The 29th Foreign Correspondent Report

Women’s Empowerment
Ms. Sushmita Manandhar (Nepal)
Even today, a woman’s voice remains mostly unheard in Nepal. This is hardly surprising
given that Nepal is a patriarchal society where men continue to influence not only politics but
everyday life decisions. I have worked closely with the women’s wings of political parties
from the grassroots to the highest level. Except for a handful of women, Nepalese women
have almost no say be it politically, economically or socially. Though urban areas are noexception, cultural and social barriers religiously followed mostly in rural areas have placed
women in a vicious circle of suppression and bondage. I have closely worked and traveledwith women members in 65 out of 77 districts and share a very close and cordial relationshipwith them. As a woman myself, I can understand other women’s feelings and can quickly
bond with them.
I have worked closely with women political leaders since the Inter Party Women’s Alliance(IPWA - 2006), a working group of women political leaders, was established in Nepal. IPWA
has a common political forum for women to ensure that the Nepal Action Plan, which is a setof reforms and policies to improve the status of women, is implemented within politicalparties and the government to fight years of discrimination and ensure women’s participationin the political process. With a view to address these pertinent issues, IPWA expanded its
chapters throughout the country to serve as focal points for civic education campaigns andadvocacy efforts. One of the major objectives of the Alliance was gender-mainstreaming, andIPWA emerged as a strong localized voice advocating for the rights of women, ensuring 33
percent representation by women at all levels of the government, and especially to protect
their interests in the new constitution. As a result, in May 2007, the government issued aproclamation reserving one-third of all government positions for women. This was a great
stride forward for the Alliance and is seen as a major accomplishment. I have travelled to theremotest villages of Nepal with women leaders to engage and strengthen their chapters andprovided capacity building trainings in order to advocate for their rights. These programs
focus on building the capacity of women through tailored programs by strengthening theirability to identify issues that can be advocated at the national level for future policy
development.
From the constitution drafting process till the promulgation of the constitution, I haveorganized many trainings, workshops, seminars, and trainings of trainers (TOT) to educate
and empower women in their fight for women’s rights. Later, the women members strongly
advocated for their rights and trained more women at the grassroots level. I played a role as
one of the key facilitators in the Constituent Assembly and Women Leadership Development
programs and trained women at the grass roots level by strengthening the ability of women toadvocate for their rights in the context of the Constituent Assembly elections. As a focal

The 29th Foreign Correspondent Reportperson for gender, I have worked closely with the women’s wings of major political parties
during the constitution developmental process. It is because of these contributions by themembers of the women’s wings that today we have 33 percent representation by women at alllevels in government bodies, including political parties. Many of these women are now indecision-making positions within their parties including as ministers and members of theparliament, which inspires me to do even more and better work at the local level where 40
percent of women members are elected and the country is now under a federal system.
Despite decades of progressive policies, Nepal remains a very patriarchal society, where amale-dominated society is still the norm. I always find it more interesting and challenging towork with women as it always inspires me to work even harder to change lives in remotevillages in Nepal where a woman’s existence is barely recognized. As a woman, I believe that
we must carry out multiple tasks to survive in a family or in a society and we can do many
activities to empower a woman to change her life socially, economically and politically.
Nepal promulgated its Constitution in 2015, and held its much-awaited local elections in May
2017 after almost two decades. A total of 35,041 local representatives were elected in the2017 elections and of these, 14,352 or 40.96 percent are women. More trainings andinteractive programs on their new roles and responsibilities are now needed for these women
to gain an understanding of how to work under the current political affairs of the country.

Women welcoming party leaders in Humla during a
Women’s leadership training program. Humla isconsidered to be one of the most remote andisolated regions in Nepal, accessible only by foot or
small aircrafts.

Facilitating a provincial-level training in
Kavrepalanchowk.