When designer Prabal Gurung concluded his Fall/Winter 2017 fashion show in New York City, he showcased his t-shirt designs with tag-line ‘The Future is Female’. It was the most trending issue all over social media and in the fashion industry. Originally, the T-shirt design ‘The Future is Female’ was made for Labyris Book known as first women’s book store in New York City for the first time which was opened in 1972 by Jane Lurie and Marizel Rios. They raised their voices for women and their rights45 years ago in the US. 

Let’s get into the slogan, which has a very deep-seated meaning. And just imagine the future without women? Imagine this world without men? It is impossible. Now, we are living in very competitive world where simple things are getting complicated day by day. We talk about humanity, gender equality and sexuality almost every day. But we never think what happens when we work together for better changes.  

Talking about Nepal, 28 percent of women aged 15-49 experience physical and sexual violence in their lifetime as per the data by the Ministry of Health and Population. More than 20 percent young women are harassed everyday in Kathmandu alone. Just a week back my friend shared news in her facebook that a girl in her period had died due to the Chaaupadi custom. Many innocent females lose their lives every year in the name of social practices. There are countless examples related to women and violence.

Future vs Female
We hear about big talks related to women beneficial programs, different women empowering programs get kicked off every week. Big dreams are shared for women. International seminars present about women’s activities in the country’s capital. But things in towns and villages have not changed a bit. It is disappointing that dozens of women and girls die in Nepal in the name of traditions. Women are backward in every sector of development and even in politics. After two decades of political ups and downs, Nepal finally concluded the local level election. We are in the hope of new era and prosperity. Still the same things are happening, we have very low number of female representatives in the local levels.

Instead of practicing fair mix of men and women in main executive position, political parties in Nepal reserved most powerful executive positions only for males. The saddest part is that we don’t have any female Chief Ministers in all seven Provinces. How can we think about future of Nepal being inclusive? Nepal’s political parties are not seriously working on women empowerment. But, time has come for women to make their voices heard and up their participation. Only then will we see a prosperous and developed Nepal.