As a federal lawmaker, how satisfied are you with women’s representation in political parties and the state apparatus?
First of all, we have to think why women’s representation is important. We have a patriarchic society that is both discriminatory and violent toward women. Though plenty of women are involved in political, economic, cultural and other areas, they are denied appropriate pay and position. In this sense, discrimination and inequality are pervasive. Women lag behind in every sector though there is equal contribution of both sexes in all sectors. Additionally, it is hard for women to assume leadership roles.
Our culture does not accept women’s leadership, even though men and women have played equal roles in bringing about social and democratic changes. Directly or indirectly, women have played an encouraging role in all political movements and revolutions in Nepal. Yet the social attitude to women remains unchanged.
What do you think accounts for this static social attitude?
Until there is 50 percent representation of women, there will be no meaningful development in Nepal. Many countries have guaranteed women’s prominent presence in politics as well as in social and economic sectors. The honesty and commitment of women have been proven to contribute to development and prosperity the world over. Let us not talk about equality only on political front. Women’s prominent roles are equally important in economic and cultural spheres.
Talking about political representation, not one of the four national parties has enough women in their decision-making organs.
The new law has made representation of 33 percent women mandatory in all structures of political parties. In line with the new law, parties, including mine, have already amended their statutes. Other political parties should follow suit.
This provision of 33 percent repesentation should be effectively implemented in all state organs. Be it the Public Service Commission, the army, or any other political appointments, the provision must be honored. Let us develop an effective mechanism to ensure that this happens. Even in the parliament, women have proven their leadership after being sent there in three periodic elections since the first Constituent Assembly (CA) election in 2008. Yet political parties are still reluctant to give them prominent roles.
As you hinted, there aren’t enough women in top decision-making levels, be it in the federal parliament or the local bodies. Does the old patriarchal mindset account for the paucity?
There is low representation of women in core decision-making levels in the parliament and the political parties. As a result, women in other areas have also been deprived of adequate representation as guaranteed by our laws and the constitution. For this to change, there should be greater representation of women in the cabinet, party offices and their committees responsible for selecting electoral candidates. We have discussed women’s representation enough. Now let us talk about their meaningful representation.
Keeping women away from decision-making is also depriving them of leadership skills. This is happening due to the patriarchal mindset. Again, our society still does not accept women in leadership roles.
The current government seems to be using different yardsticks while evaluating the rights of men and women
As you said, implementation of key legal and constitutional provisions has been weak. Who do you think is responsible?
Those who need change the most must be in decision-making levels. In Nepal, women from Madhesi, Dalit and other marginalized communities are still badly discriminated against and they are far from decision-making levels. The parliament, the government and the political parties are not giving enough attention to their issues.
We have to have a separate strategy to combat the patriarchal mindset. For this, the support of all sections of the society is needed. For effective implementation of legal and constitutional provisions, women should take leadership, which in turn should be supported by the society at large and other institutions.
What efforts are being made to end discrimination against women? What about the resistance to those efforts?
When we raise women’s issues, we don’t get encouraging support. But there is also a compulsion to implement legal and constitutional obligations. This has, to an extent, broken the hold of the patriarchal mindset and women are getting new rights on citizenship and parental property for instance. Similarly, many women-friendly laws are being endorsed by the parliament. Yet there has been little progress in ensuring social security of women because government policies, programs and funding mechanisms are discriminatory.
Are you suggesting the Oli government is not women-friendly?
Yes. The lawmaking process is moving ahead, as guided by the constitution. Discussions are underway on amendment of the Citizenship Act to ensure citizenship under mother’s name. The problem is that the current government seems to be using different yardsticks while evaluating the rights of men and women. This is why many discriminatory laws remain.
What one step will have the biggest impact in terms of levelling the playing field between men and women?
To ensure women’s leadership, we have to embrace the concept of separate electoral constituencies for them. This will make women’s leadership more acceptable as people will vote exclusively for women candidates. We can for instance set aside 33 percent of the constituencies for women. Let us have this provision for two or three elections.After that they can be phased out.
We will never be able to see women in leadership roles until we create women-only constituencies. Again, this is the only way to ensure that women’s leadership is accepted. Now there is criticism that women, who are mostly serving as deputies in local levels, have failed to perform. But how could they carry out this challenging role without any preparation? To start with, why weren’t they adequately trained?
