FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Empowerment Of Women
A Lot Remains To Be Done

By Sanu Maiya Pradhan

AS per the data acquired from the National Population Census 2001, the population of Nepal is 23,314, 681 of which 50.09 per cent are women. Hence their role and responsibility are most important both in the family as well as in the society. However, the status of women in Nepal is not very encouraging as majority of women are illiterate, backward, exploited and discriminated.

The literacy rate of women is only 30 per cent. Right from the time when planned development was initiated in the country education has been given high priority. Primary education is now free, adult education programmes have been launched and campaigns have been initated through the media, both electronic and print. Inspite of such all out efforts of the government a large number of children still are illiterate. It is specially the girl children who have not been able to get education due to traditional reasons and also their day to day rural life. The whole society suffers as a result of such wrong practices.

The maternal morality rate of Nepalese women, who are deprived of health services, is 1500 in every 100,000 which is 567 in South Asia and 384 in developed countries. Similarly, the average life expectancy of Nepalese women is 53.3 years while it is 60.5 years in South Asia and 62.9 in developed countries. As such it is essential to look at the problem of women in the overall social context.

The knowledge and awareness relating to women’s reproductive health has important role in the overall health of women and family size. But in a traditional and male dominated society like ours, women have very little role and decision in the reproductive health and deciding the size of the family. The decision of husband or male members of the family in general and husbands in particular is final.

There are several cases of women suffering from the problem related to reproductive health simply because they were not informed of the consequences. As a result, the rate of maternity deaths and other maternity related complications are high in Nepal. This has been one of the serious problems in the contemporary Nepalese society.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal has clearly stated that there shall be no discrimination against any citizen on the ground of sex, religion, colour and caste. Despite the constitutional provision, exploitation and discrimination of women have not altogether been eliminated. To ensure women’s empowerment, such laws must be scrapped. The Bill regarding women’s rights must be passed with some amendment in the current session of parliament. The women’s participation in various fields of the society in Nepal has been very low to their population compared. But this traditional concept has slowly changed and women have now started taking part in various decisions making process especially after the restoration of democracy. However, the present situation is far from satisfactory.

With a view to increasing the participation of women in the political, social and economic fields and uplifting the overall condition of women, the government has taken a number of measures in the recent years. The constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990 has made the mandatory provision that political parties have to field at least five per cent women while selecting their candidates for general as well as local elections.

Similarly, in the election of the national assembly, the Upper House of Parliament there has to be at least one woman candidate. Such provision has encouraged women to be involved in the legislative and decision making processes. The formation of a ministry devoted to women’s welfare has been another notable step in this regard. However, the women MPS are not fully satisfied with the achievements made in the task of women empowerment. The proportion of women’s representation in the parliament is so low that their voice is hardly heard.

There are only five percent of women in government services and the number at the decision-making leved is almost nil. The government should give more attention towards career development of women in order to increase their participation.

Despite their hard labour and significant inputs in household economy, their worth has not been fully recognised. The backwardness and underdeveloped condition of the country is partly attributed to the poor status of Nepalese women in the social and economic sector. There is no doubt that the country cannot develop so long as half of it’s population remain backward, exploited and discriminated are not given equal opportunity and share in the economic and other sectors of the society. The slow pace of development of the nation is attributed to, among others, the failure to bring women into the mainstream of development.

Given the poor situation of Nepalese women, many programmes have been launched for the empowerment of women and improvement in their social and economic conditions.One of the components of the government’s

poverty alleviation programme is the empowerment of women both socially and economically. It has been realised that unless the strength and capacity of women were not utilised and mobilised properly campaign of poverty alleviation cannot achieve the desired goal. The government has announced "BP With The Poor" scheme in order to bring the unpriviledged sections of the society including backward women into the mainstream of development. Under the programme more than 65,499 women from 940 village development committees of the country would be given training on group education, skill development, self employment, public health and cooperatives.

Though over 90 per cent of the women depend on agriculture the return from this is almost nil. As the country’s limited resources cannot afford to launch big industries, small and medium enterprises would be appropriate for the industrial development. Efforts to encourage and equip women to develop their own enterprises would go a long way in the nation’s industrialisation and development initiatives.

Women face different types of psychological problems too related to sexual harassment at workplace i.e. degradation of physical and mental health, decrease in earning loss of job etc. Domestic violence against women takes place in different forms. It includes sexual abuse, torture, trafficking, rape and dowry. The government has come forward with a broad policy framework that consists of awareness creation, advocacy, networking and social mobilisation. Many NGO’s have been active in creating public awareness against violence. The government has identified gender equality and women’s empowerment as major policy.

As development is meaningless without the development of women a national women’s commission is essential. The commission could play a key role in insuring the participation of women in the economic social and political fields. The womenfolk of rural areas also should be brought into the mainstream. It is high time that both men and women worked on the same footing. The constitution guarantees equal rights to all but the necessity is to translate them into real life. It is the duty of all to work unitedly, without discrimination, so that women too will be able to contribute their full capacity.

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