their vote. Everyonemust realize that women are essential parts of a political system that is freefrom corruption and exploitation. The voices of women strengthendemocracy and will lead to a peaceful, developed and equal society. Politicalparties should encourage more women to enter into politics. They should notbe used only as vote banks. Instead, they should help bring about change tothe present political structure that is biased against women.It has been observed that there is a great need for electoral reform. Thisreform should be designed to place measures on expenditure, controlviolence, ensure voter registration and fair canvassing of votes.There is a great need to reserve seats for women to help curb the vastdifference between the number of males and females holding political power.In India, according to the 73 rd and 74 th constitutional amendments, one thirdof the seats in all local bodies are reserved for women. Likewise, inBangladesh, 10% of the seats in the National Parliament are reserved forwomen. This reservation of seats has really increased political participationof women, especially the reservation at a local level in India. Nepal hasincreased the participation of women at the grass roots level. There is a greatneed to provide leadership training to women. This will not only encouragewomen to make decisions but it will also develop their self-confidence.The policy pronouncements and the lip service to increase women’sparticipation have not really changed the various levels of the powerstructure. There is an enormous need for an institutional mechanism, whichwill promote women’s participation in the process of development.+

+Property Right ofNepalese Women 1Sapana Pradhan MallaPERSISTING INEQUALITY, DISCRIMINATION AND DISPARITIESThe status of women is defined in terms of their marital or sexual status; theright to ansha is fragile, temporary and imperfect. A woman is entitled to herhusband’s property not as an independent co-parcener but because she is hiswife. What she receives in terms of ansha from her husband is governed bythe continuation of the marital relation with her husband. She can onlycontinue to hold the right to ansha until she remains chaste or sexuallyfaithful to the husband. She is uncompromisingly and strictly prohibited tohave sexual relation with any man other than her husband, failure to maintainwhich deprives her of the right to ansha. A daughter is not entitled to anshabecause she gets her status changed by marriage. Yet, under the existing legalsystem, once she reaches an age of 35 years, she is entitled to ansha becausethe general presumption is that the chance of changing her status throughmarriage then becomes almost rare.The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990, under chapter 3guarantees “right to equality” to all the citizens as a fundamental right. Itstates that the State shall not discriminate amongst citizens on grounds ofrace, caste, and sex. It also states that the Constitution is the fundamental lawof Nepal and all laws inconsistent with it shall be void. However,discriminatory laws against women in relation to property right still prevail.Nepal has also become a State party ratifying the CEDAW on April 22,1991, without reservation. Mandatory country report was submitted after adelay of 6 years. The State has made no deliberate effort to eliminate de jureand de facto discrimination against women in accordance the spirit ofCEDAW.Evidence of discrimination and disparities are as follows:a) A daughter is denied from equal inheritance rights,198

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Pradhan Malla 199b) Daughter is denied the right to maintenance,c) Discrimination in the line of succession (The line of succession gives aright to inheritance to the daughter only after mother and brother),d) Discrimination on dolaji property,e) Discrimination against Married Women to get the Property,f) Divorcee Woman without Property Right (only conditional maintenanceright),g) Unfaithfulness looses the right in the husband’s property,h) A victim of rape is considered as ex wife by the law,i) Discriminatory Property Right of a Widow,j) Discrimination on tenancy right,k) Discrimination on Transaction, andl) Consent needed to dispose off immovable property.Barriers to guarantee equal Inheritance right for Women are as follows:i. Lack of Women in Decision-making Bodies,ii. Lack of Political Power or Political Commitment,iii. Deep Rooted Gender Discriminatory Value System,iv. Beliefs Reflecting the Derogatory Attitude Towards Girl Child/Womenincluding the following:• Dhilo paye, Chhora paye (“Let it be late, but let it be a son”);• Chhora paye swarga jaane (“The birth of a son paves the way toheaven”);• Chhori ko janma hare ko karma (“A daughter is born with adoomed fate”);• Chhora paye khasi, Chhori paye Pharsi (“If a son is born, it iscelebrated by sacrificing a goat, if it’s daughter, a pumpkin isenough”);• Chhora bhaye sansar ujyalo, Chhori bhaye bhanchha ujyalo (“Sonbrightens the whole world, whereas a daughter brightens only thekitchen”);• Kanya Daan (“a daughter should be given away as a gift”);• Mare paap, pale punya (“It’s a sin if the groom kills the bride,charity if nurtured”);+

200 Gender and Democracy in Nepal• Srimati bhaneko paitalako dhulo ho (“Wife is the dust of thefoot”);• Chhori mari, thulo ghar pari (“If a daughter dies, we can say shehas been married into a rich home”);• Pothi base ghar mahscha (“A woman ruled house is sure to bedestroyed”); and• Swasni mancheko buddhi pachhadi (“Women are alwaysshortsighted”).Holding of such traditional values by both the lawmakers and manycommon Nepalese people have been detrimental for the realization of equalrights for both sons and daughters. Majority of the population is still exposedto such values because of lack of access to modern education.Negative Campaign in the Media have had the following messages:• The Nepalese society is not yet prepared to embrace equal propertyrights.• Nepalese social structure would be badly disturbed by equal propertyrights.• Hindu religion would be wounded if equal property right is given.• The Bill would destroy the prevailing harmonious family relationships.• There already exists many court cases among brothers relating toproperty rights and equal property rights would only result in increasingtheir number, as there would be cases among the brothers and sisters aswell.• Brothers would no longer show respect and fulfill their responsibilities totheir sisters.• Equal property rights leads to land fragmentation.• Equal property rights in Nepal and prevailing discrimination inneighboring country India Daughters may refuse to get married sincethey would be economically independent after getting equal propertyrights.• A woman would be entitled to dual property, one from her father and theother from her husband.• If wife is uneducated, her husband and his family might misuse herproperty and then throw her out of the house.• Domestic violence would go up because of conflict of interest betweenthe husband’s family and the natal home.+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Pradhan Malla 201• Equal property rights would trigger divorce.• The number of spinsters, polygamy and abortion would increase ifwomen get equal property rights.• If daughters should get equal property rights, aged and/or disabledparents would be deprived of care from their sons• Property right is a non-issue in a country where the majority of thepopulation lives below poverty line.• What is important to girl child/women is access to education andopportunities and not property rights.• In the Hindu tradition, a woman is entitled to her husband’s propertymaking equal property rights irrelevant.EFFECTS OF DISCRIMINATORY PROPERTY LAWEffects of disparities in relation to unequal inheritance on women isenvisaged to be deep-rooted in their life cycle in various aspects which haveimpaired their overall self-development as well as their capability in family,community and national development.Impact on overall development of women and violation of Human Rights ofWomenThe lack of equal inheritance right to women has disabled (without power)them in various fields. The affects in various aspects of a woman’s life canbroadly be categorized as follows:i. Economic dependencyDue to economic dependency, women have to face problems likedomestic violence, psychological domination, polygamy, no decision makingpower in the family, harassment for dowry which in many cases, leadswomen to accept prostitution as a way of life. They have to bear all theseproblems as they are denied any financial security. They have hardly anychoice during their marriage, which in many a cases, results in unequal orchild marriage. As a daughter is taken as an obligation and a liability only,there is also no expectation from her, hence priority is given to male familymembers , as they are expected to take care of the family.+

202 Gender and Democracy in NepalLACK OF EQUALINHERITANCERIGHT TODAUGHTERii. No independent identityThe fact that women have no independent identity, can be seen from thediscriminatory provisions in the Citizenship Act, 1963,and Constitution ofthe Kingdom of Nepal where father is the natural guardian of children. As awoman does not have an independent identity, she can not transfercitizenship to her children and husband, hence she is not recognized as anindependent citizen of the country.iii. Low social preferenceAs women do not have any inheritance right, they face discriminationright from childhood in matters of nutrition, health, education anddistribution of family resources. This discrimination continues against themall throughout their life till death.Hence one can firmly say that women face discrimination arising out ofunequal right to inheritance which affects various aspects of a woman’s lifewhich ultimately hinders their overall development.This discrimination in relation to inheritance right violates Art 11 of theConstitution of Kingdom of Nepal, Art. 1, 2, 3, 5, 13, 14 and 16 of CEDAW,Art. 1, 3, 16 and 26 of ICCPR, Art 1, 9 and 11 of ICESCR, Art. 2 and 12 ofUDHR and Art. 2 of the CRC.+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Pradhan Malla 203State commitments to guarantee Equal Inheritance RightState has made commitments to guarantee right to equality to both man andwomen in all sphere of their life including right to property in differentpolicies, plan, constitution and international conventions which can be seenfrom the matrix below.GOVERNMENT INITIATIVESOne of the initiatives taken by the government is the Country Code (11 thAmendment) Bill 1997. Its major features are as follows:Progressive preamble: It is stated in the preamble of the Bill itself thatthe rights and interests of women in the existing Country Code require timelyamendments. It further adds that the Bill was being proposed in view of theconstitutional guarantees in favor of equal rights to women, Nepal’sratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Formsof Discrimination Against Women and as per the Directive Order issued bythe Supreme Court to His Majesty’s Government to introduce an appropriateBill within one year.Daughters are recognized as heir of the family: It recognizes father,mother, son and daughter as equal co-heirs. Daughters are required to returnthe remaining property to the other co-heirs on their parents side, if theymarry. Married daughters are not included while defining the co-heirs.Court grants wife a share of husband’s property before a divorce: Itmakes an attempt to eliminate women’s unequal access to property byauthorizing the court to grant a share of the husband’s property (matrimonialproperty) to the wife before granting a divorce, as well as entitling the wife toa monthly or annual maintenance from the husband till the process ofpartition is complete. The wife is entitled to a share of her husband’s propertyonly if the cause of the divorce is the husband or if the divorce is by mutualconsent.Complete authority of widow in her property: The proposed Billremoves the age restriction placed on widows to claim property and liveseparately. It also entitles her to have complete authority over her property.However, she must return her remaining assets to the heirs of her firsthusband if she remarries.Unmarried daughters are included in the line of succession: In thecase of a woman’s exclusive property, even though an unmarried daughterhas been included, a married daughter has been placed last in the line ofsuccession. A women’s Daijo and Pewa, unless otherwise stated, must pass+

204 Gender and Democracy in Nepalin the following order: son or daughter, husband, and then only to the marrieddaughter. The Chapter on Succession also placed the married daughter last inthe line of succession.Recognition of discrimination on inheritance right in the Initial Report toCEDAWIn the Initial Report submitted by Nepal to CEDAW, the Governmentrecognized the legal discrimination against women prevailing in the country.It also accepted the fact that girls are assigned unequal legal status incomparison to boys, that the law is silent on the maintenance right ofdaughter and that in regard to property rights, a male child is entitled toinheritance right from birth while a girl child acquires such property rightonly if she remains unmarried until the age of 35 years. However, it has notspecified initiatives and constraints to guarantee equal inheritance right to thedaughter as well as fail to explain limitations of widows, wife and divorceewomen to get a share of husbands property.Political Commitment through the Party Manifestos on equal inheri-tancerightAll the political parties have been making various commitments towardswomen’s upliftment and equality in their manifestos since the restoration ofdemocracy. However, no substantially effective programs have beenundertaken to bring about such reforms as yet. The two communist parties,CPN (UML) and CPN (ML) both issued whips to their Parliamentarians tofavor the Country Code (11 th Amendment) Bill in Parliament in 1998. Unfortunately,the whip could not be used for the desired outcome. The majorpolitical party, the Nepali Congress, which has been in the Government forthe longest duration after the restoration of the multi party system, and otherparties which have been in the Government, have not taken any initiatives oractions to fulfill their commitments under their political manifestos. Threemajor political parties, the Nepali Congress, CPN (UML) and CPN (ML)have pledged to bring about social, economic, legal and other reforms forwomen, in their party manifestoes for the 1999 general elections forParliament. The two communist parties have made commitments for theequal inheritance rights of women. How much of these grandiloquentspeeches and commitments are actually carried out by these political partiesremain to be seen.Besides their commitment in the election manifesto and being in theGovernment for the longest period, Nepali Congress has not taken any stepsto fulfil their commitments except the submission of Country Code+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Pradhan Malla 205Amendment Bill. Voice of the women Parliamentarians has been marginalized.Similarly, UML, RPP and Sadhvana party’s’ commitments towardswomen’s equality is not being fulfilled, despite them being in the Government.Women’s participation in the cabinet is also very nominal.Weaknesses in the Government Bill--Discriminatory inheritanceprovision in the Country Code (11 th Amendment) Bill, 1999The proposed Bill accepted the daughter as an heir of the family. However,the married daughter has been excluded. If an unmarried daughter getsmarried after succession or partition, the remaining property must be returnedto the maternal relatives.A widow may undergo separation and take away the share of propertyshe receives on behalf of her deceased husband if she so wishes. If sheremarries, the remaining property must be returned to the heirs of her formerhusband.Married daughters are excluded from equal succession right.The proposed Bill provides that once a woman files an application fordivorce, the court should direct partition and should provide one share of thefamily property to her but it applies only in cases in which the cause of thedivorce is the husband.The proposed Bill makes some effort to reform the discriminatory legalprovisions. Accepting daughter as an equal heir as the son, increasedpunishment and unavailability of bail for polygamy, making abortion legalunder certain conditions, etc. are some positive aspects of this Bill. However,it is still discriminatory against women as it fails to deal with the importantissue of equality in relation to inheritance right and the problem of differentforms of violence against women .If the property rights provisions in the proposed Bill is examined, itbecomes quite clear how even the Bill proposed violates basic human right ofnon-discrimination.Thus, the proposed property Bill, rather than making women self-reliant,creates inequality between sons and daughters, making them dependent onthe father until they marry, and on the husband after marriage. Grantingwomen rights on the basis of their marital status is clearly against Article 1 ofCEDAW.+

206 Gender and Democracy in NepalInterpretation of the CourtThe Court only declared that the existing provisions for daughters to inheritpaternal property is conditional as a daughter has to remain unmarried untilthe age of 35 to do so, whereas son is entitled to inherit right after his birth.Thus, instead of declaring the laws void, the court passed a directive to theGovernment to introduce a Bill in the legislature within a year, reviewinglaws related to property rights. At the same time, the court also asked theGovernment to take into consideration the patriarchal nature of the society,social structure, and fears of positive discrimination against men.A number of questions have been raised in this regard – Is DirectiveOrder for the submission of a Bill alone sufficient to guarantee equal rights towomen? If the Parliament does not pass the Bill, what will be theconsequence of the court order? Will the human rights of women beprotected through judicial intervention in such an eventuality? How do wesee the interpretation of the court that is more concerned about protectingpatriarchal values than women’s basic human right to equality and to livewith dignity? Is the judiciary just shifting its burden to other Governmentorgans by not declaring the challenged provisions and just issuing meredirective orders? Does the judiciary have any role in interpreting orimplementing international conventions through its decisions?Recommendations for Government Activities• Discriminatory provisions as shown in the Evidence of Discriminationchapter should be amended.• The law should be enacted on the basis of the principle of equality andwithout discriminating on the basis of marital status.• Advocacy programs and training on state obligations/commitments• Judicial ActivismINITIATIVE BY CIVIL SOCIETYNo serious efforts from the Government sector to formulate appropriatelegislation were observed following the Supreme Court’s verdict. Thereforeseveral NGOs got together to formulate appropriate Bill.NGO achievementsa. Directive Order of the Supreme Court to submit the Bill in theParliament in regards to property right of women.+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Pradhan Malla 207b. Despite the negative interpretation of this issue, the challenges againstthe existing laws has had a positive impact, as a result of which womenhave become relatively more empowered. Due to the court decisions inthe inheritance right case, the entire society has been forced intorethinking about the patriarchal structure, male supremacy, and thestatus of individual freedom of women. Women have begun to bevigilant about the issues and link them with the broader issue ofequality.In spite of an increasing need for an amendment in the existing legalprovisions in order to create a just and equitable society, there have beendiverse views and opinions regarding the issue of granting equal propertyrights to women. Education, political participation, distribution of productiveassets and income, employment, social, cultural, religious and legal situationshave proved that disparities/ discrimination exists between man and womanin Nepal.Economic and socio-cultural discriminations have an adverse affect onthe lives of women, leaving them far behind men to compete or take part innational development. Various cultural, practical, attitudinal, conceptual,social and political factors have limited women from moving in equal footingwith men. Economic rights are one of the measures by which both womenand men can achieve self-development. The majority of the Nepalese womenare illiterate, have poor health, and are dominated by conservative socialvalue system which makes them dependent on their fathers, husbands orsons, as well as easy victims of domestic and social violence. Thus, it iscrucial to enact new legislation guaranteeing equal inheritance right forwomen to address the problem of discriminatory social and cultural practices.There is a debate on the question of which should come first - the lawgiving equal inheritance right to women or an attitudinal change in thesociety in favor of giving equal inheritance to women? Review of the historyof legal changes in Nepal reveal many instances where laws have precededthe change in social attitude and behavior, e.g. abolition of slavery, abolitionof wife burning together with the dead husband (sati system), age of consentfor marriage etc. This reinforces the fact that if the equal inheritance right lawis introduced, it will gradually bring about positive changes in discriminatoryattitudes and practices and there shall be an instrument to enforce the law.There have been arguments that the Bill, if adopted, may upset the socialand cultural milieu. It may be true that once the Bill is introduced someupheaval might occur in society as is inevitable with all kinds of changes andtransition. Democracy was reinstated in the country in 1990 and even now+

208 Gender and Democracy in Nepalthe country is still undergoing a lot of instability and disorders. That does notmean we should go back to the period before democracy, or even furtherback to the autocratic Rana regime when there was no democracy at all. Sothe question facing us today is - do we retain the situation of genderinequality in the country despite the commitment made by the Government inour policy, Plan of Action, Constitution and various UN Conventions for fearof temporarily disturbing the discriminatory social milieu of the country; orlook beyond that and work for permanent changes that will benefit the futuregeneration and help to establish a developed society based on genderequality?By ratifying the Convention and providing equality clause in theConstitution, State recognizes the existence of discrimination and inequalityand the need to enact equal inheritance right law. We, as women, have todevelop criteria for State action and responsibility. We have to learn to usethe state obligation under convention as an advocacy tool to interpret theprinciples of equality and justice.END NOTES1. This article is largely based on my report entitled Baseline Study onInheritance Right of Women published by Forum for Women, Law &development (FWLD) in March 2000.+

+Pre-test and Post-test of a Workshop on“Creating Awareness on EqualProperty and Political Rights ofWomen” in Selected VDCs in LalitpurDistrictYasso Kanti Bhattachan (Gauchan) 1INTRODUCTIONGender equality and equity is the main goal of the women’s right movementin Nepal. Unfortunately, most of the policy makers and/or decision makers,planners, development practitioners, political leaders, academicians andcommon people are not aware or sensitive about existing gender discriminationand a need for gender equality and equity. This is exactly the reason whymany donors, including the International Non-Governmental Organizations(INGOs), and Nepalese women’s right activists have been giving top priorityto gender sensitization programs. Often programs are organized but itsimpacts are never assessed or evaluated properly by the organizers of suchprograms.Keeping this mind, the Women’s Studies Program decided to organizean awareness program on equal property and political rights to villagewomen. In order to understand the effect of the program in raising the levelof awareness of the participants, both pre-test and post-test were conductedand the findings were compared.OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYThe main objective of the study is to know the awareness, knowledge,information on equal legal (property) and political rights of women.209

210 Gender and Democracy in NepalMETHODOLOGYTwo workshops on Creating Awareness on Equal Property and PoliticalRights and Other Issues of Women were organized in Chapagaun on May 30,1999 and in Kathmandu on November 27, 1999. Fourty-four (44) men andwomen were selected as sample respondents from Chapagaun, Badikhel andJharuwarashi Village Development Committees (VDCs) in the Lalitpurdistrict for both pre-test and post-test of the workshop.A standardized scheduled questionnaire was administered to collectdata. Post-graduate Diploma students of Women’s Studies Departmentinterviewed the respondents. The faculty members of the Departmentsupervised them. Each interview lasted for about thirty minutes. All therespondents cooperated very well during the course of the interviews.Experienced women’s rights experts and activists provided informationabout various aspects of property rights, political rights and other genderissues after the pre-test evaluation was done. Five months later all therespondents had opportunity to hear more about these issues and discuss withfaculty members and students of the Women’s Studies Program, other genderexperts and activists and development practitioners. At the end of theworkshop, post-test evaluation was conducted to see any changes brought inby the workshop.FINDINGS OF THE STUDYI will discuss first the socio-demographic background of the respondentsfollowed by the findings of both pre-test and post-test. Then, I will comparethe findings of both pre- and post-test. Finally I will conclude about theeffects of the gender awareness program on the participating women.Socio-Demograhic Background of the RespondentsThe socio-demographic background of the 44 respondents interviewed are asfollows:Their caste/ethnic backgrounds are:• 43% Bahun,• 18% Newar,• 15% Chhetri, and+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: Y. K. Bhattachan 211• 22% indigenous nationalities, namely, Gurung, Magar, Pahari andRai.Their age groups are:• 20 to 30 (25%),• 31 to 40 (50%), and• above 40 (25%).Their marital status are:• 81% married,• 11% unmarried, and• 6% widows.Their main occupations are:• 63% agriculture,• 18% trade,• 13% service, and• 4% students.Their family structure are:• 54% live in joint families, and• 45% in nuclear families.Their family size are:• 1-4 members (36%),• 5 to 10 members (54%), and• more than 11 members (9%).Their literacy status are:• literate (62%),• illiterate (20%), and• no response (18%).+

212 Gender and Democracy in NepalFindings of the Pre-TestLess than half of the total participants (46%) did not know about the rights ofwomen in the Nepalese society. It is interesting because these respondentslive in the Kathmandu Valley but still about half of them are not aware aboutwomen’s rights. This means, the women’s rights movement has not been ableto reach out to the people even in nearby villages of the capital cityKathmandu. It is also an indication of the situation in other remote villageswhere information about women’s right has yet to be disseminated.Majority of the respondents are of the view that women’s right means tobe equal to men in the society, in decision making and in sharing householdchores and out side activities. They felt that the income earned by womenshould be in their own hand for spending as according to their needs andwishes. Nepalese women at present are using different rights and servicessuch as rights of voting, income earning, legal service, social, educational andhealth facilities. About 55% respondents expressed that they are gettingeducational and health facilities where as 4% stated that women are gettingeconomic rights means earning money outside the home.Most of the respondents stressed that due to this matter regardingwomen’s rights, they are getting positive impact such as voting rights,income earning by different works and activities, right to read and write, raisethe voice against injustice etc. One respondent stated that by this right, thestructure of household can deteriorate and conflicts may rise.About the positive discrimination, 73% respondents said that the currentconstitutional provision of 5% reserved seat for women in is not sufficientand it should be increased at least 10% to 50%.In response to the constraints faced by women in order to becomeinvolved in politics,$ 73% said that it is due to social constraints,$ 59% mentioned economic constraints,$ 46% noted educational constraints,$ 14% identified political constraints,$ 14% pointed out to legal constraints,$ 23% expressed the religious constraints,$ 9% referred to human rights, and$ Few respondents expressed that it is due to physical weakness andinability to do work in comparison to men.+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: Y. K. Bhattachan 213About 69% respondents expressed their positive opinion that there is apositive impact from multiparty system which came since last 10 years. Theythought that multiparty system has been providing women’s right activists toraise voice, rights to stand in elections from ward level to the House ofRepresentative, opportunities to participate in seminars/conferences and tojoin literacy classes, and facilities of water and electricity in the villages.Thus, women have opportunity to participate in development activities. 14%expressed that multiparty system brought negative impact in the marketsystem. They cited an example of ever rising prices of the foods, oil andenergy. Also, they cited rising unemployment problem as its anotherexample. They, however, were happy that at least they had voting rights tochoose their leader though most of the chosen leaders turned out to becorrupt. Unlike in other villages, 91% had participated in the last election.The pattern of ownership of property is as follows:• 9% own property by their fathers,• 23% own property by their husbands,• 14% own property by their mother-in-laws, and• 2% own property by their elder brothers.Concerning the control over property, some respondents have right ontheir ornaments, dowry, cattle, and land. 17% did not have right on anythingthey owned. Their perception about who should have control over property,they said, they should have control of their own property which they earn andthat they should have right to spend it as they wished (23%).On of the most ubiquitous thing that has been taking place in Nepal ismicro-credits. 36% respondents have taken loans and have made savings.55% had not taken or given any loan or borrowing. Among those who havesavings, some of them have their control over it and some did not have.Those who did not have control feared that it might instigate family conflictsif they try to do so.Domestic violence, both physical and mental, is rampant in Nepal. Incase of conflicts, violence and rape, 50% respondents said that they would goto ward chairman, 32% said it should be solved within their houses, 23% saidto got to the police and 19% said that they use to go to the local leaders forjustice. It shows continuing reluctance of the victims to go to police and thecourt for due justice.+

214 Gender and Democracy in NepalAge at marriage is increasing in Nepal and it is more so in the urbanareas of the Hills. In Terai child and early marriage is still rampant though itis gradually declining. 69% respondents thought that women's age atmarriage should be 20 to 25. Concerning divorce a half of the respondentshad negative responses, where as 28% noted its positive effects. Those whowere in favor of divorce opined that wife should have right to divorce withher husband in the following conditions:$ if a husband misbehaves with his wife or family members;$ if he is a drug addict,$ if he violates family rules,$ if he tortures or abuses his wife,$ if he can not bear children,$ if he is disabled,$ if he can not have mutual understanding with his wife, and$ If he does not take care of children and wife.75% respondents stressed that it is appropriate that women should getlegal and equal rights as men do. They also expressed that women should getequal property and legal rights. They suggested that there should be nondiscriminatorylaws regarding education, health, food, etc.Finally, the respondents strongly felt that education is one of the mostimportant the preconditions for women's empowerment and development.They, therefore, suggested that adult education or free compulsory educationshould be accessible to all women. Furthermore, they opined that morewomen from the VDCs should be motivated and encouraged to activelyparticipate in both local and national elections. They also suggested to bringprograms to reduce women's work load by introducing appropriate technology.Facilities such as tap water for drinking, irrigation facilities andmarketing facilities would help to reduce women's work load. Theyunderlined a need of developing solidarity among women to raise their voicesfor women’s rights and against gender discrimination.From the above analysis, it is clear that although three fourths (75%) ofthe respondents interviewed are aware of political and property rights issues,there is, however, a strong perceived need for the follow-up programs. Forexample, training programs need to be made accessible and implemented,and strategies need to be developed further at the VDC level to bring aboutany positive changes for women by reducing gender inequalities.+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: Y. K. Bhattachan 215Findings of the Post-TestMeaning of women's right is a good indicator to know whether they areaware about women's right? Even after two workshops, the respondents hadvarying degree of rising awareness about its correct meanings. The resultsare:$ 54% respondents said that women’s rights means getting equalitywith men in practice,$ 11% said that it legal, political and property rights,$ 13% gave mixed replies,$ 6% said that it means opportunity to work,$ For some women’s rights meant freedom to speak, for others it wasindependence and still for others it was property rights, and$ 13% did not respond.About the availability of different types of rights to women, the responsewas mixed but encouraging:$ 50% felt that political rights are available to women,$ 47% mentioned that women have right to education,$ 40% noted that now women have social rights,$ 31% pointed out that women have human rights,$ 29% said that women enjoy legal rights,$ 20% thought that women have economic rights also,$ 15% felt that no right had been accorded to women now, and$ 2% said that they did not know.Certainly, these figures are an improvement to the pretest results thatshowed one-fifth had no idea about what women’s rights were all about. Itindicates that one or two programs yield positive results but it is notsufficient. Also, if some follow up programs should be organized, thevillagers' level of awareness would rise to maximum possible limits.About the effects of different types of women's rights to women, inparticular, and society in general:$ 86% felt women's rights had positive effects,+

216 Gender and Democracy in Nepal$ 9% said they had no idea, and$ 4% did not respond.When asked to define the term 'positive effects' they said that it refers to:$ access to education (54%),$ access to income-generating activities (31%),$ right to vote (50%), and$ right to stand for elections (50%).A few respondents mentioned that the rights given to women maychange behavior of the people, disrupt family and social organization. Itindicates a need of more specific information in the contents of awarenessraising package.Positive discrimination or quota/reservation or affirmative action is oneof the very important issues made controversial by those who wish to sustainpatriarchy. About this issue:$ 81% respondents felt that it is inadequate and proposed for 20% to50% of reservation of seats would be suitable at present,$ Among them, 56% specifically said that 50% reservation of seats isneeded, and$ 20% contended with 20-40% of reservation.In the pre-test 73% respondents had disagreed, though some hadsuggested for 10%-50% reservation but the post-test clearly shows risingawareness about the necessity of positive discrimination for women.Although there is a provision of reservations in political elections,women still continue to show their reluctance to participate actively inpolitics for a number of good reasons, including criminalization of politicsand lack of access to and control over property. When the respondents wereasked what they thought about the reasons behind this, the response was:$ 84% mentioned economic dependence,$ 77% noted social difficulties,$ 50% referred to illiteracy,$ 38% said it was because of religious norms and values,$ 36% blamed for political structure, and+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: Y. K. Bhattachan 217$ 34% pointed out the existing discriminatory laws,The findings indicate that the respondents were influenced more by theirimmediate surroundings, that is, economic, social and religious factors at thehousehold and community levels. They either were not much aware about ordid not give importance to existing discriminatory laws as the main villain forlack of women's participation in political affairs.Globally, when we talk about WID, WAD and GAD, we primarily talkabout access to and control over resources and benefits. In the pretest, 23%respondents had indicated that control over one’s own earning or income isimportant. Interestingly, 98% respondents wanted control over one’s ownincome and remaining 2% felt equal control between men and women wouldbe better. When the respondents were asked if they should have control overtheir income how would they like to spend,$ 68% said they would give first priority to children’s education,$ 63% said they would spend on her own needs,$ 56% said they would use to buy foods for families,$ 50% said they would spend on medicine, clothes, and so on, and$ 11% did not respond.All the respondents unanimously agreed that daughters should beeducated. They said that neither the family nor the country would progress bydepriving them from getting necessary education. The key question, however,is to what extent? They had no single opinion about it:$ 56% would provide equal education to both daughters and sonswithout any discrimination,$ 45% would abide by their daughters' decisions, and$ 4% did not respond.The respondents were aware about advocacy on equal rights for women.When they were asked whether or not they agree with advocacy for equalproperty rights,$ 97% agreed, and$ 3% were not sure about it.Among those who agreed, they had different opinions about the effectsof equal property rights. Their response about it were:+

218 Gender and Democracy in Nepal$ 47% noted women become independent,$ 20% thought that women can participate in different activities in parwith men,$ 11% felt that there would be an improvement in the status ofwomen in the family and society,$ 9% opined that it would raise women's self-confidence,$ 2% pointed out that it would help to empower women in everyfield, and$ 2% did not respond.Identity is also another important issue. When respondents were askedabout what they thought about women's identity, their response was:$ 88% opined that women should have her own identity,$ 6% said that they would not mind if women are recognized relatingto men, and$ 2% had no problem in identifying with their husbands.One of the central issue in the discourse on gender inequality or equa;ityis the issue of gender based division of labor at the private and publicspheres. Traditionally women have been confined in the private and men atthe public sphere. On this issue, 98% respondents felt that women’sparticipation in public sphere is very important. They, therefore, felt thatwomen should begin to work outside the home.ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONIf we compare pre-test and post-test results, there are good reasons for allwomen's right activist to be happy about. During the pre-test about a half ofthe respondents were not aware about the women’s rights. During the posttestonly 13% respondents could not tell anything about women’s rights. Nowthey are more aware about their own identity. This clearly indicates verypositive effects of the gender awareness programs to those men and womenwho have not yet heard anything about women’s rights. What is encouragingis the revelation that those respondents who are now aware about women’sright have formed very specific opinion about the nature and types of rightsas well. For example, they have mentioned about social, political, economic,political, legal and human rights. All women’s right activists and organizationsshould take note from this that they should labor hard to reach out to+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: Y. K. Bhattachan 219both men and women who have been left out by the movement to provideeither necessary information or opportunity to participate in the movement.During the pre-test, most of the participants had negative opinion aboutthe reservation of seats for women in political positions, education andscholarship, and employment. Their attitude was found changed during thepost-test evaluation. Majority of respondents even demanded that 50% ofseats should be reserved for women. This is also a good news for women’sright activists and movement to work hard to reach out to the people toeducate them about different gender issues.Post-test revealed that both men and women have become positive aboutwomen’s roles and responsibilities in public sphere. Also, they want that bothmen and women should have equal access to and control over resources.What is encouraging to note here is that most of the women participantsexpressed that they are now aware about their rights, they have developedtheir confidence to exercise such rights and now they are determined to applyit in their lives. Almost all respondents were for advocacy for equal rights.To conclude, the pre- and post-test clearly revealed that both men andwomen’s knowledge, awareness and information on equal property rights,political rights and other gender issues can be raised significantly if effortsare made.ENDNOTES1. Dr. Chandra Bhadra, senior faculty member of the Women's Studies Program,was generous enough to develop and finalize the questionnaires for both preandpost-test evaluation. Ms. Damini Vaidya and Ms. Nibedita Shrestha, bothstudents of Post Graduate Diploma in Women's Studies, deserves thanks forprocessing the data and preparing the initial draft of the post-test. Also, staff ofWomen's development Division at Chapagaun deserves thanks for selecting theparticipants and providing necessary help and support.+

+Summary of the Floor DiscussionSoni JoshiMs.Sapana Malla spoke on the Legal Rights of Women with special focus onProperty Rights. Talking about the laws against Women’s Rights she made itclear that although the Constitution of 1990 has guaranteed equal rights to all,in effect this is quite contradictory. Whilst a son has the right to parentalproperty from birth itself a daughter has to stay unmarried till the age of 35years to be eligible. A wife needs to fulfill 15 years of marriage to stake aclaim on her husband’s property. Ironically, although there are provisions forwidows in which they are entitled to a share in property, at the same time;they are excluded from this in cases of remarriage. A divorcee is also entitledto food and clothes from her former husband till a period of 5 years or untilshe gets remarried.Concerning the Citizenship provisions the mother’s nationality is not thevalid ground for a child to acquire Nepalese nationality. No child of an alienfather can obtain citizenship whereas a woman of foreign nationality withmatrimonial relationship is readily allowed this privilege.Inequality in property rights has led to women being forced intoprostitution. With the widespread belief that girls are the belongings of othersparents are reluctant to invest in their upbringing resulting in early marriages.Hence the reason for age disparity and polygamy.Also the Government has not acted honestly to amend the consistentlaws or to enact new laws in order to enforce the various provisions of theConvention on the Elimination and Discrimination against Women(CEDAW) and other international organizations.Discussions on the question of ‘How do you feel about the situation ofwomen in Nepali legal framework?” led to some very interesting viewpoints.Opinions were voiced that the law treated men and women discriminatorilyand women have remained as mere second class citizens. Althoughfundamental rights have been guaranteed to women as equal citizens there arecertain laws which are quite contradictory with the spirit of the constitution.220

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 221One glaring example of this is the discriminatory criteria in the attainment ofthe citizenship issue. Women are discriminated by social, economic, politicaland religious institutions in Nepali society. Enforcement of differentmeasures of punishment to the sexes can be clearly seen in cases of abortionwhere a woman convicted is liable to be punished whilst the man goes scotfree.Women deprived of property rights are forced to be dependant on theirhusbands or families also they are under certain restrictions from independentuse of their own property. Polygamy not being considered illegal has led toan increase in domestic violence.The second query “What are the gender discriminatory laws againstwomen and what needs to be eliminated?” raised voices which categoricallystated the amendment of such laws and regulations that created distinctionsbetween the sexes. Emphasis was laid on Parental Property not being discriminatedin terms of sex, a mother’s citizenship sufficing to attain anoffspring’s citizenship and also being valid for other formal procedures, lawswith regard to polygamy becoming more stricter, choice of abortion to bemade legal and women to be given full reproductive rights, maternity leave tobe considered on longer terms and provisions made for lactating mothers.The next question of “What are the obstacles for women to obtain EqualRights and Social Justice?” brought forth replies that women would enjoyjustice and equality were they to be provided with equal economic andproperty rights. As it stands the whole social structure and system is maledominated? It was also mentioned that illiteracy plays a major role in thewomen remaining ignorant and unaware of their rights. The trend of maledominance over economic production and distribution tends to leave womenin the background and shadows. The present judiciary system is alsopatriarchal and uncomplimentary to the women. Laws regarding childmarriage, polygamy and widow marriage are also seen to lean heavilytowards patriarchal attitudes. One of society’s most evil scrouge ‘Rape’ hasthe women victimized even more. While the perpetuator goes away with alenient punishment. This could be attributed to the women being botheconomically and emotionally weak to obtain social justice. Also having nogiven opportunities to either express themselves or to move about freely or totake decisions on their own they are unable to independently seek help from alawyer. Having less access to property right, they should be given the right toexercise their own property without having to seek the consent of their elders.The final question “Following discussions on the situation of women inNepal, what are your suggestions to tackle these problems? Make a Plan ofAction” brought forth quite a diverse response. It was suggested that womenfrom the different regional districts and VDC levels need to organize them-+

222 Gender and Democracy in Nepalselves in Pressure Action Groups to realize their goals—that of amending alldiscriminatory laws regarding women. Preferably the elected women wardmembers should form this group. Also each group in every VDC should havea saving credit activity for payment of legal fees. Opportunities to beprovided for income- generating activities so as to encourage the womentowards being financially independent. Also realization and consequentactions need to start from one’s family first, such as equal treatment to sonsand daughters etc. Local women groups should provide education andliteracy on legal issues regarding one’s rights in local communities. Whileimparting such legal literacy classes both males and females of the samehousehold should preferably be present. The ignorant and illiteratecommunities need to be encouraged to empower women members; daughters,daughter-in-laws to attend schools and non-formal literacy programs.Citizenship act needs to be amended as soon as possible and both parents’citizenship should be equally valid to obtain citizenship for children. Eachparticipant should seek their respective rights starting from one’s own familythere should be a provision for compulsory and equal opportunity ineducation for daughters with retribution to those parents who do not sendtheir daughters to school. Since the law regarding divorce is purely malebiased an amendment is seen to be essential. Abortion should be legalizedwith some limitations. Polygamy should be restricted and considered illegal.As to the seemingly innocent question of why equal property right is sonecessary to women many reasons have come forth. Prime amongst them isthe removal of social evils like the persistent persual of pregnancy until thebirth of a son and multiple marriages for conceiving sons. For the fulfillmentof basic needs security is a necessity and for this allocation of property isessential. And last but not the least women are members of the paternal homeand both sons and daughters should be treated as equals. Therefore equalright over paternal property is every child’s birthright.As is the case in every strongly felt issue women’s property rights issuetoo has the two sides of the coin. There are some women who have strongfeelings against this issue. Their arguments are based upon the fact that oursociety has always been patriarchal and will remain so. This current tiradethey say will certainly bring about hostility among the siblings. Also they areof the opinion that it will not be proper for a woman to receive property fromboth her parental home and husband too.Each and every one of us as individuals should have our own sense ofright and wrong. If one does believe in this issue of gender equality there arecertain things that one can do to make this come true. The process could beinitiated by seeing to it that lessons on gender equality begin from the home –+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 223not waiting to bear sons and making the daughters heir to the property,providing equal opportunity for education for both sons and daughters,raising voices against discriminatory laws, making laws more stringentagainst people who commit polygamy and child marriage and also formingcommunity security groups. Media too plays an important and powerful rolein this endeavor by raising protests against advertisements that exploitwomen and by emphasizing on gender equality, by inviting gender specialiststo speak on talk programs and taking these messages to the rural women andespecially by telecasting programs that show women are equal to men in allaspects. The different Non-governmental organizations too have beenconducting legal education from time to time and integrating developmentapproaches with gender specific programs. They have also augmentedmaximum participation of both male and female in such programs.Ms. Durga Ghimire highlighted women’s participation in politics withspecial focus on political parties and reservation. According to theConstitution there is a provision that at least 5 % of the total number ofcandidates contesting an election from any party to the House ofRepresentatives must be women in order to increase women’s participation indecision-making. But the reality is quite different and only about 3 % ofwomen have so far been represented. Though some of the major politicalparties have promised to increase women’’ participation by 10 % in theirmanifesto they have not been liberal while giving tickets to womencandidates. Though there are a few women parliamentarians they neither seekto stress nor even address women’s issues.The Amendment in the Decentralization Bill 1997 made provision for atleast one woman as a ward member which has resulted in the appointment offorty thousand women in local governing bodies at present. But thisparticipation has remained symbolic as in a Ward of 12 male members asingle voice and that too of the opposite sex is hardly heard.The reason behind women’s low participation in decision making levelwas the topic for discussion and the first question addressed was “What arethe obstacles for women to participate in politics?” Various reasons cameforth on this query. A woman finds it almost next too impossible to getinvolved in politics due to lack of property right and limited access to it. Itproves even more hapless when she has to go against her family’s willbecause she does not have the ability to use either the resources for politicalpurposes or for her individual betterment. Also the Nepalese legal system andthe practices are based on the patriarchal system and this is the apparentreason for the unequal protection for women and men. In the socializationprocess the family is the first school of political participation, the school is+

224 Gender and Democracy in Nepalthe second and society is the third. Discrimination for a girl child begins fromthe womb itself and from her early stages of life she learns to accept andtolerate this. Expecting her to come out of this cocoon and take leadership isquite unrealistic. The heavy work burden is an accepted part of a woman’slife and it is the concept of society that whilst all the householdresponsibilities are under the women’s jurisdiction the outside work falls intothe men’s category. Due to lack of opportunities in expressing themselves ormoving about freely and taking any decisions on their own be it ever sosmall; a woman involved in politics has to lose her dignity, prestige andfamily. She is often chastised by society and has to face severe repercussions.Illiteracy wherein a girl child is deprived of her basic right to educationleaves her completely ignorant of the politics of the country.The second question “ What type of role do political parties play toincrease women’s participation in decision making position?” brought forth atirade of suggestions. First and foremost was that all the parties should have acommitment towards equal rights and opportunities to women. All partiesshould also be committed to an increase from 5 % to 50 % in the reservationin Parliament as women in Nepal constitute half of the population. Theparties should also make their agendas clear and should run programs ofpolitical awareness all over the country. They should also encourage and runleadership, literacy and income-generation programs especially for theirwomen cadres. This would go a long way in enhancing the self-esteem of thewomen and also bring about financial independence. It was also stressedupon that right from the village level to the Parliament level support to thewomen candidates was an essential criterion of all parties. This would beinclusive of emotional support towards women involved or interested inpolitics from family members and others. Also to be included in this wouldbe changes in social customs wherein a woman in politics is not looked uponfavorably. Awareness programs that were deemed suitable for an increase inwomen’s political participation were also touched upon. – programs thatbrought about changes in society’s attitude, programs that created politicalawareness, programs that made clear the objectives and policies of thepolitical party, programs which strengthened women’s groups by providingthem with opportunities.The third and last question posed during the Seminar was “ Why there isa need for women’s involvement in politics?” Strongly felt replies wereforthcoming to this query. One of the most important points was that equalparticipation of women in politics would allow them to implement rules andregulations, which would benefit them. As of present due to the lowparticipation women’s concerns and issues were not heard of. It was also+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 225equally felt that for the creation of an equitable society, for the developmentof leadership qualities and for the acquirement and development ofknowledge and skill women ‘s political involvement was necessary.Many hopes and aspirations were raised by this Seminar. Primarily therewere expectations that the Awareness on Women’s issues would multiplythrough the exchange of experiences and knowledge on property and politicalrights. Also it was felt that gender equality could be brought about by makingthe women capable of raising their voices by redefining their views onpolitical and legal rights. It was hoped that women themselves would becomegender sensitive and start equal treatment in their own home and hearth.Women would become confident enough to advocate and lobby for equallegal and political rights and would begin pressurizing the policy makers inimplementing the policies formulated. One expectation was also that peoplefrom all walks of life — women and men from the villages, students, teachersand leaders would all unite and co-ordinate to form a Pressure Group to raisevoices for the formation of an appropriate society.+

+PART FOURSTRATEGIESFOR CHANGE226

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 227BLANK+

+Strategies for ChangeThe workshop on “strategies for Change in the Status of women” organizedin Kathmandu on May 22-23, 1998 and participated by the faculty membersand students of the Department, resource persons, gender experts, INGO andNGO representatives, women’s right activists and human right activistsdiscussed six specific areas and developed strategies for change with focus onstatus, needs, possible actors, possible funding agencies, plan of action,strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis.League of Nepalese Women VotersCURRENT STATUSNo such organization exists.NEEDSThere are needs to:$ Empower all women voters,$ sensitize men voters to support women’s issues,$ facilitate access to women in decision making bodies,$ give pressure to political parties to be gender sensitive,$ give gender training to all elected women,$ include women’s issues in political & social sensitive organizations.$ raise political awareness among the voters, particularly women voters,$ provide gender sensitization training to all voters, and$ organize interaction program between voters and candidates, electedleaders and/or representatives,$ sensitize media in gender issues$ media advocacy in favor of women’s issues228

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 229$ prepare slogans, messages posters etc.$ monitor women’s issues raised by political parties and politicians,$ regular and periodic monitoring & evaluation of the elected representatives,$ lobby for increasing the existing percentage of women candidates/representatives at different levels,$ provide necessary support to women candidates /representatives,$ monitor the fairness and impartiality of the elections,$ campaign for increased registration of women voters, and$ monitoring of the voter list.POSSIBLE ACTORS• Women and human rights activists,• women’s organization (political and non political),• elected representatives,• media,• teachers/professionals, and• women entrepreneurs.POSSIBLE FUNDING AGENCIESHMG-N : Concerned Ministries, including Women’s Ministry.Governments : Australia, UK, Denmark, USA,etc.UN : INDPINGOs : Action Aid, Plan International, Care Nepal, Global Fundfor Women, O.D.A. (UK), CCO, Asia Foundation, FordFoundation, DANIDA, SNV

230 Gender and Democracy in NepalOrganization / NetworksEstablish a national organization and five regional networks (all executivemembers should be women only; and gender sensitive males nay become itsadvisors).[Note: In future local organizations may be established at the district,municipality, VDC, ward and constituency levels].Activities$ Interaction, collection & document;$ prepare and publish gender programs with the political parties on (1)gender issues in party platforms, (ii) Women candidacy, and (iii) speechby political candidates.$ election monitoring of (i) platforms, (ii) election campaigns, and (iii)elections. Training on “elections” to women candidates and theirsupporters,$ media advocacy and media sensitization on gender issues, and$ survey research on emerging trend on voting behavior and women’political empowerment.STRENGTHS$ Increasing gender sensitivity,$ a group of committed women and well wishers,$ number of women’s organizations and INGOs/NGOs working on genderissues, and$ top priority given by donors and planners.WEAKNESSES$ Lack of organization,$ over politicization,$ disorganized women,$ triple role,$ dichotomy of political awareness,$ lack of political awareness,s$ lack of sincerity among political parties, and+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 231$ lack of gender sensitization among the political parities.OPPORTUNITIES$ Possible/forthcoming 3 rd General Election,$ democracy, and$ increasing felt need of such organization.THAREATS$ Male dominance in politics,$ political parties,$ divided women’s parties, and$ Traditional, conservative, orthodox groups.Positive DiscriminationSTATUS$ Women are treated as second class citizens, especially in jobs, education,and decision makings,$ most of the political leaders belonging to dominant social groups thoughtthat positive discrimination invites disintegration and social unless in thecountry but recently. His Majesty’s Government of Nepal has accepted itin principle but he government has yet to implement it in a meaningfulway, and$ currently the reservation of 5% of seats in the elections is too low.NEEDS$ Equal sharing of works by men and women,$ equal participation in decision-makings,$ equal opportunities, that is, give pressure to authorities for 50/50%opportunities, in jobs, education, political representations and politicalappointments,+

232 Gender and Democracy in Nepal$ introduce better policy,$ reduce and/ or eliminate gender discrimination at three levels-family,work place, and politics/state,$ conduct research to start pressure to the government authorities,$ gender training to change the prevailing negative attitudes,$ create awareness through media,$ strong participation of women, and$ exert pressure on the Parliament to introduce and pass a Bill on positivediscrimination.POSSIBLE ACTORS$ Male family members,$ Government bodies,$ NGOs/INGOs$ Women’s organizations,$ Ministry of women, and$ Other disadvantaged groups, such as the Dallies, indigenous ethnicgroups, Muslims and Terai People (Madhesi) in collaboration.POSSIBLE FUNDING AGENCIESHMG-N : Concerned Ministries, including Women’ s Ministry.Governments : Australia, Britain, Denmark, European Union, France,Finland, Germany, Norway, Denmark, USA, etc.UN : UNDP,UNICEF,INFPA,UNIFEMINGOs : Action Aid, Plan International, Care Nepal, Global Fundfor Women, O.D.A. (UK), CCO, Asia Foundation, FordFoundation, Danida, SNV, etc.PLAN OF ACTION$ Form a network of women rights activists/organizations to start pressureon the government and the political to implement positive discriminationmore effectively,$ generate pressure through a media campaign, and+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 233$ make an alliance with other groups who have been demanding forpositive discrimination.STRENGTHS$ Increasing legal empowerment of women,$ women can come ahead, if opportunity is granted,$ weaknesses,$ illiteracy, poverty and lack of knowledge, and$ sympathy granted by many just because it is case of the women.OPPORTUNITIES$ Gender equality provided by CEDAW,$ the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 has accepted the somesocial groups, including women can have reservation of seats ineducation, scholarship, bureaucracy, political parties, political appointmentsand so on,$ wider recognition for access to equal dignity and human right, and$ increasing number of women are capable of taking advantage of suchpreferential treatments.THREATS$ Lack of awareness,$ norms and values of patriarchy, and$ social factors.Equal Property RightSTATUS$ A Bill of the amendments of the Muluki Ain (National Code) relatingproperty rights and abortion is pending at the Parliament. The lastsummer session of the Parliament discussed the Bill at the Human RightsCommittee of the House but have neither passed not rejected it.+

234 Gender and Democracy in Nepal$ Many equal rights activists and organizations are not happy with thecurrent provisions in the Bill under discussion as it criticized to be shortof fulfilling their main demands.$ Those people who are against equal property rights have engaged in apropaganda that he Bill results in family disintegration, sexualpromiscuity and social chaos. Those people who advocate for the Billstrongly argues that equal property rights is necessary to eliminategender discrimination base on property and for the empowerment anddevelopment of women.NEEDS$ Public debate on the proposed bill about its adequacy,$ very strong pressure politics to get the bill passed,$ problem identification and its appropriate solutions specially withregards to the adequacy of 12 th amended on the Muluki Ain (NationalCode) including article no. 16 on partition based on marital status, articlenumbers 1 and 2 versus article number 16 and clarity about duel propertyright partition.$ access to the text of the Bill,$ conduct research on property rights,$ amendment on partition or a separate Bill,$ documentation,$ raise awareness in different sectors,$ local level policy,$ lobby through media,$ political participation of community leaders at he VDC level, and$ intensification of pressure politics by the pressure groups.POSSIBLE ACTORS$ Gender experts,$ legal experts,$ students,$ media,$ political parties,$ activists,+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 235$ academicians,$ NGOs, such as the Sancharika Samuha (SAS), and$ interested volunteers.POSSIBLE FUNDING AGENCIESHMG-N : Concerned Ministries, including Women’s Ministry.Government : Australia, Britain, Denmark, European Union, France,Finland, Germany, Norway, Denmark, USA, etc.UN : UNDPINGOs : Action Aid, Plan International, Care Nepal, Global Fund forWomen, O.D.A, (UK), CCO, Asia Foundation, Fordfoundation, DANIDA, SNV, etc.PLAN OF ACTION$ Further intensify public debate on the texts of the present Act andproposed Bill,$ conduct research, intensive lobbying, advocacy, and$ give pressure to the government to establish a Special Commission forWomen to deal with equal property rights and other issues, includingpositive discrimination and stop violence against women.STRENGTHS$ confusing and contradictory messages,$ ineffective advocacy mechanisms,$ lack of research based advocacy,$ no political commitment of the political leaders,$ gender insensitive media, and$ inadequate intervention at the policy making bodies.OPPORTUNITIES$ The bill is not dead; it is still handing in the Parliament with no decision,and$ the Ministry of Women, women rights organizations and donors are infavor of equal property rights and to have adequate legislation.THREATS+

236 Gender and Democracy in Nepal$ Strong negative voices from the traditionalists, and$ strong patriarchal values.Violence Against WomenSTATUS$ Bill of Domestic Violence was drafted by the Ministry of Women, and$ debate on the Bill about its adequacy ensuing.NEEDS$ Contextualize the definition of the term violence against women(physical, mental and emotion) and domestic violence and identifyproblems related to sexual abuse, marriage problems and defectivesocioeconomic and cultural values,$ networking between interested groups essential,, if the bill drafted by theMinistry of Women is not adequate concentrate support to theorganization formulating the new Bill,$ lobby groups/pressure groups to pass the new Bill, and$ raise awareness to the victims, possible victims, relatives andcommunity,$ encourage reporting by the victims,$ access to security, and$ conduct research.POSSIBLE ACTORS$ Ministry of Women, and$ NGOs, such a the Saathi, Sancharika Samuha and others Women’sStudies Students/ TeachersPOSSIBLE FUNDING AGENCIESHMG-N : Concerned Ministries, including Women’s Ministry.Government : Australia, Britain, Denmark, European Union, France,Finland,, Germany, Norway, Denmark, USA,etc.+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 237UN : UNDP, UNICFF, UNIFEM, WHO.INGOs : Action Aid, Plan International, Care Nepal, Global Fund forWomen, O.D.A. (UK), CCO, Asia Foundation, Fordfoundation, DANIDA, SNV, etc.NGOs’ : TEWA, ABC-Nepal, and INSEC.PLAN OF ACTION$ Exert pressure to enact the law relating to domestic violence, and$ raise awareness about violence against women through media campaign,street drama, formal and non-formal education.STRENGTHS$ Constitutional provision for non-discrimination on the gender, and$ acknowledgment and realization of the problem and determination toeliminate it.WEAKNESSES$ Difficulty in dealing with the problems are the family level, and$ no strong movement.OPPORTUNITIES$ Donors are willing to support, and$ increasing number of women rights activists are joining in.THREATS$ Traditional values, and male dominance, and$ patriarchy.Gender Sensitization TrainingSTATUS$ Wrong notion-equal representation of sexes is considered sufficient,$ generally associated with women only, and+

238 Gender and Democracy in Nepal$ Coverage is limitedNEEDS$ Conceptual clarity of gender and sex,$ development of local expertise,$ different models for different levels of training,$ case studies and examples from our local situation,$ policies and vision of government and donor countries should be clearand sound,$ information should be shared,$ curriculum should be revised,$ special strategy is needed to train or sensitize policy making bodies, and$ development of alternate media.POSSBLE ACTORS$ Ministry of women -their accessibility and the resources,$ local grass root NGOs and CBO’s,$ Teachers,$ all management bodies,$ law informant organize-police lawyers,$ Women Development Division of HMG-N,$ elected women leaders,$ INGOs, NGOs, and PSs, and$ Women’s Studies Department at Padma Kanya Campus, T.U.POSSIBLE FUNDINHG AGENCIESHMG-N : Concerned Ministers,Governments : Australia, Britain, Denmark, European, Union, France,Finland, Germany, Norway, Denmark, USA,etc.UN : UNDPINGOs : Action Aid, Plan International, Care Nepal, Global Fundfor Women, O.D.A. (UK), CCO, Asia Foundation, FordFoundation, DANIDA, SNV,etc.+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 239NGOs : TEWA, ABC-Nepal, and INSEC.STRENGTHS$ Increasing number of gender experts,$ increasing felt needs by various GOs and (I) NGOs, and$ rich but diverse experience.WEAKNESSES$ Lack of contextulization and customization of training modules,$ lack of coherence on the issues, and$ independent and multiple efforts.OPPORTUNITIES$ High priority given by the donors, and$ increasing activities.THREATS$ No threatNational Research Centre on WomenSTATUS$ Post graduate diploma program in Women’s Studies at the Padma KanyaCampus, Tribhuvan University,$ independent researches conducted by research institutions and genderexperts, and$ there is no separate autonomous National Research Centre on Women.NEEDS$ Capacity development of NGOs, academics, and students,$ the Centre should be self-sustaining,$ only research is not enough; advocacy and activism are also essential,+

240 Gender and Democracy in Nepal$ the Centre with different components,$ concentration implementation,$ unbiased group,$ recognition of the Women’s Studies Department by the TribhuvanUniversity to teach Master’s degree (and later doctoral degree) program,$ HMG-N should allocate funds for research from in the budget,$ human resource development is essential from basic to higher, andformal to no-formal levels,$ coming generation should be brought up in gender sensitizedenvironment,$ gender sensitized curriculum (the composition of the curriculumdevelopment committee of the Tribhuvan University should be 50%women and 50% men,$ Gender sensitized media,$ attitudinal change among women them selves,$ think tank, and$ autonomous centre for gender and development.POSSIBLE ACTORS$ Post Graduate Diploma Program in Women’s Studies at Padma KanyaCampus,T.U.,$ alumni of post graduate diploma program in Women’s Studies,$ gender experts in collaboration with strong advocacy groups, and$ NGO’s and INGO’s (conducting researches in Gender issues)POSILE FUNDING AGENCIESHMG-N : Ministry of Women.Governments : Australia, Britain, Denmark, European Union, France,Finland, Germany, Norway, Denmark, USA, etc.UN : INDPINGOs : Action Aid, Plan International, care Nepal, Global Fundfor Women, O.D.A. (UK), CCO, Asia Foundation, FordFoundation, DANIDA,SNV, etc.NGOs : TEWA, ABC-Nepal, and INSEC.PLAN OF ACTION+

Creating Awareness on Equal Rights…: S. Joshi 241$ All the Ministries of HMG-N should have women units with “officers”from the post-graduate students-urban+rural “common empathy,”$ monitoring+evaluation essential,$ two way inter-linkage of the two stratas-urban+rural”common empathy”,$ nomination of a female V.C. in the near future, and$ gender mainstreaming, especially mainstreaming in data.STRENGTHS$ Increasing number of professionals and students trained in genderstudies,$ willingness to go up to the grass-roots, and$ commitmentWEAKNESSES$ HMG-N and general public give less priority to research, and$ lack of necessary funding for conduction serious and meaningfulresearches.OPPORTUNITIES$ Not much studies/researches have been done on various gender issues,$ expand the coverage, and$ Nepalese society is characterized by diversities in caste, ethnicity,language, religion, culture and region that makes it a fascinating place toconduct researches.THREATS$ Lack of political commitment,$ over politicization of academic institutions, and$ difficulty in making autonomous in+

+T.U. / FES242

+1 Quoted by Mahbub u1 Haq (2000) Human Development in South Asia. OxfordUniversity Press.2 Feminists, for us, are those who are working for gender equality and women’sempowerment.12345671234Mrs. Chabi Peters Vs. Home Ministry of Nepal and others. Nepal KanoonPatrika (Nepal Law Report). 1993 (2049B.S.), P. 443.Mr Meera Gurung Vs. Home Ministry and others, 1994 (2050.10.28 B.S.),Supreme Court Full Bench.Nepal Kanoon Patrika, 1970 (2027 B.S.), P. 83 published by the Supreme Court.Meera Dhungana vs. HMG of Law and Justice, Nepal Kanoon Patrika, 1995,Supreme Court Decision No. 6013, Page 462Bhishma Kumari Maharjan vs Asha Lal Maharjan, Nepakl Kanoon Patrika,1996. Decision No. 6085, Supreme Court P. 870.Crime and Investigation Report, Annual Publication, Vol. 3, 1997 (2054),Published by the Criminal Investigation Department, Police Head Quarter, Naxal,Kathmandu.Police Headquarter, Naxal, KathmanduArticle 3 of the Citizenship Act, the nationality law of Nepal, is the fundamentallaw governing the acquisition of Nepalese Nationality. For obtaining Nepalesenationality by descent “the father of the child must necessarily be the citizen ofNepal." A mother, who is a bonfide Nepalese national, cannot transmit hernationality to her child, born out of wedlock with foreign husband. The law waschallenged in the Supreme Court through a writ petition by Walter Peter, a manwho was born out of wedlock of a Nepalese national with Indian husband. WalterPeter was born and brought up all through in Nepal. he took Nepal as country ofallegiance. He had never been to Father's country. He spoke Nepalese language asmother tongue and professed culture of Nepal as a culture of his family. Despitethe facts that he was “Nepali” by every criteria, the Supreme Court rejected writpetition on the ground that " he was not a child of Nepalese father."See “Brief Historical Overview of Legal and Justice System in Nepal” in Analysisand reforms of the Criminal justice System in Nepal, 1999. A Research carriedout by Yubaraj Sangroula and other for center for legal Research and ResourceDevelopment, CELRRd.If a Brahmin man married to a Chhetri Woman, the son born out from theirwedlock was entitled to have only one fourth share of the property compared with243

244 Gender and Democracy in Nepalthose born out of wedlock with woman from same caste. Sons born out ofwedlock with woman from same caste enjoyed equal share with father. For moredetail see, Clause 3,4,5,6,8,10 and 11 of the Section on Aungsabanda of MulukiAin, 1853.5Section on Marriage, Muluki Ain.6Ibid.7Section on Husband and Wife, Muluki Ain.1This article is largely based on my report entitled Baseline Study onInheritance Right of Women published by Forum for Women, Law &development (FWLD) in March 2000.1 1 Dr. Chandra Bhadra, senior faculty member of the Women's Studies Program,was generous enough to develop and finalize the questionnaires for both preandpost-test evaluation. Ms. Damini Vaidya and Ms. Nibedita Shrestha, bothstudents of Post Graduate Diploma in Women's Studies, deserves thanks forprocessing the data and preparing the initial draft of the post-test. Also, staff ofWomen's development Division at Chapagaun deserves thanks for selecting theparticipants and providing necessary help and support.+

Strategies for Change 245ContributorsBindu Pokharel is a Lecturer of Sociology at the Department of Sociology atPadma Kanya Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University. She is associatedwith the Women’s Studies Program.Durga Ghimire is a President of ABC Nepal. She is one of the well knowngender and social activists of Nepal.Gita Sangroula is an Advocate. She is also one of the well known genderactivists of Nepal. She is associated with the Centre for Legal Research &Resource Development (CELRRD).Harinder Thapaliya, Ph.D., is Professor at Tribhuvan University.Indira Sharma, Professor of Food and Nutrition at Tribhuvan University, isthe President of the Nutrition Foundation for Women and Children and amember of the University Council. She is one of the faculty members of theWomen’s Studies Program.Kapil Shrestha, Professor of Political Science at Tribhuvan University. He isa former president of Nepal University Teacher's Association. Currently heis a member of the Human Rights Commission of Nepal.Krishna B. Bhattachan, Ph.D. in Sociology (U-C-Berkeley) is a Lecturer ofSociology at Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, and a former Chairof the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Tribhuvan University,Kathmandu. He has published a number of articles and books includingDevelopmental Practices in Nepal co-edited with Chaitany Mishra, Ph.D..Meena Acharya, Ph.D. in Economics, is a former executive Director of theInstitute of Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) & a former senioreconomic advisor of the Nepal Rastra Bank.+

246 Gender and Democracy in NepalMira Mishra is a Lecturer of Home Science at Padma Kanya Campus,Tribhuvan University. Currently she is a faculty member at the Departmentof Home Science-Women’s Studies Program.Sapana Pradhan Malla, L.L.M., is an Advocate and a leading genderactivist. She is associated with the Forum for Women, Law and Development(FWLD) and Development Law Associates. She is one of the leadingwomen's right and social activists.Soni Joshi is a second batch student of the Women’s Studies Program andcurrently a free lancer associated with various organizations.Yasso Kanti Bhattachan (Gauchan) holds a Master's degree in HomeScience and a second batch student of the Women’s Studies Program. She isa founder executive member of the Federation of Indigenous Women. Sheworks as a free lancer.Yubraj Sangroula, L.L.M. (Patna University) is an Advocate. He is theDirector of Kathmandu School of Law, Kathmandu University. He has donemany researches relating to gender issues.+