A single statement applicable to all the
women in Nepal cannot be made as different groups of women enjoy different
status. For instance, Hindu women and the women belonging to indigenous ethnic
groups have different rights and suffer from different modes of oppression. The
later groups enjoy more access and control of resources. Indigenous women have
relatively a higher degree of social mobility, and process freedom within the
private sphere. They are, however, unable to participate in public realm due to
the dominant ideology of culture being practiced. Dissimilarly, Hindu women
have no autonomy within private sphere, but enjoy limited positions in the
public sphere. Their oppression stems from the concepts of hierarchy, the caste
system, traditional thought about food, and the high value of chastity.
Although the women belonging to different caste, religion, and culture have
different status, one thing is certain that they are being oppressed with
respect to economic, socio-cultural, political and legal status which cannot be
analyzed in isolation because each is intrinsically tied to the next. But for
the sake of clarity, each category is discussed separately.
Let’s discuss economic status. The
dominant Hindu religion and culture have popularized a belief that women should
be dependent on males for income from cradle to grave. Men are considered the
sole breadwinners of families; and women are viewed only as domestic and
maternal. Women’s work is confined to the household. Their responsibilities are
thought to include cooking, washing, collecting fuel and firewood, fetching
water, engaging in agriculture, maternity, and service to males and other
family members. Although their work plays a vital role, it is normally left
uncounted.
They workload of Nepalese women is immense. They work about 16 hours every day. Nepalese women are mainly engaged in agriculture work, carpet
industries, and wage-labor activities. Furthermore, Nepalese women are
compelled to resort to prostitution and to be sold as commercial sex workers.
Because of modernization, their workload has certainly increased. Thus, they
are now forced to perform triple role: that of mother, of a traditional wife and of a
community participant. Generally
Nepalese women have much less access of institutional credit, both an
individual and household enterprise levels irrespective of ecological regions,
urban or rural areas and ethnic or castes. Complicating economic disparity is
the increasing feminization of poverty. To remedy this situation, women would
need full economic rights.
Let’s discuss socio-cultural status.
Patriarchy persists as the dominant ideology under Hindu religion and culture. The constitution of the Kingdom of
Nepal codified this declaring Nepal a Hindu Kingdom. The religion and its
associated culture, norms and values have prevailed for hundreds of years and
as the result, Hinduism alone. These are various indigenous ethnic groups and
races. Comparing to Hindu women has relatively better status concerning social
mobility, decision making and sexuality. But the Muslim women have the worst
social status among the women belonging to different religions and cultures.
The existing dowry system is to be thought to be one of the hindrances for
Nepalese women. Many newly married women especially in the Terai are badly
tortured by the spouse and other senior family members. The overall literacy
rate of women is considerably low; only 24.7 percent of Nepalese women are
literate. Nepal is one of only two countries in the world where women’s life
expectancy is less than that of men
Let’s discuss political status. Nepalese
women have been involved in the political movement since the fifties but
several factors have prevented them from actively participating in local and
national politics. These factors include: the dominant ideology of patriarchy,
male chauvinism, criminalization of politics, lack of equal property rights,
restrictions on women’s mobility, and domination of men in all the political
parties. Only a few women have gained higher public positions. An encouraging
trend is the presence of a lot of elected women representatives in the local
bodies. This is due to the provision of seat reservation at this level.
However, women lack the power to contribute significantly even within these
roles as most of the resources are controlled by their male colleagues.
To conclude, we can mention that
Nepalese women have already opened the door to achieve the destination of their
entire freedom and rights along with their responsibilities. There is no
solution to this miserable condition of Nepalese women unless they are
adequately and appropriately educated concerning their rights and
responsibilities.
Sujan
Shrestha
sujanshrestha051@gmail.com
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