While celebrating the 115th International Women's Day this year on March 8, it is also necessary to analyze the overall situation of Nepali women. Next year, it will be a decade since the Constitution of Nepal was promulgated by the Sovereign Constituent Assembly.

Is Nepal on the way to end gender discrimination as envisioned by the preamble of the constitution? Or, are the necessary structures to end gender discrimination in Nepal weakening? What is the real situation of Nepali women? These questions are not only for women but also for mothers, sisters and daughters in every family. Therefore, before analyzing the overall status of Nepali women, it is necessary to discuss these issues. 

First in politics, then in the economic-social field, various progressive women's movements and especially after the 2064 public movement, women's representation in politics increased rapidly. Nepal was fortunate to have a woman President, a woman Speaker, a woman Chief Minister, a woman Defense Minister, a woman Foreign Minister. But the effect of this achievement has not been theoretically applied to ordinary women, and Nepal's position in the list of international gender equality has also been proved. 

According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap 2024 report, Nepal has dropped one place from 2023 and ranks 117th out of 146 countries in the world. According to the World Women's "Political Empowerment" list, Nepal has moved up three places from 2023 and ranks 51st. Despite this, Nepal's position in the overall world list in terms of gender equality is very low.

Nepali women's position in the list of economic and social development is very weak. In the world women's 'economic participation' list, Nepal has dropped one place from 2023, i.e. 137th place. 

The most worrying thing is that Nepal has dropped three places from 2023 to 130th place in the world "female education" list. It is also a matter of shame because in South Asia, Nepal is lower than all other countries except Pakistan in terms of women's education. It also shows how far behind we are in the development of structures to end gender discrimination. It clearly shows that only a limited number of women will be able to reach leadership positions and that the structure for ending gender discrimination will not be ready. This does not mean that it is not necessary to arrange the representation of women at the leadership level, but it is not enough yet. 

Terrible situation of violence against women

As far as our situation is concerned, the government of Nepal does not even have aggregate data on violence against women. This shows how much the Nepal government has neglected this issue. Various studies have clearly indicated that violence against women is increasing and has reached an alarming level. If you ask a gynecologist how much demand/pressure is there for female infanticide in Nepal, you can easily understand the serious nature of this problem. 

Although it is punishable by law, due to the lack of monitoring by the government, many girls are killed in the womb secretly in the streets of the city. A British medical journal has claimed that one woman in Nepal is missing out of every 50 women in the population. This means that the problem of female infanticide is serious in our society. Even now, the practice of burning women in broad daylight on the pretext of dowry has not been eradicated. According to the report of the National Planning Commission, this problem is the most in Terai. 

According to a Madhesi woman, torture on the pretext of dowry is common in Terai because no one is ready to take initiative against it. Even leaders who are called progressive and forward-thinking are reluctant to talk about it because their votes will decrease. Many men kill their wives on the pretext of dowry and get married soon. 

Along with this, the problem of women trafficking is also increasing. The 'trafficking' of women has increased so much that the threat of Nepal becoming the first in the list of countries where human trafficking is high has also increased. It has been found that human trafficking in Nepal is mainly for the sexual exploitation of women. According to a study, now Nepali women are sold not only in Kothi in Mumbai but also in Gulf countries, South Africa and China. Statistics show that 17 thousand Nepalese girls are being sold on average every year. 

These are public events. No one has kept an account of how many Nepali girls have been sold internally. This fact also shows how barbaric and miserable the condition of our sisters and brothers is. If there was a world list of violence against women, perhaps Nepal would be at the bottom because if the details of all types of violence against women, which have increased due to the negligence and impunity of the government, are put together, it would be much better. 

women's 'specific pain' 

Nowadays, the problem of Nepali youth going abroad in search of work is discussed a lot, but due to this, there is less discussion about the extreme mental pain experienced by many Nepali mothers when they are separated from their children. 

What is the biggest pain for any mother than being separated from her children? Nepali women are doomed to suffer similar 'specific pain' now. Perhaps in no other country, at least in South Asia, have so many women had to bear the brunt of the storm and send their children abroad to meet their basic needs. In some cases, Nepali mothers are also experiencing the ironic incident of children who have gone abroad in search of work, dying at a young age or having to return injured. 

Now this problem is starting to appear in a new way. Many young mothers are forced to leave their young children in Nepal and go abroad. In particular, young women going to the Gulf countries have been seen and heard on the phone talking to their children, who had to leave them at home, sobbing and shedding tears. How many countries in the world are there, where mothers are forced to go abroad to meet their limited needs, leaving behind even their minor children? 

Even in maternity leave, Nepali mothers are lagging behind. Nepal is also among the countries with less maternity leave in South Asia. In Nepal, women now have 60 days of paid maternity leave. India and Bhutan have amended their existing laws to provide up to six months of paid leave to women. In economically poorer countries than Nepal, like Somalia or South Sudan, women get more paid maternity leave than in Nepal.

As maternity leave is reduced, many women are forced to leave their businesses for their children. Financially well-off women do not find this problem unbearable. But it is a big problem for economically disadvantaged women. If you stop working, it is difficult to make him eat, if you have to work, who will take care of the two-month-old baby? This situation seems to have made the claim that 'the Constitution of Nepal has given many rights to women' meaningless in practice. 

Finally,

Increasing the representation of some women in political positions does not fulfill the responsibility of ending gender discrimination. To end gender discrimination, it is necessary to end all forms of violence against women. Because women's empowerment is not possible without security. Likewise, it is equally important to prioritize women's education. Current experience has also confirmed that women's problems will not be solved by giving reservation to women in some positions without empowering them. 

It is necessary to have a special initiative for economic empowerment of women. Because until women can become independent, they will not have confidence. It is indispensable not only to end gender discrimination, but also to end violence against women. 

The status of women in society is not only an indicator of economic development, it is also an indicator of the character and sensitivity of the society. Therefore, such a poor condition of Nepali women reflects the declining character and sensibility of Nepali society. Even though it was not economically prosperous in the past, it seems that there was some sensitivity towards the oppression of women in Nepali society. Now that sensitivity is disappearing. The oppression of women has become normalized. 

It is sad that such serious problems of women are not on the main agenda of any political party (old or new). Even though some of these issues are included in the manifesto before the election, these issues are not even discussed seriously during the rest of the time. Let the initiative of the solution go beyond. Some parties in power have further promoted violence against women by protecting criminals for political gain. It is because of this irresponsibility and neglect of political parties that many Nepalese women have to live in immense pain today. 

We are not so poor financially that we have to sell our own sisters! Or maybe our culture is not so weak, let's act as if we did not see it when many daughters were killed in the womb and many sisters were burned on the pretext of dowry. Some values ​​of our Sanatan Dharma teach that women should be worshipped. Goddess Bhagwati is envisioned in powerful departments of society like Education (Saraswati), Artha (Lakshmi) and Defense (Durga). Basically, no Vedic scriptures of Hinduism, which believe in 'soul', ever put women below men because soul has no gender. Many of our tribal cultures have unique values ​​of equality between men and women. Therefore, the tendency to blame the violence and oppression on women on our poverty or religion-culture is not justified at all. 

Even in a democratic country, what could be the compulsion behind the government not being able to completely eliminate the trafficking of Nepalese girls, not being able to completely end the killing of girls in the womb, and not being able to at least minimize it by ending impunity in violence against women? I don't think there is any plausible explanation other than women not prioritizing these issues.