Ever since the first Jana Andolan in 1990, the Women Leaders have been fighting for an increased representation of women in key decision-making positions. The long battle culminated in the second Jana Andolan, which promised socio-economic inclusion of all marginalized groups including women. In order to enhance, encourage and expand women leadership to all parts of the nation, several political commitments were made.Specifically, it was agreed in the first as well as the second CA that at least one-third seats of all State Assemblies (which includes the House of Representatives, National Assembly, Federal State Assembly and Local Governance Bodies) would be reserved for women. Consequently, a bill was recently presented in the Parliament to ensure at least 50 percent participation of women in vital posts of local bodies. However, in the name of fast-track process and urgency to take quick decisions, the women of Nepal have been cheated.
The recent 16-point agreement (as well as the CPDCC Report) has provisioned to remove proportional quota in the Federal Elections and has not set a reserved quantity for women in the federal and local-level elections. Furthermore, the guarantee of one-third participation of women in both the Upper and Lower House has been amended to state that women would make up merely one-third candidates, and lawmakers, in both the Houses. This means that we might end up having less than 33 percent women in the national legislative bodies, and no women at all in the federal bodies. The draft also fails to ensure meaningful participation of women in local bodies.
When it comes to citizenship, women of Nepal have been continually cheated and citizenship through mothers denied. Even on this issue, all major political parties made public commitments on father "or" mother provision which would enable citizenship through mothers. But the Report of CPDCC specifically mentions the father "and" mother provision, which shows the reluctance to provide equal rights to women. Furthermore, the discriminatory provision on naturalized citizenship has been kept intact. It requires a foreign man married to a Nepali woman to wait for 15 years to acquire citizenship of Nepal, whereas a foreign woman married to a Nepali man gets it immediately after marriage.
Cheated again
The democratically-elected Constituent Assembly has the inherent duty to respect the spirit and general will of the second Jana Andolan while drafting the new constitution. Ensuring increased political participation and socio-economic development of women was one of them. Despite outnumbering men in terms of the total number of voters, the one-third seat allocation that was practiced in the first CA was discontinued in the second. This was the first instance when the women of Nepal were cheated.
Then the Constitution Record Study and Determination Committee of the second CA passed the citizenship provision as a settled issue when clearly this issue was categorized as a disputed issue by the first CA. Cheated again. To increase participation of women and other marginalized communities even at the federal level, proportional representation provision was made for federal elections. However, the recent 16-point agreement decided against it. Cheated yet again.
No democracy
Many understand democracy simply as the rule of majority but democracy is much more than that. Democracy also entails the principles of social inclusion and respect for human rights including the rights of the marginalized. The second Jana Andolan paved the way for inclusive democracy in Nepal but the 16-point agreement has trampled on the path and if the agreement is accepted in its entirety it will result in the continuation of the status quo of socio-economic and political subordination of women. The upcoming constitution might result in election of state assemblies with minimal participation of women. Consequently, this will not help the plight of the 51 percent of the population who are subject to discrimination and violence on a day to day basis.
The government is preparing for the donors' meeting on June 25, 2015. In order to save face and attract more funds for rebuilding, a fast-track process has been adopted. The decision to draft the constitution came as a pleasant surprise to everyone. But on reflection, the real intention behind the constitution seems to be different to what has been projected. Drafting the constitution quickly is by no means an incorrect decision but compromising the concerns of women entirely and taking the earthquake as an excuse is completely unacceptable. It must also be remembered that the majority of earthquake victims were women, and more women participation in the local governance bodies that are implementing relief activities would make sense.
There is still time for the political parties to reach consensus on the issues of women. These issues were again brought to their attention by women political leaders on June 17, 2015. All they need to do now is comply with past commitments and change the draft through the Drafting Committee. Judging by the current scenario this looks unlikely. Much like they did in the past, the parties will again show 'serious concern' to these issues and make false promises to make changes in the draft through the full CA. But when the time comes, they will come up with yet another delightful excuse to cheat the women of Nepal—one more time.
The author is a human rights lawyer
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