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Kathmandu Thursday July 19, 2001 Shrawan 04, 2058.
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Ascertaining
rights
The parliamentary Law and
Justice Committee has just approved a controversial clause in the Muluki Ain or Civil Code
amendment bill with the aim of entitling women to equal right to parental property even
after marriage. The issue of equal property rights for women has been around for a long
time. Whatever the pros and cons one thing that should not be lost sight of is that women
constitute half the population and what the women themselves have to say about it should
also count. The proposed Women’s Property Rights Bill has been waiting for parliament
approval since 1997. This is the right step for our parliamentarians in order to amend any
flaws before a proposed bill is passed in Parliament. Such a step will not only strengthen
parliamentary values but also serve the country’s long term interests, besides
inviting healthy debate.
The Amendment of the 1963
Citizenship Act, which was pushed through without inviting
any debate in Parliament, was apparently not in accordance with parliamentary procedure.
Naturally, the Koirala government had pushed the Bill towards the Royal seal to please the
southern neighbour and at a cost to the country’s interests as well as to democratic
procedure. Had the Citizenship Bill been sent for royal assent only after parliamentary
debate, the Koirala government would have deserved a pat on the back, and it would have
had some credibility even. Unfortunately, the Koirala government showed its ill intent
when it turned it into a Finance Bill and sent it for the Royal seal only to serve its
political interests. Women’s rights activists, backed by some international agencies,
raised their voice against the discriminatory clause in the proposed 11th Civil Code
Amendment Bill. Under that clause a woman would have had to return her share of parental
property after her marriage, if the Amendment Bill had been enacted into law by the House.
This is also an indication that the parliamentarians recognized the basic flaw in the
proposed Amendment Bill, besides setting a precedence. Now, women will have the right to
retain their parental property even after marriage once the Bill is enacted into law.
There had been a debate on the
existing clause between women’s rights activists and lawmakers for over four years as
it directly discriminated against the rights of daughters in terms of parental property.
Women’s rights activists wanted that "clause" to be replaced with equal
right to parental property. That has now been done even though the proposed Bill is yet to
be made into an act. This was the first time in our decade-long parliamentary history that
the ruling party agreed to approve a discriminatory clause in a proposed amendment bill.
In a parliamentary system, bills are discussed among members of Parliament before they are
passed by a majority of the House and subsequently endorsed by the National Assembly. Now
in principal the proposed bill recognizes daughters as equal heirs to parental property.
But how effective the bill will be in practice once enacted as law is a question that
remains unanswered yet.
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