Women’s commission : Inception and challenges

By Dr Gopal Krishna Siwakoti

Women’s rights defenders in Nepal are thrilled by the recent announcement of the government on the creation of a long-cherished national commission for women. The need for such an ombudsman has been seriously felt particularly after the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Many women’s rights champions have been stepping up a coordinated campaign to establish a machinery that addresses the issues of women’s human rights and equality, redresses grievances, enjoys autonomy and has power to investigate questions of women’s rights and gender justice.

National Women’s Machineries (NWMs) were central to the ‘integration of women in development’ strategy of the 1970s. Since the mid-1980s, the slow pace of change in women’s status and opportunities, the experience of project and policy ‘misbehaviour’ and the ghettoisation of women’s issues in government structures, have called into question the top-down strategy of creating NWMs. Twenty years of experience point to a number of lessons about the creation and support of national machineries and the wider policy context within which they operate. These could usefully inform future financial and technical assistance to NWMs and, more broadly, the project of institutionalising gender in government policy and planning.

Shifts in the conceptualisation of Women in Development (WID) and/or Gender in Development (GAD) issues in the last decade are reflected in new approaches to the state as a vehicle for change. Mainstreaming looks beyond the promotion of projects and programmes for women, to the consideration of gender issues across all sectors, ministries and departments. This, in turn, may imply transformation of the institutional structures of government and the state and requires close attention to the links between national women’s machineries and other areas of government.

It is noted that several NWMs, particularly the more recently established ones, focus on advocacy and policy oversight work, as well as direct involvement in ‘women’s’ projects. In some cases, however, the rhetoric of gender mainstreaming is not translated into practice and NWMs continue to conform to the old welfare-oriented model. The Indian Women’s Commission could be regarded as ample evidence of this.

Experience has demonstrated that a range of political, institutional and financial constraints limit the effectiveness of national machineries. In general, there has not been a remarkable shift from welfare-based strategies to a more human rights approach. This often results from the lack of high-level commitment, lack of a strong internal constituency and dependence on external funding. If a commission is to be effective, a solid constitutional and legal status is crucial, as is a policy which specifies goals and clear lines of organisational responsibility and accountability. These need to be backed by planning procedures and management support structures which can transform policy into practice. The rough road that the National Human Rights Commission in Nepal is travelling today is the best case in point. Establishment of such a structure in a political and financial vacuum yields no tangible results.

In general, the experience of projects and programmes implemented by NWMs in several countries is not very positive, with a predominance of traditional welfare-oriented activities (eg mother and child health care) or income generation. Direct involvement in project implementation is not a crucial part of NWM activity, in the current context. If gender mainstreaming is the objective, policy oversight and advocacy roles are vital in order to influence wider government policy and push for legislative change. Where the NWM does implement projects, it should be in conjunction with the relevant specialised ministries or civil society organisations.

The main institutional options are location within a single ministry, or to be constituted as a central advisory body, usually within the Prime Minister’s office, attempting to influence planning process across all departments. The autonomy associated with being a single ministry may be offset by lack of influence in other sectors. Since the Ministry of Women in Nepal also deals with issues such as children and social welfare, there is likely to be severe competition for resources. In the case of housing the body at the Prime Minister’s office, women’s issues may gain a higher profile, enhanced access to funding and stronger connections with, for example, the civil service. However, there is a potential danger that the commission may become overly dependent on one or two key political figures or there is a great danger of blatant nepotism.

The proposed women’s commission is likely to be underfunded and vulnerable to arbitrary budget cuts. This is because there is a lack of priority for gender issues in the bureaucracy, with a direct impact on staffing levels and quality which tends to be low, inexperienced and lacking in specialist skills, and on the scope of activities. Given the present scenario the commission will have to cope by diversifying activities, which tend to be skewed in favour of highly-visible projects of a relatively short-term nature, rather than the less visible work of long-term institution building or developing advocacy capacity.

Even if there is strong internal commitment by a few individuals, realistically, Nepal is not in a position to fully fund its own commission and will have to rely heavily on external funding. In such a situation donors should play a role in supporting women’s organisations in civil society and in creating links, consultation and networks between civil society and the commission, in order to promote accountability. Equally important is the ability of the commission to influence public spending decisions and public expenditure reviews.

Sectional interests and rivalries among ministries mitigate against the consideration of cross-sectoral issues such as gender, which require a coordinated approach. The Women’s Ministry itself is often keen to protect its ‘turf’ and concentrate on highly visible activities which will attract donor funding. The personal and political nature of gender adds to the resistance of government officers to examining these issues. Political patronage and interests and electoral demands can be very influential in the appointments of commission members. In a country where the Women’s Ministry is often notoriously tied to the political interests of the ruling party (often through its women’s wing), the establishment of an independent commission could prove an arch rival organ, resulting in serious conflict of interest and mission.

The legitimacy and accountability of the commission are dependent in part on the quality of its links with women’s organisations and NGOs representing women’s interests. A variety of mechanisms, both formal and informal, for consultation between the commission and women’s organisations have to be developed, ranging from seats on government committees, to public hearings and informal consultation. A system of formal representation is likely to exclude small and weak organisations. So where women’s organisations are diverse (eg ethnically, socially or politically) public hearings combined with wider consultation may work better. In order to reach women who are not part of the organised women’s movement or formal organisations - often the most marginalised groups - resources are needed for outreach work through liberal decentralised policy to enhance women’s cause in the true sense.

A cramped focus on the commission, in isolation of the broader policy context, is not useful. One strategy might be to integrate proposals for strengthening the commission or for gender mainstreaming in government planning and administration more closely with programmes of civil service and administrative reform, at the design stage, with a particular focus on ensuring that gender issues are not marginalised in the process of down-sizing the bureaucracy, on strengthening mechanisms and procedures for gender planning and on issues of accountability to women in service provision. The commission must have a strong mandate with investigative powers and the body must refrain from politically polluting factors!

Treading my way home

By Ghanashyam Ojha

As the freezing cold dips down with the slipping past of the night, I tread my way home. I vividly hear people snorting away the night, some may be literally dead in their slumber. With the streetlight thinly covered by fog, I notice my shadow moving in front me. It’s the only shadow of mine that sometimes scares me. Besides the shadow, there are many more things lying at the corners of the road looking exotic to me.

As the cold seeps into me, I fall back on nostalgia carefully preserved for long. The days when my mum used to tell me beautiful stories of fairies. The stories really used to move me, with beautiful fairies being kidnapped by demon-like creatures. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess, and so on and on... I used to fall asleep in my mother’s warm lap before the stories were completed. Everything flashes back in my mind like a beautiful drama staged in front of me, on such cold nights.

As I stride further, I notice dogs huddled up in torn and discarded cartons stare at me and lazily bark, as they hesitate to come out into the cold.

A very interesting thing happens when I meet a policeman on the lonely road. I have, many times encountered him on duty. The meeting turns interesting when he starts inquiring with me. He is most concerned about my identity card. I must have the card on hand lest I end up having to spend my night inside cold custody.

The security cop, after I show the card, becomes inquisitive about the latest news of the twenty four hour period. He turns very much familiar in a short chat. I make my quick escape from there since the cold continuously bites me.

I can make my going easy if there is the same cop on duty. But sometimes I find it very difficult if there is new one. Besides this it is even tougher if I forget my card and meet a new face.

The little things like headlines, captions, leads etc that I have done, reappear constantly too. These little things leave me sometimes restless. It has almost become a regular humdrum affair these days.

People, suffering from scarcity of water look to be rushing with pots and buckets. They have quite often gasped to notice me walking alone at such a late hour. As I look at them, I make many guesses about what they may be thinking of me. They look at me with their eyes wide open. It has really made me uncomfortable many times. However, I have been constantly to work despite these hassles.

The broader democratic alliance

By Basanta Lohani

The need for a broader democratic alliance has become a new fad in Nepal though much of its content is unknown and nobody bothers to define it in any operational way. It is left to time as if the flow of time would define it in a whirlpool where each leader with a name in national politics is struggling hard to remain politically afloat. The second aspect of this alliance which leaders pursue in profuse rhetoric is to combat the Maoists. The third is the allurement of forming a national government where each can have a share in the pie. This is as open a secret as they keep guarding it in this power game propelled more by individual greed than ideological commitment and sensibility towards the people. This is so because those involved in this game now are as Lilliputian as never before. This has made for political dynamics governed by exogenous infusion, requiring strength from such sources.

When Girija Prasad Koirala ousted his long time friend Krishna Prasad Bhattarai from the premiership, he declared that his government would complete its full term. This is nothing new as such because each such prime minister has been showing this kind of determination but each of them lasts till they last. This is primarily so because the prosperity gap is widening inside the ruling party making the selection of the prime minister ritualistic once the realistic dealings are hammered out. This explains the political expediency of Prime Minister Deuba who declared at the time of his cabinet reshuffle that he would go on reshuffling the cabinet as often as every six months so that all those who have had no chance to become a minister would have their dream fulfilled. Koirala, despite his full-term public determination, was forced to move out not because he could not strike a deal inside his party but because he bungled his move in the deployment of the army on the advise of his Lilliputian lieutenants.

His ouster is the corner stone of the national democratic alliance. This is how Koirala has made it his new found vehicle to get back into the seat of state management without which he becomes like a fish out of water especially now during the emergency when there would be no restriction in propelling his greed laden engine to growth. He is thus pursuing this alliance with lots of gusto and aspiration for yet another round to a close finish. When he disclosed his move for this kind of alliance on September 14, what he then called a ‘Massive Democratic Alliance’, he said that there was unanimity over such an alliance from all political parties "to get rid of violence and insecurity’. What he meant to say by all has never been made clear.

Again on the 18th, he talked of opposing the atrocities of the Maoists, saying "the government may or may not oppose the Maoist activities but the general public must". But it was his own party’s government. Diehard anti-communist that he is, Koirala, at the same, proposed that an interim government could be formed with the Maoists once certain conditions were fulfilled. Leaders of the other political parties who did not see much prospect for their new political rehabilitation in terms of gaining access to power have followed this tune like a piedpiper, but with apprehensive timidity. Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was quick to hit back, discounting any form of outside power sharing arrangement, and also deprecated such moves because the Nepali Congress government will continue to its full term.

This kind of game based on immediate term political benefits has outlived its utility even for those who have had rich dividends as a reward for their so called struggle for democracy. Who completes what term is less important now compared to whether or not we can continue as an economically viable nation over time. Prime Minister Deuba himself has now publicly admitted that all those who were in power including himself were responsible for the kind of bad situation the country has now slipped into. He clarified by saying: ‘I think we did not make efforts to solve the genuine problems’. So this is exactly where we are. This kind of politics that has degenerated to an all time low level reflected in its failure in providing economic benefit and security to the common lot, has meant a setback to our democratic aspirations. But democracy is our faith and commitment.

A party that has a majority in parliament should deliver the goods to the people. Its leaders cannot sort out their inside power game that spills over into national life in such a way that democracy and its basic tenets fall into this kind of jeopardy. This is how our leaders have been practicing democracy. How long can such practices keep them afloat or provide the kind of buoyancy that they are desperately seeking now? Last Sunday, Koirala played his favourite tune of this kind of alliance, possibly for a kind of national government. Now he holds the opinion that since the stature of the politicians has become so low that people are not willing to listen to them and democracy and the constitution are under stress, the way to save democracy now is only through a broad-based alliance. But what does this broad-based alliance mean? The answer to this question has to be clear cut instead of trying to marshall strength by roping in the opposition in its false hope of power sharing and thereby exerting pressure on the government of his own party. The tactic of the central committee, though a recipe for outright double standard, perhaps goes with the game, but not outside his party. Besides, what he says has very little credibility these days when we see his two faces on foreign investment in the media just within a month. Now he has rightly corrected himself and said: "Accepting foreign investment in media is akin to losing national existence, sovereignty, national security and Nepalis’ independence" Like this, there is room for him to correct himself.