Women in Nepal
Women In Nepal
Nepal is a landlocked country situated in South Asia between India in the South, West and East and China in the North. According to a survey done by the Central Bureau of Statistics in Nepal, the population was recorded to be 26.62 million. In this small country there are still one hundred and one ethnic groups speaking over ninety two languages. Customs and traditions differ from one another but what remains the same is the patrilineal and patrilocal type of society that is present all across Nepal.
Although 50.1% of the Nepalese population is made up by the women, they make up only 39% of the total literate population. In many countries within South Asia such as Nepal, women very commonly have lesser autonomy and power than men in making decisions in the society. In addition, women frequently have unequal and lesser access to education, healthcare, food, Job opportunities, various resources, and even legal rights. Although there have been some increase in the number of educated women in cities such as Kathmandu, the plight of the Nepalese women in the rural parts of Nepal is still very heart wrenching. Rural Nepalese women are further disadvantaged due the the lack of education and the lack of awareness of their social and legal rights making them more prone to various gender discrimination rituals and oppression.
In the Nepalese society men are kept on a pedestal while women are treated like a second class citizens in their own country. It gets even worse if one is a woman that belongs to a lower caste group in the rural part of Nepal. Most of gender bias are covered and given a facade in the form of "traditions" or “rituals” of the society which has lived on for generations.
Although Nepal is going under some profound changes in the recent years major examples of such traditions are “Chaupadi,” “the local custom of isolating women from their families during menstruation” (Gaestel, 2013). According to the 2011 estimate by the government
Nepal is a landlocked country situated in South Asia between India in the South, West and East and China in the North. According to a survey done by the Central Bureau of Statistics in Nepal, the population was recorded to be 26.62 million. In this small country there are still one hundred and one ethnic groups speaking over ninety two languages. Customs and traditions differ from one another but what remains the same is the patrilineal and patrilocal type of society that is present all across Nepal.
Although 50.1% of the Nepalese population is made up by the women, they make up only 39% of the total literate population. In many countries within South Asia such as Nepal, women very commonly have lesser autonomy and power than men in making decisions in the society. In addition, women frequently have unequal and lesser access to education, healthcare, food, Job opportunities, various resources, and even legal rights. Although there have been some increase in the number of educated women in cities such as Kathmandu, the plight of the Nepalese women in the rural parts of Nepal is still very heart wrenching. Rural Nepalese women are further disadvantaged due the the lack of education and the lack of awareness of their social and legal rights making them more prone to various gender discrimination rituals and oppression.
In the Nepalese society men are kept on a pedestal while women are treated like a second class citizens in their own country. It gets even worse if one is a woman that belongs to a lower caste group in the rural part of Nepal. Most of gender bias are covered and given a facade in the form of "traditions" or “rituals” of the society which has lived on for generations.
Although Nepal is going under some profound changes in the recent years major examples of such traditions are “Chaupadi,” “the local custom of isolating women from their families during menstruation” (Gaestel, 2013). According to the 2011 estimate by the government
Bibliography: Gaestel, Allyn. "Out of the Sheds: Women Fight Segregation in Rural Nepal." Christian Science Monitor, 3 Feb. 2013. Web. SOLID Nepal. "Nepal 8th in the World to Have Child Marriage." Society for Local Integrated Development Nepal (SOLID Nepal). N.p., 31 July 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. "Humanitarian News and Analysis." IRINnews. N.p., 15 June 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2013.