Rights
To Women
AFTER years of debate,
the proposal to amend the Muluki Ain (Civil Code) vis-à-vis women’s rights and well
being was passed by the House of Representatives Tuesday. It took an unconscionable time
for various demands related to women’s rights, put forward by women activists, to
take the form of a bill. And then the draft bill took many more months to come to the
parliamentary table. Then the parliamentary committee where the bills are discussed first
before presenting to the parliament took a round of opinion-collecting exercise in various
regions of the country. Even at the last moment, there were raging arguments among the
members of parliament on what to put in and take out from the proposals. The bone of
contention was whether to keep the provision of allowing women to keep the parental
property even after marriage or return it in case she married. The bill was passed with
the provision that women should return the parental property once she gets married. The
passage of the bill was greeted with protests from Opposition MPs who thought it did not
give enough to women. Be that as it may, it is incontestable that the current provision is
a big improvement on the existing legislation that allows women to claim parental property
only if she remains unmarried until the age of 35. She can now claim parental property
irrespective of her age but since she has an automatic claim in the property of her
husband, she is to relinquish her parental property. Supporters of the just-passed
legislation say that it establishes gender equality without disturbing the family
structure.
It will not be a
surprise if the provision on property rights continue to come under ire from some women
activists for a long time to come, but there should be welcome words for other new
provisions like doubling the punishment of the culprits involved in serious kinds of
crimes and violence against women, including rape and girl trafficking. This has been a
long-standing demand of women activists who had argued that the present provisions did not
provide enough deterrence. Also necessary was legalising abortion under certain cases
which the amendment has done. The complete ban, according to medical experts and social
activists, resulted in unsafe abortions, which claimed a large number of Nepalese women
every year, making the country one of the countries with a horrible maternal mortality
rate. All in all, the passage of the bill is a cause for celebration for addressing the
long-neglected women’s rights, though some dissatisfaction on parental property
provision is only natural, given the scope and sensitive nature of the issue.
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