In our society, the responsibility of upholding the social and moral prestige of a family lies with the female members of the family. Anything they do, or don’t do, is viewed with the lens of “prestige”. Our culture has been restricting women’s mobility for ages, in order to ensure that they uphold the family prestige. Sometimes, this restriction is imposed directly by preventing females from accessing education or employment. At other times, the restriction is imposed by setting a certain time by which they should be back home. These restrictions are mostly imposed on the pretense of keeping them safe from nefarious elements of the neighborhood or society. However, it has always been more about keeping family prestige intact and less about safety.
In instances where female members have been granted some mobility, it is usually done by having a male member of the household accompany her as a protective guard or escort. However, in the past few years, restriction of access to social spaces such as restaurants or clubs is on the decline for females in Nepal. Girls are no longer bound by social mores to stay at home while boys are out having fun. Two major liberators of Nepali females have been the mobile phone and the scooter.
PHOTO: REPUBLICA
Mobile phones were introduced late in Nepal. However, after their introduction, they have changed the way we communicate with one another. Despite facing criticism for being a nuisance, they have reduced much of the communication gap that existed between people. Mobile phones are very handy, whether to learn about news or fashion. As a society we have come to value the impact of mobile phones in staying in touch with family, friends and relatives. It is no secret that mobile phones have helped a whole generation of Nepali youth to improve their social relations. This is especially true for females since they have had limited opportunities for continued interactions with others on a daily basis in the past.
I have performed a cross-country analysis of over a hundred countries with a host of indicators to identify the factors that could be the potential reasons for increased usage of mobile phones. Results showed that literacy rate and median age are very significant in the usage of mobile phones. It is safe to say that these hold true for Nepal as well. As our population becomes more educated and literate with each passing year, we are more likely to embrace new technologies. Add to that the fact that current median age of a Nepali is approximately 21 years, and the increased usage of mobile phones in Nepal becomes all the more significant. It has changed the way and extent to which our youths, especially females who before mobile phones had limited access to information and other people, communicate, whether the communication is about movies, dates or jobs. It has helped in liberating Nepali women from information gap.
Nepal’s economy has been growing for years, despite various hiccups. However, the situation of domestic employment has not improved much in the past decade, because of which more and more Nepalis have left for jobs overseas. The “foreign workers phenomenon” dominates current Nepali economic discussions, and has resulted in billions of dollars of remittance inflow into Nepal. The latest census also showed that a significant proportion of Nepali households have a member working overseas and sending remittance income home. What this has done is provided an increased purchasing power to family members. One of its results is that, in remittance recipient families, males have been buying motorcycles and females have been buying scooters in droves.
If mobile phones lifted the barriers in information that females in Nepal faced, scooters have lifted the barriers in mobility. A scooter is not simply a means of mobility, but signifies equality and liberty that greater economic growth and purchasing power brings. Who is to say that women cannot ride motorbikes? However, Nepali women’s overwhelming preference for scooters is not just a choice, but also a symbol of freedom. They no longer have to depend on a male member of the household to help them get somewhere in their motorbikes. Now Nepali women can decide where they want to go and when. The scooter is not simply a means of mobility for them like a motorbike is for men, but a symbol of freedom from the shackles of our various societal dogmas, rules and pretenses of safety that they were made to live with.
Mobile phones and scooters have liberated Nepali women. They still have to be back home by a certain time in the evening, but their mobile phones and scooters have provided greater access to information and greater physical mobility than before. Ever increasing use of these two by Nepali women symbolizes their yearning for liberation more than anything else. They still have a long way to go, but the mobile phones and scooters have provided them a great start.
mukhanal@gmail.com
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