Rural women no longer 'passive to poverty and gender discrimination'

N.P.Upadhyaya

It was a Freidrich Ebert Stiftung, FES, sponsored informal meet wherein Dr. Meena Acharya was scheduled to present her voluminous paper on the status of the Nepali women. The paper dwelt largely with the issues and problems confronting this section of the society. I was told to put my comments on her paper. It was a great task for me to comment on a paper penned by such a personality who perhaps has no match in Nepal and abroad as well. But then yet, I accepted the academic challenge and pushed my views on the last day of the year 1994 which is as follows:

"At the very outset, let me make you all clear that I am neither a political scientist nor an economist nor even a very senior journalist. Nevertheless, my long stint in the media sector and my interactions with Nepali academicians practically of all the disciplines in the recent years has indeed encouraged me to participate in such meets.

A word to Dr. Acharya as well.

Please accept my words here as suggestions. I do agree mostly with what you have said in your paper. How I could dare to comment on your paper?

Well Dr. Acharya's paper is a gist of her meticulous research works. The paper itself speaks of her vast knowledge that she has gained over the years by being involved in this sector which mostly dwells at the women's genuine issues that demand early redress from the State. She in her paper also demands, what I could grasp, the civil society and the media and other important sectors that have a direct or indirect bearing on the women's issues to be more sensitive towards the issues that women of today were confronting with.

The senior economist also demands a fair and equal treatment from the State to the women and in saying so she is indicating that women should get what is long overdue to them: both by the State and the society.

Above all, she demands from the media a sort of prestigious treatment for the women and alleges that a section of the media more often than not try to project the women as an "object" that, if glorified disproportionately and portrayed in a vulgar manner, could be sold in the market. She is justified in her saying but then yet here I beg to differ.

The furniture and the divorce propaganda material aired in the radio at the outset, the lady offering her voluntary oratory too should have denied to work in such an awful ad that, as Dr. Acharya rightly admits, degrade her own and the entire women folks' dignity. If some wishes to commit suicide, how long the neighbors could take care of him? (The woman suggests her husband that she needed the furniture from a particular factory or else she would demand divorce from her consort).

Let the women themselves chart a limit for themselves. That would take care of the rest. This applies in fashion model or designing as well.

Contrary to Dr. Acharya's contention that is filled with emotion and sympathy for the Nepalese women, the fact is also that things have improved since 1975 thanks to the UN initiatives coupled with the contributions rendered in this regard by a host of NGOs and INGOs. First had been the advent of Welfare approach that was followed by Women in Development, WID and then Women and development, Wad. I am told, today senior economists have coined a new theory that is called GAD, Gender and Development. These non-governmental institutions have been working for empowering women, which is what Dr. Acharya wishes in essence, and been informing the women folks to assess their own contributions in the cause of nation's development. Subtly, there is a message to the conservative males also who are seated in practically all the lucrative and decision-making posts of the government.

Pleasingly, the poor women in the villages, for whom Dr. Acharya has tremendous love and honor, are no longer passive to poverty and gender discrimination and that their grass-root movement, I suppose that it is there in the villages, will have to be taken positively by the state and the society to evolve alternative approaches to development strategies which should be, I add, eco-friendly.

In addition to that, the rural women today too have come of their age. They are becoming more aware of the need for education, health care and hygiene and also of the exploitation and suppression—both in the house and now the rebels perhaps. The tragedy is that the women possess still a mentality of dependence on males at home and in the social life. This has got to be changed. Both the females and the society and the male folks in the home should change their attitude as per the changing times. However, positive point is that many rural women have begun exhibiting their inclination to come out of the kitchen-phenomenon and participate in public activities in their genuine bid to assert their rightful equal status. We all should appreciate this trend.

I think the state as the guardian should recognize women's work in the family, farm or business as a "productive activity" because their actions in these places in more ways than one contributing to the nation's up-liftment. Similarly, the government must be alert on the rise in women's unemployment, disparity in employment and more often than not in wages. The government should also begin investing massively in the girl education in order to enlarge the brains of the girl child who is the would be mother of tomorrow so that she upon educating herself could assert and fight for her genuine rights and equal status.

Dr. Acharya would have done well if she mentioned the socio-economic constraints of women entrepreneurs that is increasing in our society annually. One of the major constraints, to me, is that they apparently face is time consuming legal and procedural formalities in setting up new small or large scale industries that becomes a true handicap as women have a mobility problem. Though qualified women are disadvantaged by their own lack of confidence, for a variety of reasons, and, to add insult to injury, by society's lack of confidence in their abilities.

Media:

The entrance of females in the media sector is increasing by leaps and bounds. Newly established media houses and institutions, FM and TV channels have been providing equal opportunities to women as well. The women are doing well, it is evident.

Still, at times there are rumors that women journalists suffer discrimination on grounds of sex and reportedly face heavy odds which they prefer not to reveal until it is enough. Undoubtedly, it takes plenty of tenacity and hard work for women to remain in the profession. Their struggle, if any, is against prejudice, tradition and above all, the indomitable male ego.

Women currently engaged in the media sector being either in a group or individually have been exposing the traditional prevalence of conservatism, male egotism and the societal restrictions imposed on women through their writings. This is a laudable move and thus Dr. Acharya should feel that her worries in a few years from now will come to a low level if not totally vanishing in the thin air.

Now a few words about the FES:

The FES as per its declared agenda is thinking on how to increase the women's participation in its activities. This is a laudable move indeed. However, my own experience has been that women friends either due to lack of time or for certain other reasons prefer more often than not to attend seminars.

One reason could be that to whom we prefer to invite are those who remain heavily engaged in their own societal activities and thus prefer or become not able to spare time to such seminars.

Nevertheless, as a partner of the FES, this time around my newspaper while conducting a seminar on Youth, Media and Peace, December 22 1994, managed to have both the chair and paper presenter as women. The female scholars who were provided this opportunity even dubbed our newspaper as "women-friendly". I don't know whether this is a compliment or just the otherwise.

That's all. 

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