Gender Issue
For Effective Local Governance

Mukti Rijal

FOR centuries, men ran governments and public institutions. The experience of women had little influence on governance, democratic thought and practice. Men singularly held monopoly on the affairs of the state and governance.

In 1818 Hannah Mather Crocker, an early US feminist had argued that God had endowed the female mind with equal powers and faculties to those of men. Accordingly, the western developed countries have leapt forward in achieving participation of women in state affairs. Geraldine Ferraro, a candidate for US vice president in 1984 is on the record to have remarked "We have a shot at having a woman president in this next decade. The country is ready. The only thing that is missing is a woman who is ready to go".

More developed and gender balanced picture obtains in the countries of Western Europe especially the Scandinavian countries where women constitute a force of reckoning in governance and state affairs. Sweden, Norway and Denmark are some of them.

However, the global situation is very poor and precarious. Facts reveal the appalling situation of women. Women are worst victims of poverty and destitution. A date says that women comprise seventy per cent of the world’s poor. Most poor rural women are farmers who spend 14-17 hours a day working in the fields and caring for their children. Maternal mortality represents the single greatest disparity in health between women in industrialized countries and those in developing countries.

The state of women’s participation in governance and political power is bleak. Women’s share of seats in the world’s parliaments is about twelve per cent. Less than five per cent of world’s head of state, heads of major corporations and top positions in international organisation are women. Women mostly in positions for social issues, health or education hold only about seven per cent of cabinet posts worldwide. Only 62 of the world’s 172 governments have any women in the cabinet.

Against the global scenario when we take look at the situation of our own country, it is not at all better. The participation of women in political positions whether in the parliament or in the cabinet does not exceed five per cent. Women’s share in the public service and decision making jobs is abysmally low. No woman has been appointed judge in the apex court of country. No woman has held the position of vice chancellor of the universities in the country.

The fourth UN conference held in Beijing in which Nepal participated both at the governmental and non-governmental level identified twelve critical areas of concern. They include women and poverty, women and equality, women and human rights, women and politics and so on. This shows that the Beijing meet emphasised on political empowerment of women to enhance their role and contribution in the affairs of state and governance.

A positive development worth to bring into discussion occurred in Nepal in terms of enhancing women’s role and contribution in local governance and development.

The Local Self-Governance Act enacted two years ago has made it mandatory to secure representation and participation of women in local government institutions. It is to be noted that about forty thousand popularly elected women have manned the local governments. However, they are mostly at the council level, which is the deliberative, not decision-making organ of the local governments. Majority of women councilors is illiterate and politically mediocre. So they have not been able to contribute meaningfully and exert influence in the decision making process of the local governments.

An interaction organised the other day on gender and governance highlighted the poor shape of women’s participation in governance of the state with particular focus on the situation of local governance. Speaker of the House of the Representatives Taranath Ranabhat told of the feudal and patriarchal tendencies embedded at the social milieu while member of the national Planning Commission Dr Jagadish Chandra Pokharel remarked that we have been able to create enabling environment which is not enough. Dr Ram Kumar Dahal presented working paper on gender and governance and Mrs. Sukhamaya Bohara and Krishna Khanal gave their supplementary remarks on the paper. Mrs. Bohara concentrated on the state of women participation at local government institutions. She commented that the participation suppressing factors militate against the efforts at promoting participation of women in the local governance affairs. Concerted efforts need to be initiated both at the local and national level to ensure that women play an effective role and provide inputs in the affairs of the state.

The twenty first century should be the century of women. It is time to implement measures so that women not only have access to opportunities in governance but also enjoy the benefits of governance and development.

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