Be it building of a nation or making a company successful, it is said that both men and women play a significant role. To what extent do you think this idea has been implemented in reality? Are women given equal roles in key positions? Are they provided with equal career opportunities in Nepal?
Anoushka Pandey
Social activist
Although government has formulated reservation system, we can’t see much improvement in private sector. Women still have to struggle to get the top position in any organization.
Women are still not forward in risk bearing position and women entrepreneurs still lag behind. We can see women moving ahead in the corporate world because there is less risk and they are just assigned to do their jobs. No, women are not given equal career opportunities in Nepal. Even in university I have heard my lecturers telling female students that we won’t be able to work in the real and secure top level position, which was discouraging, and this shows that the society still compels women to perform stereotypical gender roles.
Raju Khanal
Section officer at Ministry of Finance
Saudi women join forces to champion the changing role of women
If you take a look at public or civil service sector, you can find that the participation of women has increased. About 17% of women are involved in civil service, which is a great improvement. There have been many policy level changes to encourage women to take part in decision making process but still women haven’t been able to break the glass ceiling at the work force. 59 secretaries of our country are all men. Yes, we have a female president and even the chief justice of our country is female but if you take a look at rural literacy rate, you come face to face with the fact that women in Nepal are still struggling, including career opportunity.
Samikshya Bhattarai
A-Levels graduate
It’s true that both men and women have got equal roles towards development of any organization, but this sentiment is seldom implemented in real life especially in a patriarchal society like ours. Women are still treated as inferior to men, and they may not have a say in the decision making. First of all, there are very few women in the decision making position in our country, even the ones who are in the position are often overlooked. I think we still have a long way to go before there is absolute equality in workplace. We still hear so many instances where women are not hired for jobs solely based on their gender, as people still tend to see women not as competent as men on certain jobs, based on their preconceived notions about women’s ability to work.
Saujan Subedi
Student
Our society has always treated men and women unequally. It might have made more sense in the primitive times when we lived in tribes and had to hunt for the food. But this era has been claimed as an era of opportunities, of modern sciences and discoveries and thus it is important that the old traditional ideas and notions are replaced by the new and more contextual ones. It is really unjustified that women were only looked upon as home makers but this era brings us new hopes. We have a female president and a female speaker in parliament, the women’s participation in the mainstream of development has encouraged in our context now. I am positive that with the tune of time, we will soon achieve the state of equality and equity in our society.
Susma Limbu
Development worker and teacher
Though it is said that women do not have equal position, we can see notable changes regarding roles, responsibilities and status of women in today’s context. Around 30% of women are in the parliament and we have women candidates in three most powerful positions: presidency, speaker of house and chief justice. Similarly, we can find numerous government officials, journalists, lawyers, teachers, physicians who are working actively along with men. Thus, it can be understood that women participation has been encouraged socially, intuitionally and has created a tangible change in our society.
Women today have been provided with platforms to improve and strengthen their positions in society. I, as a woman, can feel that we have been awarded with an atmosphere where we can feel ownership towards change and development. Professional scope for women has also broadened, ensuring the implementation of the concept of equality.
Sajan Adhikari
Civil Engineer
As it has always been said, men and women have equal roles in the development of any society. And that men and women are two sides of a coin. Men and women have attributes of their own through which they can contribute towards the betterment of the society. We can see women have reached policy making level and have been leading various renowned firms and organizations. Though the condition of the educated women has improved, rural women still lack the opportunities which I think should be worked upon. What I believe is no matter the gender or race of an individual, if they possess capabilities and are competent for their role, we should set our prejudices aside. I would thus encourage women to be more active, grab the opportunities they have and pave a prosperous way for themselves and I would also encourage the men to be equally supportive.
Deepika Juliana Neupane
High school graduate
It’s very important to give equal career opportunities to both men and women. The situation now has improved and women can be seen pursuing career in different fields. But still we can find that not many women are employed in prominent position due to of lack of education. We can certainly see improvement, yet the condition of women from rural area could be reformed.
Sunny Mandal
High school graduate
We talk about gender equality. Many organizations have been established to ensure gender equality in Nepal but I don’t think many policies have been implemented. Even the reservation system is not utilized properly. Many organizations or companies in Nepal still prefer to hire men despite women having same qualification and experience. Only women from high class society are provided with career opportunities while women from middle class family still have to fight to get their right to education.
