Women excluded from 'new Nepal' discussions

It was just another empty promise. That is how senior women politicians and activists are feeling after being shut out of ad hoc committees designing the "new Nepal," less than a month after parliament proclaimed it would fight for women's rights. Talks last week, between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and top Maoist leaders, yielded a roadmap leading to elections for a constituent assembly whose main tasks will be to unveil a new constitution and decide the fate of the monarchy. To get there an interim constitution will have to be drafted and progress in peace talks between the two sides closely monitored, the leaders agreed. Two committees were created for that purpose, but no women were included in the six-member group drafting the interim supreme law and only two of 31 members of the monitoring body are women. In response, women have taken to the streets, blocking the road in front of parliament for hours last week and, in recent days, encircling the headquarters of the parties in the seven-party alliance (SPA) that spearheaded April's "people's revolution" against King Gyanendra. They got some good news on June 23, says senior lawyer Sapana Pradhan Malla–the SPA has agreed to expand the interim constitution drafting committee by two members, both women. "It's very critical as it will provide the vision for the new constitution. This transition phase is very important," adds Pradhan Malla, who returned to her office late and out of breath after leading protests at two SPA offices. "Everyone tells us, 'it's a transition time, now peace is very important. Why do you have to make demands?' Definitely peace is important but why can't we participate in the process to ensure that the outcome includes women?" added the executive director of the NGO Forum for Women, Law and Development. On May 30, the restored House of Representatives ended one of myriad practices in the former Hindu kingdom that discriminated against women, declaring that a child's citizenship can be registered in the name of the mother or the father. Formerly the mother's name could not be used, a practice that discriminated against many women, including rape victims and single mothers. The proposal, passed unanimously, along with pledges to reserve 33 percent of places in the civil service for women and to target all legal provisions–women's rights activists have counted 118 of them–that treat women as lesser than men. "The government now has the duty to adopt laws to guarantee at least 33 percent women's participation in state mechanisms, distribute citizenship by the name of mothers and curb domestic violence," Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Urmila Aryal told state-run Radio Nepal. But this week Aryal was threatening to resign as women were excluded from the redesign of this small nation wedged between giants China and India and one of the poorest in Asia. "The government's move is unjust, impractical and against the declaration of the House of Representatives. I am ready to resign, write a note of dissent, talk to the party leadership or take to the streets for the 51 percent of women population in the country," Aryal told a public meeting. Civil society leader Devendra Raj Panday said that male members of parliament probably "mean it when they talk about 'inclusive democracy' but their mindset and baggage are such that they aren't able to free themselves. That's why you see things like no women being named to these committees. The government could have done that." Malla blames a "patriarchal social structure": "It's not that patriarchy is rooted in men, it's in women too... also among the Maoists. I had the expectation that because they had been challenging the socio-cultural structure [they would treat women differently] but it is deeply rooted among them." The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) launched its armed revolution from Nepal's western hills 10 years ago. Leaders said they were fighting for justice and equality for the "oppressed" classes: Dalits (so-called "untouchables"), indigenous people and women. But, just like the government, the Maoists did not name any woman to their talks team that held two meetings prior to the leaders' high-level discussion. April's successful "people's movement," which saw waves of tens of thousands of Nepalis fill streets and public squares countrywide in defiance of "shoot-on-sight curfews," has encouraged various interest groups to make public their demands for justice. Two weeks ago women activists from various districts traveled to the capital to press the Supreme Court to order the government to enact laws guaranteeing equal pay for equal work. "We are not asking for every right that men have but this is such gross discrimination," activist Bishnu Maya Pande from Chitwan told the Nepali Times newspaper. Malla said the current protests, led by the women's wings of political parties, might be expanded if the SPA does not add women to the committees. "We are trying first to convince the political parties. Ultimately it's them who must change the structure they created. But if that doesn't work then we will go to the international community." In the long run, "We have to draft legislation clarifying where women's participation is critical and ensuring that the government can be held legally accountable," she added.