Woman Right

 Nepal is the poor country. There are many uneducated people.They do not know what is my right womsan  is housewife.


Every year, in and around March 8, which is marked as International Women’s Day, many programs and activities are organized with great pomp and splendor but the issue of women’s rights regrettably takes a quiet and quick backseat during the rest of the year. This is extremely unfortunate as the issue of gender equality is something that we cannot afford to ignore at least in our part of the world where women at best continue to struggle to find a place at par with men and at worst suffer the worst forms of discrimination and torture.  Take the case of Maya waglel, 45, from Sripur of Triyuga Municipality-9 in Udayapur district who was attacked Sunday with a khukuri by her neighbor on the charge of being a witch.

Ms Wagle’s case is just a case in point. There are many more incidents of similar violence against women that is regularly reported in the media. The cases that make it to the media again form only a small percentage of the brutality that women have to endure on such an unfounded charge. That women in Nepal continue to be discriminated in such a fashion in an age when their counterparts in other parts of the world are heading governments and multinational companies is saddening to say the least.

Let us look at the issue of witchcraft more deeply. We never hear of a man or even a woman from a financially well-off family charged of being a witch. Such charges are always invariably labeled on women from the lowest strata of the society or those who have no one to fend for them. Additionally, such incidents mostly take place at relatively poor and underdeveloped communities pointing clearly to the fact that there is a direct correlation between this problem and the socio-economic condition. Unless the source of the problem is addressed, it is here to stay.  

But that does not mean we have to wait until our communities are prosperous to eliminate this societal disease permanently as that may take years to happen especially considering how politics has been unfolding in the country in recent times. The state has to make a start now by meting out exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of the crime. But punishment is a reactive, not a proactive, measure to address the issue. An effective start would be to intensify the social campaigns that help people eliminate their unfounded beliefs and deep-rooted biases. Remember that not every woman has the fighting spirit of Charimaya Tamang. For every Ms Tamang, there are thousands of women who need the unflinching support of the state