Celebrating Int'l Women's Day

KATHMANDU, March 8: Each year around the world, International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8, and this year it’s the 100 anniversary of IWD. many events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark & celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women. We caught up with a few women from different fields of their perspective on this day and what women’s rights mean to them.[break]

Sujata Thapa, 35 Gender and Peace-Building Expert

Since 1964, International Women’s Day has been celebrated worldwide, marking the significance and contributions of women.

In Nepal’s context, it has been three decades since we have been celebrating this day, but we are still in a transition phase when we talk about woman’s rights issues.

The real woman’s issues have been lost in the agenda and there are certain issues which have not been even put in to the agenda.

Reproductive rights, domestic violence and sexual harassment are some of the issues which have to be brought into light.

I think that the policies that are made are mainly male-focused in Nepal. Be it policies from politics to economics to social rights, it’s all patriarchal.

Gender is a cross-cutting issue.

Women from elite or privileged families share equal rights as men or are as privileged as men but women from marginalized community are suffering more as they are in the lowest rung.

Therefore, we need to focus more on these women who do not have access to education, health and other facilities and are not aware of their rights.

Yamuna Shrestha, 27
Design Monitoring and Evaluation Associate Coordinator

International Women’s Day is solely a day for women, so it should not only be celebrated internationally but it should be celebrated at community level too so that people get more aware of why it is celebrated.

I know I am aware of my rights as a woman but when we talk about the overall situation of Nepal, the status of women is still not up to the standard.

What I feel is that if women have the power of decision-making, then it will be lot easier.

Even in politics, women are involved but we see that they don’t possess the power of making decisions.

When talking about general women too, most of their decisions regarding life and career are mostly influenced by the family.

For instance, even while voting, they easily get influenced by their family and do accordingly.

Therefore, women should be aware of their rights and should spread the same.

Neelam Sharma, 32
Media Coordinator

We work everyday for women but a special day like International Women’s Day is a reminder to bring in to focus that we are there.

When we talk about women’s rights in the context of our country, there are only a few women who are aware of their rights and the rest are still living in darkness.

Lately, with various programs being introduced to support women and their rights, slowly people’s perception of women has changed and understanding has increased.

But still there’s a lot more to be done. Every woman should be aware of her rights, what she can do and should be aware of the rights that the Constitution has provided.

Many women are suffering because they are ignorant about even their basic rights.

There are times when men are blamed for not treating women right and are blamed for acting as a hindrance for their success but we cannot just blame them because people still follow the conventional ways and have a pre-conceived notion that women are still the weaker sex.

But women and men should work together and break free from this attitude and help them understand better.

Dr Bisika Thapa, 30
Monitoring, Evaluation and Quality Assurance Advisor

In Nepal things are very much centralized. So if you look in Kathmandu, women are empowered and are liberated. But when we talk about women’s rights, we need to look beyond the capital.

Especially, women activists should work for women who are deprived and see if their rights are realized or not. When I see people here in the city, I can see that they have achieved a lot and are very much successful.

But when we travel to the rural areas and other parts of the country, we see that we are living in illusion and are way back in terms of even practicing all those rights.

So we need to get out of that illusion and work for better women’s empowerment.

Sarita Thapa, 23
Student

I just know that International Women’s Day is celebrated for women but I am not fully aware of women’s rights.

But talking from my experience and witnessing the society that I am living in, I can see that women do not practice as much freedom as their male counterparts.

In cities like Kathmandu, women are liberal but when we look in the rural areas, women still are deprived of education and do not have any freedom.

Personally, I don’t feel that I have been discriminated against for being a woman, but those women in the rural areas don’t get as much opportunities as men and because of lack of education, they are still backward.

I am originally not from the capital, so looking at my friends back home I see that they are not liberated.

I think that issues of equality of men and women in terms of education and opportunities, right to decide about when to get married, right to property and right to decision making should be brought to attention to uplift the current situation of women.

Bhumika Poudel, 29
Businesswoman

I feel that in the context of our country, women are very much lagging behind in various sectors. We can still see that domestic violence is still prevalent and women don’t have equal rights as men.

Women, especially from rural areas, feel various biases and don’t have much freedom and are deprived of even the basic rights.

I think that the first thing to uplift the situation of women is to provide them with education and make them aware of their rights and roles in the society.

I feel sad that just for a day women are respected and their achievements are celebrated.

This shouldn’t be the case because women should be respected and celebrated not only on this day but throughout the year.