Question:
Discuss about the Matters of Social Science.
Nepal is a landlocked country in the middle of the great Himalayan Range. Its demography is nestled between two emerging superpowers of the world which are People Republic of China and India. But Nepal is way behind in economic as well social aspects of development when compared to both its neighboring countries (UN Women | Asia and the Pacific 2017). As history illustrates, Nepal has been in trade with China and India maintaining a harmony with both these giant countries. It has also been susceptible to invasion at times but has been inert for most period of time. At present, Nepal has been disturbed due to its internal conflicts. There has been a war-like situation for claiming rights, freedom and adequate representation.
The country is under transition from being a monarchy to a republican government where Maoists are taking advantage of the situation to promote their own leaders in the top tier of government. Between this state of confusion, there lies an important aspect of a transitional society which is of gender equality. Many social workers and organizations have visited places in Nepal to observe the position of women in Nepal (Therisingnepal.org.np 2017). It was observed that there is a high percentage of gender inequality which women of Nepal have to face. There is a natural sense of gender inequality in the Nepali society due to which women have to face restrictions in almost all facets of life. The following literature review analyses all the problems of gender inequality in Nepal (Acharya 2017).
The literal meaning of gender equality is that men and women both enjoy equal status in the society. There is equal opportunity for everything such as jobs, rights, economic, cultural, social and social development. It has been observed from the pages of history that society has been biased towards males in giving the position of authority in the society (Mahara and Dhital 2015). There has always been a male dominant society with women working passively on the sidelines with no proper appreciation and importance. In Nepal, these ambiguities have widened with women having no proper rights and freedom to do their will and are bounded by innumerable restrictions which come to them naturally (Mahara and Dhital 2015). They are considered as “second-grade citizens” charred in the fire of patriarchal domination. Male citizens of Nepal enjoy all the freedom and liberty and suppress their female counterparts.
Being a diverse society, society in Nepal is mainly patriarchal. Life of a woman revolves around their son, father, and husband. It becomes obvious that to practice such dominant patriarchal system, support of the law is necessary which is granted to the male members in Nepal. The legal system of Nepal also enforces restrictions on women who are left with no choice than to surrender (Ghosh, Singh and Kayastha 2017). Marriage is the most important event for the life of women which determines their well-being in the society. Freedom to choose their life partner is another aspect which determines the degree of liberty a woman has in the society. But in Nepal due to the prevalence of patriarchal system, there is not much a woman can do about their choice in marriage and other personal prerogatives.
The position of women in a patriarchal society is derived through its social system, values of the society and rights which are preserved and protected in favor of women. Nepal government does not pay any heed to develop policies for the social development of women in society (Decker et al. 2016). When the relative status of women is considered, it varies from one ethnic group to another but has no significant difference. It can be easily observed when visiting Nepal, that all the economic activity are done by women but they get no credit for that and their contribution to the society goes unnoticed. It is understood that the work they do is meant for them and that is the only thing for which they are made (Mohapatra 2016).
Empirical data derived from the survey done in Nepal reflect that the condition of women is very severe as compared to men. The situation of women is wretched in terms of health, participation, self-confidence, education, human rights, decision making and policy making. Age of marriage for women is very less as they get married between the age of 15-19 years (Nawal and Goli 2013). This leads to consequences of premature pregnancy resulting in deaths (Bornstein et al. 2016).The pre-natal and post-natal death rate of women is very high in Nepal. High birth rate, high infant mortality rate and low life expectancy are some key indicators of poor health of women in Nepal.
The National literacy rate of Nepal in 40% in which 66% is of men and only 30% women are literate (Ghosh, Singh and Kayastha 2017). This indicates that women are denied of education. Only 24.5% of women in Nepal get enrolled for higher education according to the national statistics of the country (Bista et al. 2017). Women of Nepal do not enroll in vocational and technical courses due to the pressure of society and irrelevant cultural norms (Reading 2012). The burden of workload has increased from 10.8 hours per day to 10.9 hours per day in recent years (Swan 2013). Moreover, women in rural areas are considered as “parayadhan” (somebody else’s property), that is why parents do not invest in their education who believes that they are not going to benefit from their education.
Works done by women are not understood as economic activity. Cooking food, household work, washing clothes and taking care of children are considered as natural work for women. Only 42.5% of women are kept under economically active category as compared to 68% of men (Oestreich 2017). As a result, the participation of workers in the informal sector has increased drastically (Ghosh, Singh and Kayastha 2017). To make money for themselves women of Nepal do jobs like vending, liquor trade and selling vegetables. Moreover, in rural areas women are seen doing field work such as planting, weeding and harvesting which are done by men in other countries. If women are employed in government jobs in urban areas, they are put at low posts and promotion is very hard to get.
Professional work done by women in Nepal is very limited. They are allowed to study law but not practice it (Leder, Clement and Karki 2017). Their presence in bureaucracy is very low. It can be supported by the fact that only one woman has made to the post of ambassador till now. There is limited or no participation in the field of politics and judiciary of women in Nepal. Decision making for women is only in household matters, domestic matters, religious and social travel. But a decline in the decision-making authority has been observed in recent years (Swan 2013).
UNICEF has conducted many surveys and programs to find out the nature and extent of violence against women in Nepal. The picture was very dreadful as there are innumerable cases of violence of all types. It was found that 66% of women are victims of verbal abuse and 33% of them were abused emotionally (Leder, Clement and Karki 2017). Out of all the offenders, 77% of them were family members of the women (Shrestha et al. 2017). At first, there was no serious action taken from the government side, but with due course of time, government agencies have been vigilant to avoid such cases (Bista et al. 2017). But the results have not been promising and there is a lot to be done to protect women from such atrocities. Political agents are also contributors to the violence against women but they cases do not see the light of day due to ignorance of government authorities. Women who actively participate in the politics are also victims of such crimes inside their own party but do not complain or take any action due to obvious reasons (Nawal and Goli 2013).
If the history of Nepal is taken into consideration, it has been a country of struggle. Some patron women like Mangla Devi Singh and Sahana Pradhan have been active in politics during 1950’s. They also formed many organizations for the upliftment of women status in Nepal. In recent years of struggle in 2006, it was observed that the participation of women was significant who challenged the prevalent system of monarchy to replace it with a republican form of government (Bhandari, Sarma and Kutty 2015).
Low and sparse participation of women in politics can be justified by the lack of education and poverty existing in the female members of Nepal. The state policy-making bodies are the only place where a significant amount of women participation can be seen. To increase the role of women in government decision-making, their activity in stake policy-making should be encouraged. Through the political parties, women get a platform to raise their voice against the discrimination they face in the society (Oestreich 2017). This gives them a chance to be heard among masses and inspire other women citizens to join these parties and uplift themselves.
It can be observed that only 32 women are Members of Parliament which is very low as compared to other countries in Southeast Asia (Baral 2016). There have been only three women members in the leading political parties of Nepal such as Nepali Congress, RPP, and CPN. The proposal of having 33% women members have been declined by the political parties (Mishra and Sam 2016). There were only two women of special class out of 85 members in the Civil Services of Nepal and that too about 5 years ago and rest of them were filled with men (Shrestha et al. 2017). There is almost no representation of women in the government organizations, task forces and constitutional bodies. This kind of discrimination exists because there is a natural mentality of people that women should not be there in active politics in Nepal.
In recent years there has been a change in the perception of women in Nepal. After seeing their active participation in the struggle for democracy, people have liberalized a bit in the context of considering woman participation in active politics (Baral 2016). But still many people are not convinced that women can make a difference and deserve equal seats at the table as men. They are considered to be centered on “female issues” and haven’t got the respect which they deserve.
Due to the patriarchal school of thought women of Nepal are not considered competent to win elections. The issues raised by women in political parties, however generic they may be, are considered to be women issues and are sidelined from the main agenda. With thetransition from monarchy to democracy women of Nepal expected a change in their social status (Paudel and de Araujo 2017). To some extent, their position has strengthened, but still, it is alongroad for them to gain equal status as men in the Nepali society.
Some women leaders who have managed to make their name at the time of struggles are looked upon as a sign of inspiration and as an example of the heights at which every woman of Nepal can go. Those women have established their name and vision in a patriarchal society like Nepal which is a very big achievement in itself. These events have made the social, economic and political outlook of women to develop for the future and their level of thought has taken a leap since then (Bhandari, Sarma and Kutty 2015). These luminary women have paved the way for other leaders to follow and bring a radical change in the social status of women of the entire nation. In their tenure of office which some women had held have been very successful.
Moreover, there are many programs and days which are celebrated to encourage women empowerment all across the globe. These symbolic events and days give some courage to the suppressed women of Nepal to rise against the exploitation and do something significant in life. National Women Commission in Nepal was registered in 2002, on the day of 92nd International Women’s Day (Ahmad and Jaleel 2015). Ministry of women, children and social welfare, and National Women Commission has also promised to work for women empowerment.
From the above literature review, it can be concluded that the status of women of Nepal is in wretched condition. Being a patriarchal society, it has no appreciation for the efforts of women. Their work and life have been taken for granted and they are only there to service the men on Nepal. There exists a great disparity in the social, economic and political aspects of Nepali society for women. They lack basic amenities of rights, freedom, education, free will, proper health, and protection. Men of Nepal consider them as an instrument of job and pleasure and they are kept under needless boundations of society which are mostly orchestrated by the men.
Work done by them is not considered to be economic activity and they are subjected to poverty. Women have to do petty jobs to earn money for their household expenses and do their daily chores as well. They are denied of education and are made to lean the household work under compulsion. As discussed above women of Nepal are subjected to violence which is very common and rampant. They are abused verbally and emotionally quite frequently. They are not considered as an equal in the political arena and are denied of important positions and portfolios in government agencies.
It can be observed from the above review that male citizens of Nepal do not want women to grow and prosper and make their life tough so that they cannot compete with them on any stage. It can thus be concluded that there exists an intense issue of gender equality in Nepal which should be minimized or rather eradicated for the welfare of their own country.
References
Acharya, T., 2017. Nepal Himalaya: Women, Politics, and Administration. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 18(4), pp.197-208.
Ahmad, A. and Jaleel, A. 2015. Prevalence and Correlates of Violence against Women in Nepal: Findings from Nepal Demographic Health Survey, 2011. Advances in Applied Sociology, 05(04), pp.119-128.
Atteraya, M.S., Murugan, V. and Pandey, S., 2017. Intersection of caste/ethnic affiliation and poverty among married women in intimate partner violence: the case of Nepal. Global social welfare, 4(2), pp.81-90.
Baral, O. 2016. Educational Status and Postnatal Care Practices among Dalit and Janajati Women of Nepal. Academic Voices: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 5, p.22.
Bhandari, T., Sarma, P. and Kutty, V. 2015. Utilization of maternal health care services in post-conflict Nepal. International Journal of Women’s Health, p.783.
Bischoff, G. 2017. Improving gender equality in the STEM environment: EESC recommendations. STEM Gender Equality Congress Proceedings, 1(1), pp.592-602.
Bista, B., Rai, D., Sagtani, R. and Budhathoki, S. 2017. Utilization pattern of health care services at a peripheral health care facility of Nepal. Health Renaissance, 13(2), p.160.
Bornstein, M., Putnick, D., Deater-Deckard, K., Lansford, J. and Bradley, R. 2016. VII. GENDER IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES: REFLECTIONS, LIMITATIONS, DIRECTIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 81(1), pp.123-144.
Decker, M., Kalamar, A., Tunçalp, Ö. and Hindin, M. 2016. Early adolescent childbearing in low- and middle-income countries: associations with income inequity, human development and gender equality. Health Policy and Planning, p.czw121.
Ghosh, A., Singh, A. and Kayastha, B., 2017. A trapeze act: balancing unpaid care work and paid work by women in Nepal.
Leder, S., Clement, F. and Karki, E. 2017. Reframing women’s empowerment in water security programmes in Western Nepal. Gender & Development, 25(2), pp.235-251.
Mahara, G. and Dhital, S. 2015. Analysis of Health Sector Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Strategy 2009 of Nepal. Kathmandu University Medical Journal, 12(2), p.157.
Mishra, K. and Sam, A. 2016. Does Women’s Land Ownership Promote Their Empowerment? Empirical Evidence from Nepal. World Development, 78, pp.360-371.
Mohapatra, S. 2016. Health inequity and health outcome: a causal linkage study of low and middle income countries. Quality & Quantity.
Nawal, D. and Goli, S. 2013. Inequalities in utilization of maternal health care services in Nepal. Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care, 6(1), pp.3-15.
Oestreich, J. 2017. Sexual orientation and gender identity in Nepal: Rights promotion through UN development assistance. Journal of Human Rights, pp.1-15.
Oliver, P. 2012. Succeeding with your literature review. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Reading, R. 2012. 50-year mortality trends in children and young people: a study of 50 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries. Child: Care, Health and Development, 37(4), pp.608-609.
Ryan, R. and Woods, R., 2017. Women’s Political Empowerment: Lessons for Subnational Levels of Government–Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Indonesia. In Handbook of Research on Sub-National Governance and Development (pp. 385-405). IGI Global.
Shahabuddin, A., De Brouwere, V., Adhikari, R., Delamou, A., Bardaj, A. and Delvaux, T. 2017. Determinants of institutional delivery among young married women in Nepal: Evidence from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 2011. BMJ Open, 7(4), p.e012446.
Shrestha, M., Paudel, L., Pant, S., Neupane, S. and Manandhar, N. 2017. Health seeking behavior among women in Bhimtar, Sindhupalchowk district of Nepal. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 4(6), p.1854.
Swan, P. 2013. Promoting social inclusion through community arts. Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 17(1), pp.19-26.
Therisingnepal.org.np. 2017. The Rising Nepal: Gender Equality In Nepal. [online] Available at: https://therisingnepal.org.np/news/17804 [Accessed 3 Oct. 2017].
UN Women | Asia and the Pacific. 2017. Socioeconomic and political status of women in Nepal. [online] Available at: https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2014/7/socioeconomic-and-political-status-of-women-in-nepal [Accessed 3 Oct. 2017].
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