There was a great churning among Kathmandu feminists regarding President Bidya Bhandari's visit to the Janaki temple in Janakpur and the protests from the Madheshis against her visit. Following the disquiet in Kathmandu, an investigation committee has been formed to investigate the protest that was termed an "assault" on the President. For instance Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli sharply criticized this as an assault on all the women of the world. The feminists in Kathmandu made it a feminist issue and took no time in spewing venom against the Madheshis. The 'repressive' Madheshi culture vis-à-vis women were vehemently criticized. The issue of patriarchy in Madhesh and many other practices that are partial towards women came to the forefront like never before.However, an important fact that was absent from the feminist debate is discrimination against women in Madhesh that has been institutionalized by the state through its devious instruments. Kathmandu polity has never realized the need for formation of a commission to understand the context in which Madheshi women are placed in the history of Nepal. The Kathmandu feminists have quite conveniently remained silent on the state's partiality towards women in Madhesh in the name of sovereignty and nationalism.
Or perhaps it has been accepted that they do not deserve attention and time or any kind of investment from the state. They are deprived from becoming full citizens of Nepal and strategically denied rights to hold eminent positions like President or Prime Minister of Nepal. However, this discriminatory provision has been readily accepted by the Kathmandu centric, ruling elite driven feminism.
Moreover, the context of Madheshi women is very different from what is most often portrayed by the media or the state. Cross-border marriages are common in the plains. But there is no reason why these women have to be deprived of equal citizenship as compared to Pahadi women. Madheshi women spend their entire lives in Nepal but still end up stateless given Nepal's discriminatory citizenship provisions. However, this question has always been dismissed on the pretext of protecting the country's sovereignty and the feminists of Kathmandu have really fallen behind the state on this issue.
It is clear that Madheshi women pose the least threat to national sovereignty and depriving them of citizenship is the state's design to keep almost half the Madheshi people from occupying important state organs. Cross-border marriages have been an age-old tradition in the plains and the state instead of recognizing this has only made it an agenda to render the entire Madheshi population second class citizens in Nepal.
This is also an important reason for women in Madhesh falling far behind their Pahadi counterparts, on every indicator of the Human Development Index. This paints a clear picture of the ubiquitous divisions of Nepali women based on class, caste and ethnicity.
As far as President Bhandari's visit to Janakpur and the protests by the local people is concerned, it does not need an explanation that the protest was more against Bhandari as the representative of the oppressive state; and not against a single woman trying to enter a temple. Her visit to Janakpur could have been an important step in breaking the current impasse but instead it has deepened the rifts. She as a woman has never raised her voice against the security forces' abuse of women in the course of the Madheshi movement. Perhaps, in her imagination, women in Madhesh do not deserve as much dignity as the President. This treatment of women in Madhesh as lesser human beings has never been able to catch enough attention of the Kathmandu feminists.
Being born a woman, as such, is no guarantee that you will work for the benefit of other women. Kathmandu's feminists are surely aware that the President believes women are born to be subordinates of men and that their aspiration for equality is a sign of westernization.
Feminism in Nepal needs to broaden its horizon beyond Kathmandu. The Kathmandu-born feminists, again, do not represent entire Nepal and they also do not have the right to speak on behalf of women of Madhesh. The appalling fact is that Kathmandu's feminists are today no different to Kathmandu's rulers. Patriarchy has been well and truly institutionalized.
The author is a research associate at Social Science Baha
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