As we celebrate the International Women's Day, we are reminded of the progress Nepal has done in supporting and involving women in our economy and society. For the first time in the history of our nation, we have woman president and woman speaker of the house. We will soon have a woman as the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Symbolism plays an important role in our society. Any girl in a remote village in Jumla and Siraha can dream of being president or prime minister of this country.Even the United Nations has recognized the role of community health workers (CHWs), most of whom are women, in reducing maternal mortality and child mortality rates. The new constitution has ensured at least 33% women representation in Nepali parliaments. This will also bring a lot of women at the forefront of leadership.
While we are proud of the works Nepal has done in bringing women to be a key part of our socio-economy, much need to be done. Adult literacy rate of women was around 10% in the late 1970s, and its 46.71% today. But male adult literacy rate is 71.11%. The gap is huge. Women are also vastly underrepresented in national agencies -- 16% in civil service, 4.5% in the judiciary, 5.8% in Nepal Police and only 3.2% in the Army.
But in a society that favors men and gives them a higher authority, women are still vulnerable to crimes like rape, eve-teasing, and sexual abuse. Women are at risk even before they are born – the chances of abortion for a girl child are high due to our preference for sons. Research says 66 percent of women endure verbal abuse, 33 percent emotional abuse, and that 77 percent of the perpetrators are family members.
There is no data regarding the prevalence of violence against women in Nepal but according to a report published in UN Women's website, suicide is the leading cause of death among women aged 15-49 and 50 percent of the suicide cases are related to burn violence. The numerous campaigns to draw the government's attention on the issue have fallen on deaf ears.
The United Nations has set forth Planet 50-50 by 2030– "the expiry date for all forms of gender inequality, discrimination and violence." This is an ambitious goal for the countries to fulfill and all the more so for Nepal, where gender discrimination is deep in almost every household. The World Economic Forum predicted in 2014 that it would take until 2095 to achieve global gender parity. Then, in 2015, they estimated that a slowdown in the already glacial pace of progress meant the gender gap wouldn't close until 2133.
It is upon every one of us to take a pledge to end this gender disparity, to do what little we can to make sure women aren't treated as dispensable beings.
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