Women in Nepal

 

       Women in Nepal 

photo credit: Canva 

Nepal lies in south Asia, which is also known as landlocked country or the country of Himalaya. Nepal is small by area but it consists three different geographical region i.e Himalayan, Tarai and Hilly these three regions has their own importance that is the richness of climate even within same season. Himalayan region is mainly covered with mountain so it is cold on the other hand Tarai is plain land which is extreme cold in winter and extreme hot in summer but Tarai is known as granary of Nepal as it has the highest capability of growing crop due to the fertile land and Hilly is of moderate climate neither hot nor cold in compare to Tarai and Himalayan. Nepal is Hindu country which ultimately is based on cultural norms and values and some of the village still lack educational knowledge.  

 

Since the formation of the society, women were always placed as secondary in every aspect of life. Nepal has been a patriarchal society where women are always taken as inferior to men and Men were considered to be the leader of the family.  Women are taken as physically and emotionally weaker comparing to men. Men are always the decision maker. Social norms, values, rules are in favor of men and sons were given more priority whereas daughters used to be discriminated from birth and were not given equal rights in any aspect. For daughters there were lots of rules and regulations freedom in education, going out, dress up, express their thought. Daughters were not sent to school for education due to the misconception that her education doesn't make any changes in their life as they were taken for granted because they would be sent to her in-law's house. Daughters were taught to cook as well as trained to manage the healthy environment in her family in future after she will be married and such teaching skills to  cook, manage household works are still the basic things which daughters or girls should be able to handle. 

Men were considered to be the leader of the family and superior to female. The status of women in Nepal was so crucial and women had to struggle a lot. Child marriage was one of the hardships of a women, they had to get married in very young age with older men. Other horrible custom of that period was Sati system in which wives has to give away her own lives by burning themselves in the funeral pyre of their husband. Most of the women of that time had lost their life by so called custom made by the society. Sati system existed for so long time. Finally, Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher, abolish sati system on his 58th birthday, 8th July, 1920. 

 

Nepal has divided castes into four main category i.e Brahmin, chhetriya, Vaishya, sudra. Nepal now have 125 castes in total. In Brahmin castes a girl in her first period used to be kept in cold and uncomfortable place specially where animals were kept and they were not allowed to roam outside or see any men members of the house. In Newari caste, a virgin girl is made kumari "A living goddess " and they are kept in the Kumari Ghar, a palace in the center of the city for many years. Some religions are still practicing social norms and ritual which are only for women.  Women are treated in different way according to caste system.

Since 1990, Constitution guaranteed fundamental rights to all citizens without discrimination which has also played an important role in promoting gender equality. But the written constitution hasn't totally used practically till now. Even in present days most of the government workers are men. In the year, 2015 Bidya Devi Bhandari became the first female president of Nepal and she is the first women to hold the government office. She is the second and current president of Nepal.

 

   Difference of past and present time

• Had to face child marriage but now girls can't get married if she is under 18 
• No education for daughters in past days but now Education right must be given
• Had less knowledge about anything, which has changed as education has made girls knowledgeable
• Had face crucial customs like sati system whereas we can see more flexible in customs, rules nowadays 
• Point of view didn’t matter specially that is given by girls, women and so on but point of view matters now than before 

 In conclusion, life of a women in Nepal has been very difficult since a long time till now. They are fighting for equal rights in political sector and in every sector as much as possible. Thankfully we are seeing lots of positive changes in many places like education, health sectors, politics, laws and so on. As education is bringing change in perspective , ideology and knowledge, some change are yet to come in the near future. As long as the changes are positive it can be accepted anytime. Hope in the near future rights are given importance in decision making.