Nepalese Women


Introduction

The status of Nepalese Women has varied throughout history. In the early 1990s, like in some other Asian countries, women in Nepal were generally subordinate to men in virtually every aspect of life. Historically, Nepal has been a predominantly patriarchal society where women are generally subordinate to men. Men considered themselves to be the leader of the family and superior to women. Also, social norms and values had biased in favor of men. This strong bias in favor of sons in society meant that daughters got discrimination against from birth and did not have equal opportunities to achieve all aspects of development. Daughters were deprived of many privileges, including rights, education, healthcare, parental property rights, social status, last rites of dead parents, and were thought to be other’s property and liabilities.

In the past century, there has been a dramatic positive change in the role and status of women in Nepal, reducing gender inequality. While the 1990 Constitution guaranteed fundamental rights to all citizens without discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, caste, religion, or sex, the modernization of society, along with increased education of the general population, have also played an important role in promoting gender equality. The roles of women have changed in various ways in the modern Nepalese society.

Empowering Nepalese Women: From Struggle to Leadership in a Changing Society

Despite the difficult post-conflict transitional context, today, Nepal is not only rapidly progressing towards economic development, it is also achieving targets for poverty and hunger, universal primary education, child mortality, maternal health and gender equality and women’s empowerment. Women’s representation in the Constituent Assembly has dramatically increased to 29% in the November 2013 elections from 2.9% in 1991 (in the then parliament). Women are now taking leadership roles and participating in decision making at all levels. There has been increasing government involvement to increase accountability and monitoring of gender equality commitments and to establish and strengthen linkages between the normative and operational aspects of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Today, Nepalese women are defying cultural traditions, and are becoming community leaders, environmentalists politicians and business owners. In October 2015, Nepal elected its first female president, Bidhya Devi Bhandari. Other famous Nepali women include CNN Hero of the Year winners Anuradha KoiralaPushpa Basnet, first female to climb Mt. Everest Pasang Lamu Sherpa, international award-winning athletes Mira RaiPhupu Lhamu Khatri, and the first female chief justice Sushila Karki.[9]

Although roles and status of women in modern Nepalese society has undergone a massive transformation and their rights have secured by the constitution, enforcement outside the few major cities has been a lax.[10] Given that Nepalese women in society have been heavily influencing from the Hindu system of beliefs emphasizing patrilineal descent and a patrifocal residence system, implementing certain aspects of these laws have been a challenge.[5] The rugged, mountainous topography adds to this issue. In these remote places, gender disparity still exists, women have limited control, are restricted to household work, deprived of education, discriminated based on caste, and have poor healthcare access.

Guiness Record by Nepali Woman Mountaineer ( Everest)

Guiness Record by Nepali Woman Mountaineer ( Everest)

Posted on Jan 18, 2021

Guinness record for Nepali woman mountaineer In a historic achievement, a group of Nepalese women mountaineers has also made headlines…

Associated Partners

You will love all of the features in our theme. 100% guaranteed satisfaction.