National 4 (Spotlight Weekly)

“Women Should Be Involved In Peace Efforts”

— Chandni Joshi

Chandni Joshi has been working in the capacity of Regional Director for South Asia Regional Office, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) – the first Nepalese woman to have reach to such high position. Joshi, a former lecturer and government official, is a reputed name in the sector of women development in international arena. In her present capacity, she looks after and coordinates UN’s efforts to promote women in 9 countries – 7 SAARC nations along with Iran and Afghanistan. She was recently in Kathmandu when she spoke to SANJAYA DHAKAL on various issues related to the Nepalese women. Excerpts:

How do you assess the situation of Nepalese women at present?

In general, when we look at the development indicators like GEM (Gender Empowerment) and GDI (Gender Development Index), we are far behind. The gap between men and women is huge. But, on the other hand, the women here are becoming very vocal and aware. They are making a lot of noises. Certainly, there is a lot to be achieved.

To what extent has the violence affected the situation of Nepalese women?

Talking about violence, I would look at it from different fronts. Whether it be the domestic violence, community violence or the Maoist one, women are being affected by all. Historically, women have been very vulnerable to conflict and violence. Look at Afghanistan, Burundi or Rwanda, women becomes the first prey. Her bodily integrity is attacked. In Nepal, as well, women are in quite vulnerable situation.

Participation of women in politics, business etc is very low here. What do you suggest can be done to overcome this problem?

Charity begins at home. It depends how much opportunity is given to her – beginning right from her home. There are so many obstructions for her to come out. You will not find women heading institutions. The whole responsibility of care including home-making and looking after children rests with women here. This concept has to change. If the parenting is shared and if she is given more opportunity either in business or other professions, Nepalese women are equally competent. I believe I have set an example of that. Nepalese women need opportunity and back-up support for that to happen.

What does UNIFEM do? What are its areas of involvement in Nepal?

The UNIFEM was created by the women’s movement and the General Assembly. It looks into the overall development of women. Our work is mainly about providing and encouraging human rights of women. We look into aspects like feminization of poverty, exclusion and discrimination. We want women to enjoy the fruits of development. We also work to curb HIV/AIDS among women and, of course, the eradication of violence against women. We are also engaged in furthering women’s role in peace. We are firm believers that women are the ones who hold their families and communities together during war. But they are forgotten at times of reconstruction and peace-building. I strongly feel that women should be involved in peace efforts in Nepal, as well. The UNIFEM is trying to bring together the peace builders of the country. Recently I talked with the UN System and government of Nepal that the voices of women should be heard. When I say voices of women, I do not mean voices of a handful of women who are seen everyday. We are planning a large meeting bringing women from district level because they are the ones who are internally displaced. These are the areas where UNIFEM works. The UNIFEM doesn’t run programs. We facilitate and support the governments and NGOs.

As a regional director of UNIFEM, what are your responsibilities?

We call it the ABS role. The A stands for advocacy. We create awareness on issues like violence, trafficking, globalization etc. For instance, it is because of the advocacy and awareness that the issues like domestic violence have now been dragged to the public space. In the past, it was said to be a private affair - forcing women to suffer in isolation. The B stands for bridging – bridging the concerns of the governments and the NGOS; making forum where both can talk with each other to work out issues. The C stands for capacity building – of NGOs, research organizations and governments.

How do you compare the status of women in Nepal in this region?

When we talk about status of women, it is very difficult because we have not come up with key measurement indicators. The indicators that we have today is literacy rate, maternity rate etc. I feel they are not enough. There should be indicators that measure the enjoyment of rights. If you look at the vulnerability factor – there will be very less dowry deaths or honor-killings in Nepal. But there are incidents of witch-burning, violence and so on. If you look at the usual human development indicators, all the countries in South Asia are very low.

A UNIFEM report had stated that 11% of total remittance received by Nepal is contributed by its women workers. How do you see this development? Are there ways to increase their contribution?

Let me first explain why we conducted this study. Illegal migration was leading to trafficking, which was of big concern to us. We are not in favor of promoting migration. We believe that women should be in her own situation. But what we are saying that if women are migrating, that should be legal one. Even the remittance that you are talking about is that if women are contributing to the national economy, it should be made known. It is also her right to know what her rights are so that she gets the services and she can get appropriate training before going overseas. Once the contribution of women are accounted for in the national accounting system, then people will begin to stop sympathizing and start respecting them.

Trafficking is a big issue. What is the UNIFEM doing to coordinate the regional effort to curb this menace?

We have been involved in this issue. In fact, we brought up this issue back in 1991 when it was not much highlighted. We believed that it was a big threat and was an issue that concerned not only one nation but the whole region. There are inward trafficking as well as cross-border trafficking in the region. Even to understand the nuances of the trafficking, we have done a lot of researches for the last four or five years. For the first time, national data have come out on this issue. It demystified lots of myths. One of the myths was that it was caused by poverty alone. The report revealed that it was not that simple. It was much graver than that. The nexus of traffickers is very strong. The UNIFEM has been able to get the networks to work on it – the networks of not only NGOs but also professionals like judges, doctors, police, media etc. The second thing we are doing is preparing the profiles of traffickers – who are they? Are they only men? Are they vagabonds or professionals? We are working with the police in the region. A huge number of them have been trained to deal with this menace. We have started concepts like Zero Trafficking Zones where we are trying to make the women themselves vigilant within their community. Now you can hear about a tuck-driver reporting about trafficking. So the level of awareness among the common people have gone up. Thirdly, we have set up a regional resource center in Nepal, India and Bangladesh – the NGOs are now able to talk to each other for quick awareness and action.

How do you assess the women’s movement in the last one and a half decade in Nepal?

It is important to look at what you are trying to achieve. If we are talking about gender equality and gender justice – these were very deep-rooted discriminations that has happened for generations. So many things are taken for granted. If I look at the women’s movement after Beijing conference, I think a lot has been achieved. At least, people have been able to say that we have so many discriminatory laws in the country – earlier we did not even know about it. Substantial achievements have been made in legal literacy campaign. Women now are aware of their rights. It is so easy to generalize and blame others. I see a new trend among the new fathers. They are more aware about these things. Earlier, men who were trying to be kind to women were always put in another category. I think that has changed a lot. We are categorically demystifying the myths. Especially, I would like to commend the governments of South Asia. We have been able to reach the goal of the girl child. This was the only region that thought of the girl child and had a year and a decade for girl child. And this was the only region where governments have come together to talk about violence and trafficking. SAARC even has a convention against trafficking. I will give the credit to the women’s movement for these achievements.