Civil Society Report on

BEIJING+25

Women and Violence

Economy Against
Human Rights Education and
Women
of Women Taining of
Women

Women and Women in Power

Health and Decision-
Making

Women and Women and

Armed Conflict Media

Women and Women and

Environment Poverty

Institutional
NEPAL
The Girl
Mechanism for Child
the Advancement
of Women

Submitted by
National Network for Beijing-review Nepal (NNBN)

Co-ordinated by

FWLD
Working for non-discrimination and equality
 National Consultation on Civil Society Report on
beijing
review
Organized by
Supported by

The Ford Foundation FWLD

National Network for Beijing-review Nepal
Oct 17 - 18, 2019
Working for non-discrimination and equality
(NNBN)
National Network for Beijing-review
Nepal (NNBN)

Secretariat

RHRWG WFDM FWLD

Women Friendly Disaster Management

Reproductive Health Rights Working Group

Working for non-discrimination and equality
National Network for Beijing-review Nepal (NNBN)
1. 1325 Action Group Nepal
2. Aaprabasi Mahila Kamdar Samuha (AMKAS) Nepal
3. Aawaaj
4. Alliance for Social Dialogue (ASD)- Social Science Baha
5. Blind Women Association, Nepal (BWAN)
6. Blue Diamond Society
7. Burns Violence Survivors Nepal
8. Centre for Agro-Ecology and Development (CAED)
9. Centre for Awareness Promotion (CAP) Nepal
10. Centre for Women Awareness and Development
11. Civil Society Network on Citizenship Rights
12. Community Action Centre-Nepal (CAC-Nepal)
13. CREHPA
14. DIDIBAHINI
15. FEMINIST Dalit Organization (FEDO)
16. FPAN
17. Gender Studies
18. Gender Studies Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social sciences, Tribhuvan
University, Nepal
19. Girls Kick
20. Gramin Mahila Jgaran Sanjal
21. Her Turn
22. Indigenous Women Legal Awareness Group (INWOLAG)
23. INHURED International
24. International Alert
25. Ipas Nepal
25. IWART Nepal
27. Jagriti Child and Youth Concern Nepal (JCYCN)
28. Jagriti Mahila Maha Sanga (JMMS)
29. Karnali Integrated Rural Development and Research Centre (KIRDARC NEPAL)
30. Legal Aid and Consultancy Centre (LACC)
31. Maiti Nepal
32. Manaswi Parijat Mahila Kendra
33. Media Advocacy Group (MAG)
34. Mitini Nepal
35. MMSD (Media Mobilization for Sustainable Development)
36. Nari Chetana Samaj Nepal (Socirty for Women Awareness Nepal (SWAN)
37. National Association of the Physical Disabled-Nepal (NAPD-Nepal)
38. National Deaf Women Committee Under National Federation of the Deaf Nepal (NDFN)
39. National Federation of the Disabled –Nepal
40. National Network Against Girl Trafficking (NNAGT)
41. Nepal Disabled Human Rights Center (DHRC-Nepal)
42. Nepal Disabled Women association (NDWA)
43. Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj
44. Nepal Silk
45. "Nispakchya" Association of conflict affected Women
46. POURAKHI Nepal
47. Radha Paudel Foundation
48. Resilience for Sustainable Empowerment (RISE)
49. SAATHI
50. SABAH Nepal (SAARC BUSINESS ASSOCIATION OF HOME BASED WORKERS)
51. Sahara Foundation Nepal
52. Sakcham Rural Nepal
53. Samakon TV SWAM
54. Sancharika Samuha Nepal (SASN)
55. Sankalpa
56. Search-Nepal
57. Shanti Malika
58. SHTRII SHAKTI (S2)
59. Social Institution for Skill, Employment and Awareness
60. Social Work Allies for Sustainable Approaches (SWASA, Nepal)
61. Tewa
62. THOUGHTFUL STEPS ORGANIZATION
63. Visible Impact
64. Women Act
65. Women Development Foundation Of Nepal
66. Women for Human Rights, Single Women Group (WHR)
67. Women Lead Nepal
68. Women Security Pressure Group (WSPG)
69. Women's Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC)
70. Young Women for Change

Printing of this Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 is supported by UN Women.

 INTRODUCTION
2020 will be a pivotal year for the accelerated realization of gender equality and
the empowerment of all women and girls. As the global community marks the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption
of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), and five years of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development
Goals, the moment is right to achieve irreversible and measurable progress
towards this universal commitment to all women and girls, everywhere. The
Beijing+25 Review will help shape and accelerate a transformative agenda
where gender equality and women’s empowerment are realized.

This Civil Society Report on Beijing +25 Review of Nepal is prepared in a

participatory manner involving over 70 civil society member organizations of
the National Network for Beijing Review Nepal (NNBN) with Forum for Women,
Law and Development (FWLD) as the Secretariat of the Network. The lead
authors, mentors, youth engagements and the report writing teams for each 12
critical areas of concern have been listed under Annex. Similarly, the editorial
and technical team members and the report writing contributors have been
listed under Annex. This report includes data and information on the present
status and progress achieved in regard to the women’s advancement in each
12 critical areas of concern flagged by the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action since the Beijing +20 Review of Nepal. This report while acknowledging
positive implementation and the progress achieved so far also points out the
persistent and emerging challenges in relation to each critical areas of concern.
It also makes recommendations that should be addressed during the review
and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action of the States in the sixty-fourth session of the Commission on the Status
of Women.

REPORT WRITING PROCESS

FWLD, which had coordinated the Shadow Report Writing Process of
CEDAW since the Initial Report in 1999 to the Sixth Periodic Report in 2018,
has also been coordinating the Civil Society Report on Beijing +25 Review
as the Secretariat of the National Network for Beijing Review Nepal (NNBN).
The NNBN is a civil society network that constitutes of over 70 leading non-

1 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

government organizations (NGOs) working to protect and promote women’s
human rights. The Network was born out of a passionate desire of key NGOs,
which are involved in the Beijing initiative since the very beginning, to be the
part of review process in 2009. NNBN was involved in the submission of parallel
report in Beijing +5, +10, +15 and +20 reviews.

After taking over the role of the Secretariat of NNBN, FWLD conducted an initial
meeting with the member organizations of NNBN on 17th April, 2019 in order to
inform the members about the Beijing +25 report writing process and its modality.
Then, in different times, the FWLD conducted several rounds of meetings with
the NNBN member organizations and also with the senior women rights activist
who have been involved in the Beijing review process from the initial stage as
to the way forwards for the B+25 review process.. To make the process more
inclusive and to ensure the generational and intersectional equality the NNBN
had been opened for organizations, professionals, and people of all sections and
levels including person with disability, LBTI, Indigenous people and other. The
private organizations or the independent consultants endorsing the principles
of NNBN are also made involve in the network and contribute accordingly.

It conducted the Intergenerational Engagement Meeting for Beijing +25

Processes on 14th May, 2019 in order to make the report writing process more
inclusive from the prospective of gender, generation, and section. The NNBN
adopted inter-generation, inter-sectional approach and also adopted men's
involvement approach while selecting report write-up team. The Network
decided to engage at least one youth under the age of 29 for each 12 critical
areas of concern in reporting writing team and other activities in order to
promote the involvement of youths in the Beijing review process.

On July 6, 2019 a meeting with the NNBN Core Committee and the Advisory
Committee was conducted to plan for provincial level consultation and
identification and criteria of the writers including the way forwards of NNBN. On
July 9, 2019 another round of meeting was concluded to finalize tentative work
plan of report writing process and provincial level consultations. The meeting
finalized lead authors, mentors and youths to be engaged in each of the 12
critical areas.

Owing to the necessity of engaging province level women, other concerned

stakeholders and issues of local level in the Beijing +25 civil society report
process, the NNBN 7 provincial level consultations were conducted in all
7 provinces in the month of August and September 2019. The provincial
consultations highlighted on the Beijing Review Process, its importance and
discussed on all 12 critical areas of concern to obtain feedback in the draft
report prepared by the report writing team.

A meeting was conducted on August 23, 2019 with the lead authors, mentors,
and the youth engagements to discuss on modalities to draft the Beijing +25 Civil
Society Report. Similarly, a meeting was conducted by FWLD on August 27, 2019
which had formed different committees including report writing coordination
committee, logistic committee, participants committee and nominee committee

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 2

 and also discussed on the modalities, date and venue for the national level
consultation. Another round of meeting with the Core Committee and Advisory
Committee Members was held by FWLD on 6th September, 2019 which agreed
upon the tentative dates for National Consultation and finalization of the report.

A Two-Days National Level Consultation was organized on 17th and 18th

October, 2019 with over 500 participants from all over the country. Women,
Children and Senior Citizens Minister, representatives of different government
agencies, commissions and Nepal Bar Association, International non-
governmental organizations, UN Agencies, multi-generational of all levels
women and men, students, journalists, women activists, professionals and
private sectors from across the country were participated in the Consultation.
12 parallel sessions were conducted for 12 critical areas of concern to discuss
on the report and recommendations from the provinces along with formulating
other necessary specific recommendations. The participants could gauge
achievements, challenges, emerging trends thereby assessing the overall
status of women in Nepal and able to raise their voices to keep the ‘gender
equality and empowerment of women’ as the critical agenda at all levels. After
extensive deliberations and discussions, the Beijing +25 Civil Society Report
was endorsed along with the feedback in the consultation. The report was then
finalized incorporating feedback from the national consultation.

3 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

Preamble
Nepal is a state party to widely ratified international human rights instruments
inter-alia those specifically related to gender equality. Up to the present time,
Nepal has ratified/signed/acceded to 23 international human rights instruments
including 13 core international human rights treaties. Furthermore, it can be
observed that Nepal has adopted both the monistic and dualistic approaches
of adoption of international law, nevertheless recently, Nepal is seen to be as
predominantly a monistic country and as such it is bound to apply the provisions
of international treaties that it is a party to.

To ensure the gender equality, Nepal has taken multiple approaches through
domestic, regional and international normative frameworks. Nepal is state
party to a large number of treaties and has subsequently introduced number
of legislations to eliminate gender-based discrimination and ensure women’s
empowerment.

While looking at the constitutional provisions, the Constitution of Nepal-2015

contains provisions for institutional mechanisms relating to gender equality.
Inclusion is also ensured through other provisions such as Article 283 which
states that appointment to the constitutional bodies and agencies shall be made
based on the principles of inclusion. Article 269 makes it mandatory for all the
political parties to abide by the policy of inclusion. The Constitution promotes
proportional representation for the appointment in Government of Nepal (GoN)
services.

Nepal has ensured inclusivity as fundamental rights and directive principles

constitutionally. Furthermore, the scrutiny of other Nepalese statutes reveals
legal safeguards on special provisions for the rights of women in equality and
inclusion agenda. With various provisions intact, Nepal still has a long way to go
in bringing application of those provisions.

Apart from these legislations, the GoN has set up multiple structures that deliver
Gender equality related services. The Department of Women Development
under the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens looks after women’s
and children’s programs and implements them through its Women Development
Offices, which are the key gender focal points in the local level. Also, GESI units/
social divisions units or like functioned divisions have been found to exist within
the Ministries of Health and Population, and Agriculture and Cooperatives,
Education,Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD), National

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 4

 Planning Commission (hereinafter NPC), Ministry of Finance, etc. The GoN has
been implementing Gender Responsive Budgeting since F/Y 2007/2008.

With regards to the principle of non-discrimination, Nepal being a state party

to major United Nations (UN) conventions has ensured that all instances of de
jure discriminations have been eliminated in almost all of the areas; moreover, it
has ensured that right against discrimination is ensured as a fundamental right
of every citizen. However, the same cannot be said about elimination of de facto
discrimination.

GENERAL MEASURES OF
IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING
In order to transform accountability and obligation of international commitments
made by the GoN in national context, specific monitoring mechanisms have
been established by the GoN on Gender equality. The National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) was established in 2000as an independent, autonomous
statutory body under the Human Rights Commission Act 1997 (2053 BS).
The Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007 (2063 B.S) alleviated the NHRC as a
constitutional body with aggravated responsibilities. These responsibilities
compliment the responsibilities of the normal machinery of the administration
of justice, the Supreme Court, and the Office of the Attorney General, the
Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, and other existing
executive, quasi-judicial or judicial bodies of Nepal. The Constitution in
Article 249 specifies that “(i) It shall be the duty of the National Human Rights
Commission to ensure the respect, protection and promotion of human rights
and their effective implementation."

Similarly, Article 253 of the Constitution designates the National Women

Commission (NWC) as an important monitoring and evaluation mechanism
relating to GESI with a mandate consisting of the specific duties.

Article 293 of the Constitution specifies in relation to the monitoring and

evaluation of works of constitutional bodies that “The chief and officials of the
constitutional bodies shall be accountable and answerable to federal legislature.
The respective committee of the House of Representatives may monitor and
evaluate the functioning of the constitutional bodies including reports, other
than that of the National Human Rights Commission, and issue necessary
directives and suggestions.”

5 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

WOMEN AND POVERTY
1. Present Status
In Nepal, women comprise 51.5% percent of the total population.1 As of 2015,
21.6% of people (more than 6 million) are still below the poverty line.2 The
National Planning Commission (NPC), in line with MDG, has set goal to reduce
poverty in Nepal to 18% by 2019 and to 5% by 2030.3
The Government of Nepal, along with the Constitution and two Country Codes,
has passed specific laws, policies and programs that consolidate and ensure the
economic and social benefits of women from 2015 to 2019 along with various
policies and funds for the enhancement of women.4
The Constitution of Nepal guarantees women’s social and economic rights. It
ensures equal lineage right,5 special opportunity in employment, and social
security on the basis of positive discrimination,6 equal right to spousal property
and family affairs among others.7 It also ensures equal right to ancestral
property without discrimination on ground of gender.8 A woman's right to
equal protection of law9 and non-discrimination10 irrespective of the marital
status and economic condition. Instead, it allows government to adopt special
provisions for the protection, empowerment and development of the socially
and culturally backward women, sexual minorities and pregnant women among
others.11 Constitution has also ensured the right of helpless single women to
social security.12 Further, Constitution has adopted gender inclusive policies
regarding social justice and inclusion where arrangements for the livelihoods of

1. Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal in Figures (2019).

2. Government of Nepal, Ministry of Finance, Economic Survey 2017/18, (2018),https://mof.gov.
np/uploads/document/file/for%20web_Economic%20Survey%202075%20Full%20Final%20
for%20WEB%20_20180914091500.pdf.
3. Nepal Planning Commission (NPC)
4. Single Women Security Fund (Running) Guideline 2013, Labor Act 2017, Contribution based
Social Security Act 2017, Social Security Act 2018.
5. The Constitution of Nepal, Article 38(1).
6. Ibid, Article 38(5).
7. Ibid Article 38(6).
8. Ibid Article 18(5).
9. Ibid Article 18(2).
10. Ibid Article 18(3).
11. Ibid Article 18(3) – proviso.
12. Ibid Article 43.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 6

 the helpless single women is made while also giving priority to employment of
such women on the basis of skills, competency and qualification.13 This policy
focuses on self-development of vulnerable women, subjected to social and
family exclusion and who are victims of violence.14
The Country Civil Code, 2017 considers wife, daughter and mother as an heir15
and ensures an equal right of women to the parental and husband's property.16
It further ensures equal right of son and daughter in ancestral property
irrespective of the marital status.17
Based on the national policy and provisions of Poverty Alleviation Fund Act
(PAF) enacted to reduce extreme poverty in Nepal, the Government has been
implementing various programs and adopting new policies related to poverty
alleviation by encouraging active participation of women in the community.18
For instance, in 2015, PAF had established its contact offices in every program
districts and Portfolio Managers were assigned at district.20 The Act also allows
government to provide grant and necessary assistance to the institutions
involved in poverty alleviation programs and activities. For this, women
facing extreme economic challenges, among other vulnerable groups of the
community, especially fall within the targeted beneficiaries of PAF.21
The Government has also formulated a National Employment Policy 2015 which
targets women (among others) in addressing the existing inequalities and
discrimination22 by encouraging productive employment to alleviate poverty
and achieve sustainable economic growth.23
The new Labor Act has ensured the equal rights of women in terms of wages
and social security provided by the institutions.24
Specific legal provisions such as, rebate in registration fee if the land is registered
jointly in the name of husband and wife and rebate in registration of industry in
the name of woman can be taken as progressive step towards addressing the
issue of 'women and poverty".25

13. Ibid Article 51 (j) (1).

14. Ibid Article 51(j) (2).
15. The Country Civil Code, 2017 , Section 205
16. The Country Civil Code, 2017, Section 206
17. The Country Civil Code, 2017, Section 205 and 206.
18. Annual Report2015, Poverty Alleviation Fund, Nepal, http://www.pafnepal.org.np/uploads/
document/file/Last%20PDF%20Annual%20Report%202015%20PAF_20160516012026.pdf.
19. Annual Report 2015, Poverty Alleviation Fund, Nepal, P. III.
20. Preamble, Poverty Alleviation Fund Act, 2063.
21. Annual Report2015, Poverty Alleviation Fund, Nepal.
22. National Employment Policy, 2015, Government of Nepal, Ministry of Labor and Employment,
p. 10.
23. Ibid p. 3.
24. Labor Act 2017.
25. The Industry Policy 2010 provides a rebate of 35 per cent of the registration fee for industries
registered in a name of a woman and a 20 per cent rebate for registration of an industrial
property patent, design and trade mark in a name of a woman. Financial Act 2019 provides a
rebate of 20 per cent in income tax.

7 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

Further, through the Prime Minister Self Employment Program, Government
has adopted tax exemption policies to support women who have started small
scale enterprises and institutions. Similarly, land wholly owned by a female is
given 25% tax exemption by the government.

2. Progress Achieved
As a result of efforts from various governmental and non-governmental
organizations the poverty level has been reduced from 25.8% in 2014 to 21.6%
as of 2018.26
The female-headed household as of 2018 is 23.8% which shows the increment
in ratio in comparison to that of 2003-4 which was 19.6%.27
As of 2018, Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) is present in 66 districts covering
2208 VDCs (under old administrative division). About 32186 Community
Organizations (COs) have been formed against its target of forming 32000
CO's by the end of 2018.28 Its coverage includes 16% of the total population
of the country who are poor, vulnerable and marginalized among which 79%
women are identified to have benefited from the PAF programs.29 Further, larger
portion of the PAF's CO members are women.30

3. Persistent and Emerging Challenges

Women in rural areas are more severely affected by poverty in comparison to
urban areas.31
Although there has been gradual reduction in the level of poverty (from
25.2% in 2011 and 31% in 2004 to 21.6% in 2018) and vertical discrimination,
horizontal discrimination still persists. Inequality and discrimination among
women persists in poverty and human development indexes along with a huge
disparity between the genders.32
Among 76% of agricultural households in Nepal, about three-fourth of the
households are male-headed and the female-headed households33 is only
26.6 percent. Furthermore, the government has also adopted a wide range of

26. Comprehensive Impact Evaluation of Poverty Alleviation Fund Nepal, May 2018, https://www.
npc.gov.np/images/category/CIE_PAF-FINAL_REPORT_07_MAY.pdf.
27. Comprehensive Impact Evaluation of Poverty Alleviation Fund Nepal, May 2018.
28. Comprehensive Impact Evaluation of Poverty Alleviation Fund Nepal, May 2018, p. xiii.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal in Figures (2019).
32. National Employment Policy, 2015, p. 4.
33. Head of household is defined by the NLSS as the person who i) manages the income
earned and expenses incurred, ii) is the most knowledgeable about other members of the
household, and iii) was present in the household for at least 6 of the 12 months preceding the
interview.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 8

 policies and put in place mechanisms to address women's right for access to
resources.34
There are also complexities seen in the implementation of the concurrent
policies.35 For instance, if a female demands equal payment and treatment as
her male counterpart she will have to face the dilemma of losing her job.
The majority of women migrant workers go as domestic workers due to lack
of professional or technical skills.36 However, the Government of Nepal has
banned work permits to women who seek to work as domestic workers as
foreign employment.37 This restrictive/protective government labor policy
is not free from negative consequence for those women who aspire to work
as domestic workers abroad. Even within the country, women work for lower
income jobs and mostly in the informal sector.
Many programs implemented for financial empowerment of women have failed
to meet the intended goals; this has created acute challenges for women with
regards to access and usage of resources such as provided by the Youth Self-
Employment Program launched by the government.
Even though the law guarantees daughter's equal right to ancestral property,
there is gross insufficiency in enforcement of the provisions of these laws, as in
practice, women are still not considered as an independent coparcener to the
ancestral property.38

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

The Government of Nepal, in line with its commitment to reduce poverty in
the country, has carried our multiple efforts. These efforts are seen to have
certain impact on lives of poor women falling under various categories, such
as women with disability, helpless single women, women deprived from basic
opportunities and women victims of social and economic exclusion. As such,
the poverty level of the country has decreased from 25.8% to 21.6% in 4 years'
time. However, there continues to be a larger disparity not only between
gender but among women themselves. Horizontal discrimination continues
to be the cause of poverty among women. For instance, the women of LBTI

34. Government of Nepal, Sixth Periodic Report to the CEDAW Committee

https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.
aspx?symbolno=CEDAW%2fC%2fNPL%2f6&Lang=en accessed on 21 September 2019.
35. Ministry of Labor and Employment, Labor Migration for Employment: A Status Report for
Nepal: 2016/17, https://nepal.iom.int/sites/default/files/publication/LabourMigration_for_
Employment-A_%20StatusReport_for_Nepal_201516201617_Eng.PDF.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid, p. 9.
38. FWLD and UNDP, Study on Women’s Property Ownership and Its Impact (2018) (It is
mandatory to take consent from all coparceners while performing the partition of the
ancestral property however, in practice the Land Revenue Offices do not seek consent of
daughters or consider them the number of daughter in a family unlike son while registering
the partition document to the office - Frequently mentioned by the participants in FGDs)

9 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

community are not effectively represented under the gender inclusion strategy
of government programs. Further, it is seen that there is differences in the rights
that are guaranteed by laws and its practical implementation.
• There should be proper implementation of the existing policies and
programs so that it will show targeted results in the coming days. Women
in the community should be made aware of the policies and programs on
poverty alleviation and social security schemes must be formulated and
implemented for them along with their active participation.
• The financial literacy programs for women which have been initiated by
Nepal Rastra Bank under its Strategic plan of 2012-16 should be given
continuation and similar programs should be implemented to enhance and
empower women to alleviate them from the poverty trap.
• Female oriented/practical/self-employment and useful trainings should be
initiated with the objective of achieving productivity in the economy.
• Simple and easy environment should be created for the professional
investment done by the females.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 10

 EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF WOMEN
1. Present Status
Acknowledging the right to education as a fundamental right of every human
being; Nepal’s Constitution 2015 has declared the ‘right to access to basic
education for every citizen’.39 The Constitution has adopted provisions for
the right to ‘compulsory and free basic education’ and ‘free education up to
the secondary level’ for all. In addition to that the Constitution also has the
provision stating that, “Women shall have right to obtain special opportunity in
education.”40
The new constitution promotes education through more accustomed provisions
with emphasis on social development and human resource development
giving emphasis on serving vulnerable groups and disadvantage groups of
the population. Education is considered by the Government to be center for
human resource development and a priority sector for the Federal Government
of Nepal.
The Government of Nepal has developed the School Sector Development Plan
(SSDP) for the July 2016 to July 2023 period to continue its efforts to ensure
equitable access to quality education for all. The program has been developed
for the first five years (2016-2021) of this seven-year plan. The SSDP was
developed through a participatory process led by the Ministry of Education,
and is in line with the country's vision of graduating from the status of a Least
Developed Country by 2022.41
The state has been providing different types of scholarships to increase, students’
enrollment, retention and drop-out rates of girls, Dalits and marginalized
students. The specific examples are Dalit scholarship (Grade 1-8), Quota-
based girls’ scholarship, girls scholarship in Karnali zone and scholarships for
Martyr’s children, ex-kamalari, conflict affected and students with disabilities.42
However, the amount of scholarship is considerably low to meet the individual
educational expenses and to sustain their academic pursuits.

39. The Constitution of Nepal, 2015, Article 31 (1).

40. The Constitution of Nepal, 2015, Article 38 (5).
41. DOE, (2017). Flash Report I (2017-2018). Bhaktapur: Department of Education, Sanothimi,
Bhaktapur, Nepal.

11 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

2. Progressed Achieved
Despite the decade-long conflict and other political challenges, Nepal has
made remarkable progress expanding learning opportunities for children
and adults. Net Enrollment Rates (NER) in elementary education, for instance,
increased from 66.3 percent in 1999 to 97 percent in 2016. The most dramatic
improvements, however, have been made in increasing female participation
in education. Between 1973 and 2016, the gender parity index for school
enrollments in elementary and secondary education jumped from 0.17 to 1.08,
meaning that female entry rates in education improved from being marginal at
best to females now enrolling at slightly higher rates than males. The gender
gap in school enrolment has narrowed over the years.43
The gender parity in Net Enrollment Rates (NER) has been achieved at this
level of education. Gross Enrolment Rate at Early Childhood Education and
Development (ECED) has reached 84.1%, and the percentage of grade one
new entrants with ECED experience has increased to 66.3%. The enrolment of
children from disadvantaged groups, including children with disability has also
increased. Interventions such as free textbooks, scholarships and the provision
of mid-day meals in targeted districts have contributed to enhancing equitable
access to education. Further strengthening of targeted interventions is needed
to bring the remaining out of school children into school education as per the
country’s constitutional commitment to free and compulsory basic education.
In this regard, the Government’s initiation for the development of a strategy to
strengthen access, participation and learning of children with disabilities was
appreciated.
In FiscalYear 2017/18, 4,500 teachers received Teacher Professional Development
and Management (TPD) out of 258,011 total teachers. The percentage of female
teachers at Basic and Secondary Levels has increased to 41.2% and 18.7%,
respectively,from the baseline of 38.8 % and 15 %.44
Similarly, Nepal achieved an overall adult literacy rate of 65.9 % (75.1% Male
and 57.4% Female) through varied literacy campaigns, by implementing adult
and functional literacy ,along with income generating activities.45
The Government of Nepal has recently passed an Inclusive Education Policy
with a commitment to ensure universal quality education and adopt the
principles of inclusion in education to promote overall education system. The
progress reflects strong and continued government commitment to reforms and

42. DOE, (2017). Flash Report I (2017-2018). Bhaktapur: Department of Education, Sanothimi,
Bhaktapur, Nepal.
43. GoN/MOE, (2016). Education in Figures 2016. Kathmandu: Ministry of Education,
Singhdurbar, Kathmandu,Nepal
44. DOE, (2017). Flash Report I (2017-2018). Bhaktapur: Department of Education, Sanothimi,
Bhaktapur, Nepal.
45. Government of Nepal, National planning Commission, Nepal in figures, CENTRAL BUREAU
OF STATISTICS, (2018), https://cbs.gov.np/wp-content/upLoads/2019/02/Nepal-in-
Figures-2018.pdf

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 12

 inclusion. Two reforms in particular have been instrumental in transforming the
landscape of education landscape in Nepal: (i) decentralization of education
service delivery; and (ii) introduction of targeted demand-side programs.

3. Persistent and Emerging Challenges

In the fiscal year 2018/19, the allocated budget for the education sector is
only 9.91% in comparison to 17% in 2010-11 of the government budget. This
decreasing budget is a challenge to ensure free and compulsory education for
girls especially those who are most vulnerable and economically weak. It has
shown concern on low enrollment and high drop-out rates among girls of poor
and remote area/households and of the so called lower castes’, indigenous,
religious, linguistic minority groups and girls with disabilities. inadequate
educational infrastructures, lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation
facilities, sexual harassment at schools, and the low representation of female
teachers in community schools.
The scholarship programs for girls initiated by the State are not effective due to
lack of monitoring, follow up, learning and programs development mechanism.
One of the main persistent challenges is related to existing infrastructure;
a majority of the school buildings are not gender and disabled-friendly,
environments in terms of infrastructure such as access to classroom, library
and toilets.
The school environment in most of the schools, especially in rural areas, still
have higher level of discrimination towards Dalits and other sexual minorities.
Those students who do not fit with stereotypical gender images are bullied
which , leads to school dropout. Schools lack mechanisms to deal with bulling
and harassment against girls and sexual minorities. Local governments are not
able to bring relevant mechanisms to encourage drug-addicted children and
children with HIV and AIDs.
An increasing number of child marriages leads to a negative impact on girl’s
education. A study by UNICEF shows that thirty-seven percent of girls in Nepal
marry before the age of 18 and ten percent are married by age 15,even though
the minimum age of marriage is 20 in Nepali law. UNICEF data indicates that
Nepal has the third-highest rate of child marriage in Asia, after Bangladesh and
India.46
Though the Constitution of the country accepted federalism and divided the
country into seven Provinces, it does not have separate Province wise education
policies. As Nepal is a country of diverse socio-cultural practices with regional
disparities in socio-economic development; one central policy is not adequate
to address specific issues of each Province. There are no secondary schools
in most of the remote areas even today and children have to walk a minimum
of three to four hours to reach school which affects girl’s education negatively.

46. UNICEF ( Sep 8, 2016) Status of Women and Children

13 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

4. Conclusion and Recommendation
Achieving universal access to education, with gender parity at all levels of
education, is a challenging task. Universal enrolment will be possible if adequate
resources are ensured and innovative interventions are put into practice. Target
4.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals, aims to eliminate gender disparities
in education. To achieve this, the State has to reinforce action to promote
equality and inclusion in education. This entails enhancing support systems,
scholarships, and incentives for girls from poor households, girls living in remote
areas, girls belonging to dalit communities, indigenous groups and religious
and linguistic minority groups and girls with disabilities. Furthermore, the State
has to train adequate teachers on inclusive schools including monitoring the
implementation of those measures effectively, in the framework of the State’s
commitment towards the school sector reform plan.
To design context-specific intervention strategies, relevant researches that
explore the root causes of the gender gap in education analyzing linkages of
education with the socio-cultural practices will be appropriate. Some of the
recommendations that the State and its concerned institution especially the
Ministry of Education are:
• Work towards gender and disable friendly school infrastructure within a
reasonable distance of communities.
• Address safety issues for girls in and out of school; introduce self-defense
courses in schools that have provisions for effective investigation and
provision to prosecute the guilty for acts of corporal punishment, harassment,
abuse or gender-based violence perpetrated against girls. At the same time
endorse school as a safe zone; ensure safe drinking water and separate
hygienic toilets with sanitary pads for girls.
• Provide adequate scholarship amount which addresses the market needs of
public school’s required expenses at least.
• Develop vocational training courses and informal skills related to education
for school dropout girl students.
• Develop a strong monitoring mechanism to implement the policies that are
enshrined in the Constitution, including policies that are made in various
other institutions concerning girl's education.
• Ensure adequate and skilled psychological councilors are available in
schools and colleges. Each province should have separate Province
specific policies to address relevant issues and problems of each province.
An education-related issue-based “pure, empirical or action research” is
desirable to strengthen quality education for each of the specific groups
of students. An integrated approach is necessary from the government to
address issues of child marriage, poverty, untouchability, unpaid care work
for girls, and trafficking in person.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 14

 WOMEN AND HEALTH
1. Present Status
Nepal for nearly 25 years, just as the global community has maintained
consensus on the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights
(SRHR) of women and girls as key driver of development and thus has played
a significant role in advancing both the program of action adopted during the
ICPD in 1994 and reaffirmed a year later in Beijing 1995. Furthermore, Nepal
has reiterated its commitment to achieve Universal Access to SRHR as outlined
in the targets 3.7 and 5.6 of Sustainable Development Goals.47
The Constitution of Nepal has asserted that “Every woman shall have right
to Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health”48 and further ensures basic
health rights under the right relating to health.49 It created a ‘space’ for women
to demand and assert their health rights and control over their own body
and reproductive lives. A full range of reproductive rights include but is not
limited to access to health services, access to information/ education, freedom
from abuse and other coercive actions, it includes everything women need
concerning control over their body to live a life of dignity free from violence
including State violence.

2. Progress Achieved
Historically, Nepal has had one of the highest rates of maternal morbidity and
mortality in South Asia. The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in Nepal decreased
from 539 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births to 239 maternal deaths

47. Sustainable Development Goals 2030;

3.7 : By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services,
including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive
health into national strategies and programs
5.6: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights
as agreed in accordance with the Programs of Action of the International Conference on
Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents
of their review conferences
48. Constitution of Nepal, Article 38 (2)
49. Constitution of Nepal, Article 35 (1), Right relating to health: Every citizen shall have the right
to free basic health services from the State, and no one shall be deprived of emergency
health services.

15 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

per 100,000 live births between 1996 and 2016.50 The significant decline in
maternal mortality can be attributed to various legal, policy and programmatic
milestones achieved in Reproductive health in Nepal since Beijing 1995.
During 2000, 20 % of all pregnancy deaths were due to unsafe abortion. Prior
to 2002, abortion was criminalizing in all circumstances.51 One of the major
achievements has been legalization of Abortion in 200252 and significantly
improves in maternal health by significant reduction of maternal mortality and
morbidity in Nepal.
The Federal Parliament has passed the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health
Right Act recently which came into force on September 18, 2018. Procedure
Guidelines on Safe Abortion Services Program was revised to implement free
abortion services in 2016. Now Safe abortion services are available free of cost
as basic reproductive health care package services in Nepal.53
The maternal and reproductive health of women and girls has also been
improved by implementing the National Safe Motherhood Program through
preventive and promotive activities. Birth Preparedness Package and Maternal
Neonatal Health Activities at Community Level, Rural Ultrasound Program, Aama
and the Newborn Program launched in 2011 has been providing incentives
in subsequently increasing amount to mothers who complete four antenatal
care visits in health facilities, free intuitional delivery, incentives for health
care workers, free sick newborn care. Also includes under safe motherhood
programs are Reproductive Health Morbidity Prevention and management
Program, Management of Pelvic Organ Prolapse, Cervical cancer screening
and prevention training, Obstetric Fistula management, Emergency Referral
Fund and the Nyano Jhola Program.54
The prioritization of universal health coverage (UHC) is one of the remarkable
outcomes of the 2018/19 health budget of Nepal. The budget increased
healthcare expenditure by NPR 24.64 billion (US$ 228 million). The Government
of Nepal plans to work towards achieving UHC by making healthcare services
affordable, reliable, and of a higher standard.
For increasing women’s lifelong access to appropriate, affordable and quality
health care, Nepal Health Sector Plan has focused on improving the health service
delivery.55 The Plan prioritizes reaching the unreached with a strong focus on
gender and social inclusion. The Government of Nepal also implemented
‘Multi-sector Nutritional Plan 2013- 2017’ (MSNP) which targets teen aged girls,
pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers of low-income groups.

50. https://www.mhtf.org/2017/12/29/the-current-state-of-maternal-health-in-nepal/
51. Abortion in Nepal : Women Imprisoned, study conducted by Forum for Women, Law and
Development (FWLD) and Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP), 2001; the study
show that 65 women were in prison on charges of abortion and abortion-related offences.
52. 11th Amendment of Country Code Act1963.
53. Procedure Guideline of Safe Abortion Service Program 2017.
54. National Safe Motherhood Plan (2002-2017); http://www.fhd.gov.np/index.php/en/policy-and-
regulations
55. Nepal Health Sector Plan – Implementation Plan – III (2017-2020)’

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 16

 The Ministry of Health (MoH) introduced ‘Operational Guidelines for Gender
Equality and Social Inclusion Mainstreaming in the Health Sector’ in 2013 and
institutionalized the GESI unit for mainstreaming gender issues in the health
sector, along with efforts to harmonize gender into policy, law, strategies and
programs.
The MoH has been implementing ‘National Female Community Health Volunteer
(FCHV) Program’ with support from international partners to improve access to
quality health services. The program implementation is based on mobilization
of a network of local women volunteers.56
The Country Criminal Code 2017 which was passed by the Parliament on 17th
August 2018, criminalizes Chaupadi and discrimination and exclusion based
on menstruation period.57 There has been huge civil society support and
engagement in this process and in awareness raising activities. Furthermore,
unhygienic conditions during menstruation of adolescent girls are addressed
through enforcing Guidelines on Chhaupadi and launching awareness raising
activities. Training and awareness on Menstrual Health Management (MHM)
are provided in some district. Components on population and reproductive
health have been incorporated in school curriculum to raise awareness about
the need of care and hygiene during menstruation.
The Public Health Service Act, 2018 ensures that every citizen shall have the
right to obtain quality health service in an easy and convenient manner.58 The
Section 3(3) guarantees that no citizen shall be deprived of health services and
the section 3(4) ensures that every citizen shall have the right to obtain free
basic health services.

3. Persistent and Emerging Challenges

Despite the tremendous achievement and progress, the significant gaps still
persist in order to achieve universal access to Sexual and Reproductive health
and rights and leave no one behind.
• Although state has reaffirmed the provision of highest attainable standard of
Reproductive health and rights through safe motherhood and reproductive
rights act 2018, state’s inability and gaps to formulate regulation and
necessary procedural guidelines has hindered its full and effective
implementation.
• Despite considerable efforts over the past many years, maternal mortality
ration (MMR) is still very high i.e. 239 deaths per 100,000 live births for
the seven-year period in Nepal.59 Unequal power relation between men

56. https://www.mohp.gov.np/en/program/reproductive-maternal-health/female-community-
health-programme
57. The Country Criminal Code 2017, Section no. 168 (3)
58. Section 3(1), the Public Health Service Act, 2018
59. Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2016, Key findings page 8. Ministry of Health

17 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

 and women makes it difficult for women and girls to decide over their own
bodies and negotiate safer sex.60
• Around 47% of married women aged 15-19 years of age have an unmet need
for family planning, only 15% married adolescent aged 15-19 use modern
contraceptives, unmet need among adolescent is very high, unwanted
pregnancy rate is19%. In this data show that there is still lack availability of
full range of contraceptive devices in the health facilities. Men’s ownership in
the contraceptive still very low in comparison to the women.61
• Although the concern and awareness on the gynecological disorders like
uterine prolapse, obstetric fistula, cervical cancer, reproductive tract infection
has increased due to civil society engagement and participation but it is still
doesn’t suffice the government accountability and commitment to handle
the growing incidence and prevalence of morbidities and mortality that are
largely due to such preventable reproductive health disorders in Nepal.
• Due to stigma and lack of knowledge on safe abortion many women still
turn to clandestine services, impacting their reproductive health. Still, 58%
women go for clandestine abortion. Only 41% women (reproductive age)
know about legalization of and only 48% women know safe abortion site.62
• Due to the conditional criminalization of abortion, women are still often
prosecuted and imprisoned in abortion related offences.63
• Still, 37 % of girls marry before age 18 in Nepal and 10 % before they turn
15, keeping them out of Comprehensive Sexuality Education lessons taught
at school, and making them vulnerable to multiple sexual and reproductive
health problems, ranging from early and unwanted pregnancies, adolescent
childbearing, sexually transmitted infections, maternal mortality. The
government program implementation lack such out of school young women
and girls.
• National health plans and programs still lackgender sensitive and responsive
delivery mechanisms of services at the local level. Very less health facilities
run health services addressing the health needs of the most marginalized
women and girls taking life cycle and an intersectional approach (including
age, caste, ethnicity, and class, migrant status, HIV status, disability, LBTI and
any other marginalized identity according to social context particularly sex
workers). Due to stigma, they have tohide their identity and not get proper
services to them.

60. http://www.manskligarattigheter.se/en/human-rights/what-rights-are-there/sexual-and-
reproductive-healthand-rights-srhr
61. Nation Demographic and Health Survey 2016, Chapter 7, Page no. 115 to 121
62. Ibid, Chapter 9.6, page no. 161 to 162
63. Factsheet on Reformation of Abortion Laws and Its Implementation, study conducted by
Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) and Center for Reproductive Rights(CRR),
2018; The Fact-sheet has been jointly study by FWLD and CRR based on 53 cases relating to
abortion filed in 16 districts of the Country between 2011 and 2016.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 18

 • Although women account to more than 50% of the health work force in Nepal,
there is still huge occupational segregation and gender gaps in leadership
and pay. In addition to this, the unpaid health and social care work done
by women into the formal labor market as unpaid and underpaid female
community health workers is still prevalent. Lack of safe environment and
support from the community for these workers in communities as well as
female health care workers in the health institutions hinders the provision of
quality SRH services in Nepal. (Data or Footnote)
• There is huge policy implementation gap regarding harmful traditional
practices such as Chaupadi as well as child marriages and its linkages in
Women’s health. Lack of public awareness regarding the available facilities
as well as lack of proper referral as well as monitoring mechanisms for the
proper implementation of one stop crisis center at the health facilities for
gender-based violence.
• There is huge gap and unavailability of disaggregated data (gender, age)
on women’s health in Nepal particularly on gynecological disorders and
health of elderly women, other noncommunicable (Heart disease, endocrine
disorders such as hypothyroidism, auto immune disease in women) and
communicable as well as endemic disease (HIV, dengue, malaria etc.) and
its impact on women and girls. Migrant women, disable women, sex workers,
victims of violence, trafficking etc. and also the various multiple intersection
of women’s health such as impact of climate change and disaster, economic
opportunities and availability of institutional mechanisms.
• There also lacks enough targeted program for women’s health for elderly
women and other communicable and non-communicable disease other
than maternal health in Nepal. The notion that women are just mothers and
reproductive vessels still exist in the programs and polices of Nepal.
• The emerging issues such as nutritional status, interlinkages of mental
health and SRHR, interlinkages of SRHR and climate change has gain huge
attention in the past couple of years, however gaps still remain on huge gap
regarding proper implementationavailable policies and targeted programs.

4. Conclusions and Recommendations

It can be concluded that SRHR should be strengthened to promote equality to
women and the other marginalized population in Nepal in order to leave no
one behind. Without SRHR all other human rights (civil and political, economic
and social) have limited power to advance the well-being of women and vice-
versa and thus achieving agenda 2030 becomes far-fetched reality. Although
many transformative RH policies are in place in Nepal, the implementation
level is weak and there remains multiple level of barriers to access full range
of available SRH services. Sustained advocacy from the civil societies and
increasing awareness regarding available services to.

19 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

Following are the key recommendations in order to protect, promote and
advance SRHR of women and girls in Nepal.
• Reaffirm the right of every women and girls, without distinction of any kind,
to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of reproductive health as
outlined in the constitution of Nepal and other human rights documents that
Nepal is signatory to.
• Prioritize and adopt the life- cycle approach to health design and delivery
while addressing the health needs of the most marginalized women and
girls taking an intersectional approach to leaving no one behind (including
youth, race, ethnicity, caste and class, disability, LBTI, older women and any
other marginalized identity according to social context)
• Ensure accessibility, availability, safe and quality reproductive health
services addressing the lifecycle needs of Women and girls and access of
every young women and girls to comprehensive sexuality education based
on their evolving capacity as their human rights, through its inclusion and
proper implementation in school curriculum; community-based awareness
program; youth led mass media.
• Decriminalize safe abortion and increase awareness program on safe
abortion. In addition, all type of safe abortion services up to second trimester
services should be included in Basic Health Care package
• Recognize health as holistic concept and not mere as physical health in
health program planning and implementation. Ensure availability of gender
sensitive trained health care force that can address the interlinkages
of different dimensions of health, also are well trained to recognize the
interlinkages of women’s health with emerging issues such as climate
change.
• Recognize and address the negative health consequences of harmful
traditional practices including child marriages. Ensure proper referral
mechanism and promote empowerment programs that address gender
inequality.
• Generate evidence-based policy for health on the premise of gender-
disaggregated data finding inter-linkages between Reproductive Health.
• Adopt a gender transformative approach to national health workforce
planning, making gender analysis integral to labor market analysis as
agreed in the UN international agreements (ILO/WHO) in order to include
women in equal numbers to men in health decision making at all levels from
provincial to National Level.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 20

 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (VAW)
1. Present Status
Violence against women is ubiquitously present in Nepal, hindering women’s
enjoyment of human rights and curtailing their substantive participation in
private, public and institutional space and environment. According to National
Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2016; 22% women in 15-49 age group
have experienced physical violence since age 15. Most “ever-married women”
reported current husbands (84%) or ex-husbands (11%) as perpetrators. Mother
in- laws and other in-laws accounted for 7% and 5% of VAWG respectively.
Experience of physical or sexual violence increased with age, from 12%
among women age 15-19 to 29% among women age 30 and older. The most
common type of spousal violence experienced by women is physical violence
(22%), followed by emotional violence (12%) and sexual violence (7%). 66% of
women who have experienced any type of physical or sexual violence have not
sought any help or talked with anyone about resisting or stopping the violence
they experience.64
Patriarchy is embedded in systems, structures and institutions that legitimize
practices of violence and oppression. Mind sets continue to prevail that
perpetuates stereotypes on harmful practices such as menstrual restrictions,
witchcraft, bonded labor and Triple Talak. Although the Constitution
provides equal rights to women, the negative stereotype exists due to lack
of understanding and awareness on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and
Expression (SOGIE) and on women with disabilities at all levels, including the
grassroots level.65 While sexual violence of women with disabilities is high in
Nepal, there is a lack of official evidence on this. The primary reason for the
violence is the dependency women with disability have on the perpetrators of
the violence, since most of them are husbands, careers or teachers.66

64. National Demographic Health Survery (NDHS), Ministry of Health, Kathmandu, p. 337
65. Shadow Report on Sixth Periodic Report of Nepal, Shadow Report Preparation Committee
(SRPC), 2018, p. 13
66. Shadow Report submitted to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in its
19th session for the Country Review of Nepal, 2018, p. 2

21 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

 Box 1. Violence against LBTI women Box 2. Violence against LBTI women

Shila (name changed) was in A girl who identified as Lesbian was

relationship with a girl. But when raped by her own father when she
they came out as lesbian couple in shared her sexual orientation and
front of their families, Shila’s family told her family members about her
could not accept it and took her to partner. Her father time and again
raped her saying that she needed
different places to separate her from
to be attracted to male person. She
her partner. Her family even took shared about the violence with her
her to traditional healers named as mother. But her mother ignored her
Dhami, Jhankri. She was also taken to plea and asked her to keep silence
rehabilitation centre as her parents as this will affect marriage of her
thought that she was in influence of younger siblings. She was also
drugs. They also tried to establish that physically assaulted by her father
she has a psychiatric disorder. This due to which she has now hearing
kind of activities had a serious impact impairment. The incidence took place
upon her and she was mentally 7-8 years earlier and now she wants
stressed due to it. She has now been to file rape case against her father but
do not have any physical evidence or
forced to live under her parents’ terms
witnesses.
and conditions.

Source: Mitini Nepal

VAW cross-cuts all caste, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups and is experienced
most severely by those women who are from marginalized group such as Dalit,
Madhesi, and indigenous communities, religious minorities, gender and sexual
minorities (LBTI), women from geographically disadvantaged locations, women
with disabilities, displaced women and women in entertainment sector. Besides,
patriarchal value system, traditional harmful practices such as dowry, jhuma,
deuki, chhaupadi, witch-hunting and child marriage are important causes of
VAWG.67 Domestic violence is the most common form of GBV in Nepal.
Owing to laws relating to VAW, Domestic Violence (Offence and Punishment
Act) and Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act was enacted by
the Government in 2009 and 2007 respectively to deal with the most serious
forms of violence against women. Despite of laws and policies, access to justice
for victims of violence against women is very often problematic and fraught
with risks. This is substantiated by Nation-wide empirical research carried out
by Shtrii Shakti (S2).68 The decade long record of Nepal police in the box below
(Box 1) illustrate all forms of VAW that are increasing rapidly in the country.

67. Please note that the Acronyms GBV and VAWG are used here interchangeably.And jhuma
(young unmarried girls sent by parents to monastries), deuki (act of offering young girls to
temples which degenerates into temple prostitutions, ), chhaupadi, denotes n young girls
offered to temples which often end in prostitution and abuse as well as segregation of women
during menstrual cycle in a shed outside home.
68. Violence Against Women and Girls: Review of Interventions 2019”; Shtrii Shakti (S2),
November, 2019. Kathmandu

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 22

 Box 3. List of VAW cases registered nationwide with Nepal Police
Year Rape Attempted TIP Abortion Polygamy Child Domestic Witch-
Rape Marriage Violence Craft
2008 309 73 123 13 122 4 881 -
2009 391 75 139 12 170 2 968 -
2010 376 101 161 8 146 7 983 4
2011 481 151 183 12 197 2 1355 39
2012 555 156 118 13 249 12 2250 35
2013 677 245 144 28 350 19 1800 28
2914 912 414 185 18 421 15 6835 39
2015 981 562 181 17 518 23 8268 43
2016 1089 452 212 22 463 20 9398 28
2017 1131 536 227 22 464 26 11629 24
2018 1480 727 305 18 602 59 12225 48
Source: Nepal Police Headquarters, Kathmandu
TIP=Trafficking in Persons

2. Progress Achieved
Since the mid-1990s a strong women’s movement was instrumental in placing
VAW on national policy agenda. Government of Nepal’s (GoN).policy documents
began to incorporate measures against violence, exploitation, injustice and
atrocities faced by women.
Constitution of Nepal (2015) protects women from physical, mental, sexual,
psychological or other forms of violence or exploitation based on religion, social,
cultural tradition, or on any other grounds69; makes all acts of VAWG punishable
by law; and empowers the victim with the right to obtain compensation.
Similarly, GoN enacted Sexual Harassment at Work Place (Prevention) Act in
2014 and Witchcraft-related Accusation (Crime and Punishment) Act, in 2015.
The Country Criminal Code 2017, has elaborate legal framework to deal with
the issue of VAWG. The Act criminalizes all forms of discrimination based on
caste, gender, religion, disability and ideology inter alia.70 Such discrimination
is punishable by imprisonment and fines.71 It also criminalizes the practice of
forced labor72, bonded labor73 and enslavement74 and makes such practices
punishable. Witch-hunting, socially exclusionary and degrading practices are
also criminalized along with child marriage,75 forced marriage and polygamy.76

69. Constitution of Nepal, Article 38 (3) - No woman shall be subjected to physical, mental,
sexual, psychological or other form of violence or exploitation on grounds of religion, social,
cultural tradition, practice or on any other grounds. Such act shall be punishable by law, and
the victim shall have the right to obtain compensation in accordance with law.
70. Country Criminal Code 2017, Chapter 10, No. 166(1)
71. Ibid, No. 166(2)
72. Ibid, no. 162
73. Ibid, no. 164
74. Ibid, no. 163
75. Ibid, no. 173
76. Ibid, no. 175

23 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

The Act has a separate section on rape77 crime with elaborate provisions for
punishment and fines. It also criminalized and sentenced Chhaupadi and
discrimination and exclusion during menstruation.78 Similarly, The Crime Victim
Protection Act, 2018 ensures the right to justice of crime victims in criminal
investigation, adjudication of cases, compensation and social rehabilitation.
Legal reforms have been initiated to make legal framework consistent with
international human rights instruments backed by a series of policy and
institutional reforms intended to create strong, inclusive, empowering and
accountable institutions from central to local levels.
Government currently has only 10 shelter homes which are targeted towards
the survivor of human trafficking. However, is also made available to other
survivors of violence against women but the government is trying to expand
the number of shelter homes. A separate fund has been established to be
used for immediate rescue, medical
aid, legal aid, psycho-social support/
Box 4. Justice for victimized Girl
counseling, seed money for micro-
raped by her own Father
enterprise, rehabilitation/reintegration
of VAW victims. One Stop Crisis Manju (name changed) was
Management Centers (OSCMC) have repeatedly raped by her own
alcoholic father. One day she
been established in different regions managed to escape from home
under major government hospitals and was rescued by a police party.
which provide psycho-social and legal The police referred her case to
the National Women Commission’s
counselling, medical treatment and (NWC) Helpline. The NWC took up
other services in coordination with her case together with a local legal
police, attorney’s office, department of support NGO LACC. The father
women and children and community was eventually arrested and put in
jail. Her case was fast tracked as
based organizations. The GoN, CSOs she was found to be pregnant. Her
and NGOs are working on domestic pregnancy was terminated and after
violence, trafficking of women and medical help and counselling to a
local support NGO SAATHI in order
girls, women's rights, and capacity for rehabilitation in their long term
building. The NWC has established shelter.
a 24-hour and 7 days a week toll free
helpline (1145) to provide support to survivors. The NWC mechanism assesses
callers’ needs and refers them to appropriate service lines, i.e. legal aid, psycho-
social support, child support and shelter. Both Nepal police and NWC have
established gender-based violence information management system to collect
nationwide data though no efforts have been made to integrate the information
management systems.

77. Ibid, Chapter on Rape, no. 219

78. Ibid, Chapter 10, no. 168(3)(4)

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 24

 3. Persistent Challenges and Emerging Issues
• Low level of implementation of laws relating to violence against women
especially on issues such as ‘chhaupadi system’, child marriages, gender
based violence, fetal abortion after sex determination, sexual violence and
exploitation of women and girls and trafficking of women and girls. These
legal and policy provisions are not backed by effective enforcement and
compliance.
• Lack of accountability of law enforcement agencies which can be illustrated
by the rape cum murder case of a young student Ms. Nirmala Pant from
Kanchanpur in the middle of 2018 which remains unresolved.
• Most Nepali women and girls cannot even confide in their spouses or close
relatives due to various stigma attached with VAW. Hence, the incidences of
VAW remain grossly underreported.
• Low conviction rate remains as one of the main challenges in combating
violence against women,
• Lack of implementation of court decision.
• Strong patriarchy based norms dictated by structural cum ideological
underpinnings; patriarchal mind-set and behaviors;
• Dysfunctionality of GBV funds have halted the relief fund package to the
victims and survivors
• The complaint process is complex, which makes it difficult for the victims
to receive compensations in practice even though there is a provision of
compensation written in law.79 The current legal regime does not ensure
compensation even if technical faults are occurred such as if the defendant
is not arrested, or his or her address is erroneous, or he or she is acquitted.
It is against the spirit of the right to compensation to deprive victims from
compensation in such technicalities.80
• Lack of adequate shelter and rehabilitation homes for the victims of violence
against women.
• Lack of free legal aid and to the survivors of VAW
• The Supreme Court of Nepal has issued the Guideline for Prevention of
Abuse and Harassment in the Entertainment sector and also ordered to
enact law to regulate the sector however no separate law brought by the
State till date.81

79. Court Watch Monitoring on Sexual and Gender based Violence cases in Trial in District
Courts, Forum for Women, Law and Development and International Women Rights Action
Watch Asia Pacific, December 2018, p. 30
80. Cases of Human Trafficking and Transportation: Provision of Compensation and Access of
Victims to Compensation, USAID/The Asia Foundation/FWLD, Kathmandu, 2017, p. 15
81. National Human Rights Commission, Trafficking in Person Report (2015/16), para 2 p.31
(Entertainment sectors generally include dance bars, Dohori restaurants (restaurants in which
Nepali folk music are played), cabin restaurants, massage parlor and Spa, Khaja Ghar (small
restaurants that service alcohol) and guest houses) available at http://www. nhrcnepal.org/
nhrc_new/doc/newsletter/TIP_National_Report_2015_2016.pdf

25 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

4. Conclusion and Recommendations
Violence against Women in Nepal is increasing day by day despite of combined
efforts of government and non- government sectors. Although Nepal has made
considerable progress in establishing laws, policies and strategies and putting
different mechanisms in place against VAW – however, the implementation is very
weak. In view of this persistent weakness some of the specific recommendations
are given below.
• The policies, laws, projects, institutions and preventive/remedial social-
welfare programme activities implemented by the State have to be
implemented effectively/sustainably in targeted manner especially for the
most vulnerable women and gender-groups based on the principle of
intersectionality that considers Dalit, adivasi janajati women, women with
disabilities (WDD), LBTI women marginalized and disadvantaged women.
• Effective community awareness programs related to VAW must be run
robustly by the state, local governments, private sector and the civic society
actors.
• Increase accountability of law enforcement agencies by capacitating
them on the sensitivity of the issue and providing them with training and
workshops.
• The State must provide a strong and robust response for relief and
rehabilitation to women in facilities and services run by the State to prevent,
mitigate and rehabilitate cases related to VAW
• Formulate a separate law to control sexual exploitation of women working in
the entertainment and hospitality service sector
• Functionalize the GBV fund and create mechanisms to expedite the
distribution of fund to the victims.
• Interim relief must be provided immediately after commission of the crime,
no matter defendants are arrested or not, and compensation must be
provided once the trial court decides the matter
• The State, local governments and civic society organisations (CSOs) must
engage men to mitigate VAW through awareness and mind-set changing
sensitization programs towards women’s equality in a creative manner
such as in the family, schools, peer-groups, media and workplace to make it
effective.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 26

 WOMEN AND ARMED CONFLICT
1. Present Status
Internal armed conflict in Nepal from 1996 to 2006 destroyed families and
societies and has left women and girls particularly vulnerable. As in many
conflict situations sexual violence during conflict was widespread in Nepal too.
During the time of armed conflict and the collapse of communities, the role of
women was crucial. They often worked to preserve social order in the midst of
armed conflict and post conflict situation. Women made an important but often
unrecognized contribution as peace educators both in families, societies and
political sphere.
Similarly, during the insurgency, women often became caregivers for the injured
combatants and found themselves, as a result of conflict, unexpectedly cast as
sole manager of household, sole parent, and caretaker of elderly relatives
Following the historical Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) that was signed
on 21st November 200682 and succeeded by the promulgation of Constitution
2015, the situation of women and girls who endured great sufferings in their
lives resulting from the armed conflict was/ is expected to change. CPA ensured
the provision of Transitional Justice mechanisms and effective remedy and
reparation of victims of armed conflict.

2. Progress Achieved
There has been measurable advancement in Nepal in the sector of women,
peace and security along with the gradual development of policies, commitment
and understanding of gender issues that aims to serve for the best interest of
the women.
• The two commissions, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and
Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance (CIEDP) on Transitional

82. Between 1996 and 2006, an internal conflict between the Government of Nepal and the
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN (Maoist)) leftover 13,000 people dead and 1,300
missing. Among the verified 23,610 Maoist combatants, 4,008 were discharged in 2010,
being identified as Verified Minors and Late Recruits (VMLR Verified minors were defined as
those born after 25 May 1988. Among them, 3,846 were women, that is, approximately 20% of
the total combatants (Nepali Times, 2012).

27 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

 Justice were established on 10th February
2015 originally mandated to investigate the Box 5. Waiting for Justice
facts about those involved in gross violations
of human rights and crimes against humanity Laxmi, a mother of 3 sons and 2
during the course of the armed conflict, and to daughters, is a resident of Bardiya
create an environment of reconciliation in the district. Her husband was taken away
by armed group while watching
society. The commissions collected 63,39183 television on 31 March 2004. They
cases of gross violation of human rights so far. warned Laxmi not to share the
incident with anyone because of which
• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission she kept it confidential. After few days,
Complaint Investigation Procedure, 2016 she heard a similar incident that had
happened to another person who
demands to maintain confidentiality of the
was also taken away on the same day
victims while investigating the cases of rape along with her husband. Television
and sexual violence and treat the victims in a News reported that he was killed
dignified manner. It further, requires a woman being accused of rape. Laxmi was told
that her husband was buried alive but
officer to deal with the cases of women victims.84 was not informed of the place. Till now,
she does not know the whereabouts of
• Nepal developed its National Action Plan
her husband and the truth behind it.
(NAP) for the implementation of UNSCR Laxmi has reported the case to police
1325 and 1820 in 2011 for the period of 2011 specifying the perpetrator. However,
to 2016. Led by the Ministry of Peace and the case has not progressed and the
perpetrator is walking freely in the
Reconstruction (MoPR), other government society even after committing such a
agencies, development partners, and civil heinous crime. Laxmi is waiting for
society were involved in the development of the justice and wants to know as to why
her innocent husband was killed with
NAP. It was contextualized within a broader set fake accusation.
of government policies and initiatives that seek Being a mother, she has faced many
to mainstream gender in its implementation. challenges while looking after her
children. In enforced disappearance
After the implementation of the NAP, there has
case, there is no provisions for
been an increase in orientation and training on property transformation from enforced
human rights to officials of the security sector, disappeared person, the challenges
awareness on women and girls rights, peace for the family is much higher than
other cases. Also the dilemma
and security has been included in the school continuously exists regarding the
level curriculum and informal education, series status of enforced disappeared
of programs were conducted locally for conflict person.
affected women, girls and families of former Source: Story telling workshop conducted by
FWLD and International Alert, September 2-10,
women combatants, works have been done for 2018
rehabilitation of them in the society and various
networks have been established at the district
level.85

83. 60298 complaints have been filed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and 3093
complaints have been filed to the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared
Persons
84. Number 4, Special Provisions relating to rape and sexual violence cases, the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission Complaint Investigation Procedure, 2016
85. The Mid- term Monitoring Report, Nepal on the National Action Plan on Implementation of
United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 & 1820 , 2014

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 28

 • The victims’ networks, the Conflict Victim Common Platform (CVCP) and
the Conflict Victim National Alliance (CVNA) as well as number of networks
of the civil society organizations like Nispakchya, Shanti Malika and 1325
Action Group are working for the gender sensitive conflict resolution and
advocating for victims’ rights with specific focus to women and children.
These networks are also working closely with victims along with local
government stakeholders to address specific issues of women and girls.
• The engagement of conflict affected victims in different local and national
level networks is increasing. Community reconciliation in the local and
national level provided by civil society organizations86 is actively working to
solve the conflict at the nascent stage to prevent future conflicts.
• For ensuring fair distribution and transparency the Government has
introduced special criteria and guidelines such as the Citizen's Relief,
Compensation and Gender Support Regulation (2009), Guideline to Provide
Relief to Kin of victims.
• Similarly, Conflict, Peace and Development Studies program at Tribhuwan
University, the premier higher education institution in Nepal, has included
Gender and Conflict in the course curriculum of Gender Studies in Master
level program.
• The second phase of NAP, which is focus on the Sexual and Gender Based
Violence is underway with many expectations in adoption and amendments
to the first NAP. Initially, second NAP was led by the Ministry of Peace and
Reconstruction. Nonetheless, after the Ministry was reshuffled, the Ministry
of Home Affairs is taking lead in consultations on the draft of NAP II. Resulting
from the State re-structuring, the implementing bodies of the government
is being aligned in the draft NAP with the newly formed bodies within
state structure from provincial level to local government. In addition to this,
the drafting committee has accommodated the representatives from civil
society organizations along with victims and survivors of gross violation of
human rights. Currently the provincial and local consultation on draft NAP
is taking place.

3. Persistent and emerging challenges

Despite of significant progress in addressing women, peace and security issues,
political instability, lack of consensus between political parties, ineffective
implementation of plans and policies remain major challenges for attaining
justice and peace.
• Currently, the Commission on Investigation of Enforced Disappeared
Persons and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are in critical

86. “Leaving no-one behind: Building Community Capacity in Nepal for Inclusive Transitional
Justice, Reconciliation and Conflict Resolution” has been implementing jointly by FWLD and
International Alert

29 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

 juncture inter-alia ongoing amendment of the Act concerning the enforced
disappearances inquiry, truth and reconciliation;
• The draft bill to amend the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act
obstructs legal action for entitlements relating to sexual and gender-based
violence, including as a war crime and a crime against humanity, unsettled
to the omission of the applicability of criminal law legislation with regard to
offences committed during the armed conflict that occurred between 1996
and 2006; the lack of definitions of those crimes; the imposition of additional
requirements for their prosecution; the substantial reduction in the length
of sentences, leaving them disproportionate to the gravity of the crime; the
suspension of ongoing criminal investigations; and provisions allowing for
amnesty and reconciliation;
• Possibility of the lack of independence of the Commissioners and insufficient
resource allocation to the Commissions, which preclude the advancement
of the peace process;
• The fact that women and girls who are victims of the armed conflict, including
widows, family members of disappeared persons and victims of rape and
other forms of sexual violence, do not benefit from interim relief resulting
from the narrow definition of the eligibility criteria set forth on the Interim
Relief Program (IRP);
• Significant delay in the adoption of the second national action plan on the
implementation of the UNSCR 1325& 1820 has delayed the victim’s right to
an effective remedy and reparation.
• Interim Relief Program (IRP) couldn’t uphold women’s right to an effective
remedy to the victim of sexual and gender based violence.87 Only ex-
gratia88 payment was provided institutionalizing the impunity.
• In four years, the TJ bodies failed to give justice to even one of the 63,391
complaints they have received and shied away to investigate alleged
perpetrators due to the prevailing loopholes in the TJ act. Further, the bodies
have failed to adopt credible and transparent processes for their work the
lack of political will to address past human rights violations and abuses,
resulting in lowered expectations by victims form these mechanisms.
Likewise, the mechanisms have fallen short of international standards
despite the repeated reinforcement of such standard by the Supreme Court
of Nepal.

87. According to the CPA, the government was required to provide relief packages- including
financial assistance - to the kind of conflict victims, defined as those maimed, widows, the
abducted, the internally displaced and those who lost property during the conflict. However,
survivors of Rape and Sexual Victim RSV have not been considered “conflict affected” and
therefore been excluded from the state relief program. Absence of official data on rape and
sexual violence cases. RSV are also not mentioned in the MoPR guidelines for psycho-social
counseling (2013).
88. Without any accountability, only pecuniary compensation.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 30

 • Authenticated data on conflict-affected women (CAW) remain unavailable
on a national level. There are differences in the data held by government
and national and international nongovernmental organizations, civil society
organizations, human rights organizations and the media. Only one level
of categorization of victims exists and disaggregated data are not in place
yet. Even the definitions of different categories of conflict victims required
to disaggregate the data have not been clarified. 

4. Conclusions and Recommendations

• Remove the statute of limitations for filing cases relating to sexual violence
committed during the conflict;
• Bring the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act to its treaty obligations
under international law and in favor of conflict victim in consultation with
civil society and victims, taking into account the ruling of the Supreme Court
of 26 February 2015 ordering the amendment of the amnesty provisions of
the Act, and guarantee the integration of a gender perspective into the Act;
• Take appropriate measures to ensure the independence and impartiality of
the Commissioners and allocate adequate human, technical and financial
resources for the operation of the two Commissions;
• Guarantee access for women and girls who are victims of the armed
conflict to interim relief and full and effective remedy and reparations,
ensuring restitution, compensation, rehabilitation and guarantees of non-
recurrence guaranteeing that it’s prompt, adequate, and effective.
• Expedite the adoption of the second national action plan for the
implementation of UNSCR 1325 and 1820 on women, peace and security,
to ensure durable peace in the country.

31 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

WOMEN AND ECONOMY
1. Present Status
Women’s economic empowerment is a fundamental prerequisite for every aspect
of development. The Constitution of Nepal, 2015 expresses its determination to
create an egalitarian society based on the principles of proportional inclusion
and participation, to ensure equitable economy, prosperity and social justice.89
It also recognizes all citizens’ right to equality and includes a provision in
relation to equality. The Constitution states that ‘There shall not be any gender
discrimination regarding remuneration for the same work and social security’.90
With the promulgation of the new Constitution and the adoption of the federal
governance structure, the Government of Nepal has adopted economic
prosperity as the key development agenda. Through its 15th Periodic Plan
approach paper, Nepal has shared its vision of “Prosperous Nepal, Happy
Nepali.” Nepal has set the goal of graduating from Least Developed Country
(LDC) status and wishes to grow as an inclusive, equitable, and prosperous
middle-income country by 2030.91
Taking its marginalized citizens out of the clutches of poverty is the real
challenge for a nation. Often forgotten in the national economy is none other
than women who bear the double brunt.92 The global gender gap report 2018
ranked Nepal at 110th position among 149 countries in the area of women’s
economic participation and opportunity. Only 21% of the female work-force are
leading the private firm at the top management level. On the wage equality for
similar work, it stands in the 96th position while in the area of professional and
technical workers; it is ranked at 129th position.93

89. The Constitution of Nepal, 2015, Article 18(4)

90. Constituent Assembly Secretariat (2015) Constitution of Nepal 2015, unofficial translation by
Nepal Law Society, International IDEA and UNDP
91. National Planning Commission/Periodic Plan/15th periodic plan approach paper
92. Women in Nepal, Human Development in South Asia 2016: Empowering Women in South
Asia, Mahbub ul Haq Research Centre 2016
93. World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report 2018, Nepal country profile
available at http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2018.pdf

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 32

 Tourism, agriculture, and remittance are the key sources of revenue for Nepal.
The agriculture sector, however, remains the main employer wherein 80% of
women are engaged actively as majority of the male family members migrate
mostly to the Middle East for work.94
The Constitution of Nepal, 2015 has provisioned progressive measures to
address the key bottlenecks of women’s economic empowerment such as right
to participation, access to decision making and resources, right to ancestral
property, right to decent work and employment . These measures have set the
enabling ground to push forward the agenda of women and economy in the
country.
To implement constitutional provision, the Government of Nepal has adopted
Labor Act (2017) with a number of progressive provisions to ensure and
promote decent work and employment both in the formal and informal sector.95
It is expected to benefit those women who are mostly working in the unskilled
sector, as the provision of equal pay for equal work is a progressive measure
to address the wage gap inequalities. The government has set a minimum
wage of USD 88 covering informal workers and in addition to that the act has
given them the legal grounds to demand it.96 The Government also adopted
Contributions Based Social Security Act 2017 and has launched a scheme
under the same name in 2018 which covers workers from both formal and
informal sectors, including self-employed workers.97 The Government also
adopted Contributions Based Social Security Act 2017 and has launched a
scheme under the same name in 2018 which covers workers from both formal
and informal sectors, including self-employed workers.98

2. Progress Achieved
The Government has developed “The Agriculture Development Strategy
2015” with the vision of “A self-reliant, sustainable, competitive, and inclusive
agricultural sector that drives economic growth and contributes to improved
livelihoods and food and nutrition security leading to food sovereignty.” One of
its indicators under inclusive component is “Percentage of farmland owned by
women or joint ownership”. The strategy has integrated innovation and agro-

94. FAO/Country gender assessment of agriculture and the rural sectors in Nepal 2019
95. Nepal Labour Act 2017
96. Nepal Labour Act 2017
97. Contribution based social security scheme is funded through the contributions made by the
workers and the employers. While the workers contribute 11 per cent of their basic salary,
the employers top up 20 percent of the workers’ basic salary. The scheme is set to initially
include medical, health and maternity benefit; accidental and disability benefit; benefits for
dependent family members and old-age benefit.
98. Contribution based social security scheme is funded through the contributions made by the
workers and the employers. While the workers contribute 11 per cent of their basic salary,
the employers top up 20 percent of the workers’ basic salary. The scheme is set to initially
include medical, health and maternity benefit; accidental and disability benefit; benefits for
dependent family members and old-age benefit.

33 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

entrepreneurship programs with a special focus on women and disadvantaged
groups.
Nepal has witnessed in the past a ground-breaking, extensive and successful
pioneering programs for women’s economic empowerment named Production
Credit for Rural Women (PCRW), launched in the early 80’s by the Government
of Nepal. It eventually reached out to 1.5 million women in all districts of
Nepal.99 Likewise, at present, numerous new initiatives have been launched by
the Government of Nepal such as the Prime Minister’s Employment Programs
and the President’s Women Empowerment Program which demonstrate
government’s commitment to invest in the economic development of women.
The continued practice of gender- responsive budgeting in its financial planning
and programming has contributed positively to increase resource allocation to
women.
The National Economic Survey of Nepal 2018 has reported that there exists
923,356 establishments in which women’s participation is 37.7%; among which,
29.7% are managed by women. This demonstrates an increasing trend of
women’s participation and leadership in the economic sector of the country.100
Another promising sector is the Co-operatives which has approximately 6.3
million members, 52% of whom are women across 34,500 cooperatives in the
country.101 Besides, the Government has launched a 5% interest subsidy on bank
loans to women entrepreneurs from fiscal year 2019/2020 to promote women
entrepreneurs across the country and help them to become economically
independent.

3. Persistent and Emerging Challenges

Despite constitutional provisions and national policy arrangements towards
women’s access to participation, resources, and socio-economic transformation,
it has been challenging to realize those provisions in practice due to inadequate
access to information, lack of proper institutional mechanism, patriarchal
mindset, discriminatory gender norms, and practices. Though there is a gradual
increase in the ownership of property by women, the proportion of ownership
is still comparatively low. Moreover, the irony is that the male members are the
de facto decision-makers, despite women being the owner; who dictate the use
of these properties curtailing women’s rights to take full control over the assets.
Although the government of Nepal has launched contribution-based social
security schemes for both formal and informal sectors, implementation

99. Department of Women and Children, Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen,
“Production Credit for Rural Women Programme” (accessed October 2019) http://dwd.gov.
np/en/page/18/19
100. Central Bureau of Statistics, National Economic Census-2018, National report available at
https://cbs.gov.np/national-report-1-2/
101. OECD Development Centre, report available at https://www.genderindex.org/wp-content/
uploads/files/datasheets/2019/NP.pdf

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 34

 modalities of the scheme to the informal sector are still unclear, especially
among those where employee-employer relations are hard to establish.
Moreover, Post Disaster Needs Assessment(PDNA) has clearly stated that most
women working in the informal sector do not only lose their livelihood after any
disaster but also their workplace.
Labor Force Survey 2017/18 reported a higher unemployment rate of 13.1%
among the female work-force, which is 2.8% higher compared to males.
Similarly, the female Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is less than half
(26.3%) compared to the male (53.8%).102
Lack of access to capital, finance and limited exposure to the market has
hindered the potential of women to move up the value chain and become
economically independent. The right to mobility is questionable due to unsafe
public transport to commute from home to market and vice versa.
It is often reported that the targeted budget and resources on women have been
reallocated and used for other interventions. With the decentralization of financial
planning to local level government, the proper implementation of targeted
women responsive budget has been challenged by lack of understanding,
institutional mechanism and local legislation to bind that provision.103
Although the provision made by the Labor Act to formalize informal work, the
prevalence of decent work deficit and unequal pay is more in the informal sector,
the majority of which is comprised of women. This demands the regulation of
the informal sector so that women are not exploited as reiterated in the CEDAW
Concluding Remarks.
Unpaid care work remains a challenge for women as they receive inadequate
support from their male counterparts. It limits their opportunities to economic
participation, education and skill training for employment. On average, women
spend 11.87 hours in unpaid domestic work in Nepal.104 Despite focused
initiatives on mainstreaming women in the economy, it has been a challenge
for women to manage the dual role of care economy and productive activities.
In spite of repeated national dialogues on the inclusion of the care economy in
the national GDP, it has not been implemented till date devaluing the contribution
made by women. Lack of sex-disaggregated data is a huge impediment to
the formulation and implementation of policies, plans, and gender-responsive
programs.

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

The agenda for women’s empowerment is not a stand-alone one; it cuts across
all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to achieve them by 2030,

102. Nepal Labor Force Survey 2017/18

103. Feedback from grassroots women during provincial consultation facilitated by NNBN
104. National Planning Commission/Sustainable Development Goals/Data available at http://sdg.
npc.gov.np/data/

35 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

Women and Economy need to be highlighted especially in Goals 1, 2, 3, 5 and
8.
In the last five years, Nepal has adopted an inclusive constitution and federal
system of government, with enabling constitutional and policy frameworks to
advance the agendas of women and the economy. It is high time for Nepal to
capitalize on the proactive policies initiated to date, by implementing them in
practice and localizing it. The prevailing scenario of gender injustice can be
minimized only if and only when the economic status of Nepalese women is
strengthened. The dream of prosperity can then be equally achieved.
The economic empowerment of women is critical to realize gender equality
and gender justice in all aspects of their lives. In Nepal, women from different
sections of society are making huge contributions to the national economy either
through formal or informal sectors be it agro sector; paid or unpaid domestic
work; home-based work; care economy and reproductive role; or remittance
from labor migration. However, fundamental issues about gender inequalities,
in terms of economic participation, decision making, access to and control over
resources remain largely unaddressed in society. Gender biased social norms
and practices, in addition to the major burden of the care economy, are limiting
the advancement of women in economic activities and integration in the local
and national supply chains.
In totality, when we look at this sector, it is crucial to realize that women's
economic empowerment is the key driver to catalyze the dream of gender just
and inclusive society heading towards a prosperous middle-income country
where female and male members can exercise their rights to voice, choice, and
opportunity.
For feminized poverty to address all its economic woes, a multi-pronged
approach is highly essential.105 Key recommendations are as follows:
• Expedite implementation of existing laws, guidelines, policies and programs
to achieve gender equality and promote women's economic empowerment
at all levels of government.
• Improvise training packages for women as per their needs to capacitate
their skills according to the demand of the market along with training on
financial literacy, small, medium and large enterprise development, product
design and management.
• Adopt policies and programs to increase women's access to finance and
substantial investment to create a women-centric entrepreneurial and
market ecosystem so that more women will be self-sustained to move up
the value chain, including Prime Minister’s Employment Programs and
President’s Women Empowerment Program.

105. Women in Nepal, Human Development in South Asia 2016: Empowering Women in South
Asia, Mahbub ul Haq Research Centre 2016

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 36

 • Acknowledge and assess the contribution of women in informal sectors
(home based workers, domestic workers, brick kiln and construction
workers, workers at restaurant and dance bars, trafficking and domestic
violence survivors, returnee migrant workers, internally displaced people,
sexual minorities and other marginalized and socially excluded groups) to
the national economy including the GDP, with firm sex-disaggregated data.
The special needs of this excluded group should also be appropriately and
adequately addressed in any post-disaster context.
• Undertake special measures to increase investment to improvise public
services that reduce the care work and time burden for women enabling
them to increase their productivity.
• Implement and amend the sexual harassment at workplace law in line with
the CEDAW Committee’s general recommendation.
• Prioritize Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to create synergy in allocating
large and long-term investment to women’s economic empowerment
programs.

37 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

WOMEN IN POWER AND
DECISION MAKING
1. Present Status
The inclusion of women in Army, Nepal Police shall be made on the basis
of equality.106 The appointment of ambassadors shall be made on the basis
of principle of inclusion.107 The appointment of the officers in the offices
of constitutional bodies shall be made on the inclusive principle.108 These
provisions in the Constitution offers legal basis as opportunity to work towards
assisting the government in formulating local Acts, developing rules, policies
and procedures as well as advocating to ensure these rights are exercised
by the targeted group, especially the women within each of these targeted
groups. The electoral quota of Nepal has ensured 33% women's representation
in the federal and provincial parliaments and 40% in local governments.109
The Constitution of Nepal has provisioned appointment of President and Vice
President representing different sex/community, and one woman as chair/vice-
chair both in upper and lower house of the federal parliament.110 Local Body
Election (First Amendment) Act, 2017 has provisioned 50% women candidacy
for position of Chair, Vice- Chair; Mayor, Deputy Mayor; Chief and Deputy Chief
of District Coordination Committee from political parties and has also ensured
at least two women candidacy (including one Dalit women) at Ward level.111 As
per the reservation policy introduced in the Civil Service Act 2049, 45 % of the
total vacancies in government service were allocated to various marginalized
and backward communities among which denotes for women, Dalit, Janajati,
Adhivasi/ Madhesi, Disabled and Backward Area. Without having allocation for
women in specific, only 14% of them have been obtained the facilities.112

106. Constitution of Nepal 2015, Article 267 (3)

107. Constitution of Nepal 2015, Article 282
108. Constitution of Nepal 2015, Article 283
109. Constitution of Nepal 2015, Article 84(8), 86, 91(2), 216(4)
110. Constitution of Nepal 2072, Article 70, 91 (2)
111. Local Body Election (First Amendment) Act 2017, [Chapter 4, Section 17 (4); Chapter 2,
Section 6 (2) and Chapter 4, Section 21].
112. Civil Service Act 2049, Section 6(a)

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 38

 2. Progress Achieved
• The Local Governance Operation Act 2017 have provisioned for the
representation of women in the self-governing local units either as Mayors
or Deputy Mayors which as a result has reflected on the local elections held
where the representation of women has been ensured in 700 local units out
of 753 as a deputy mayors.
• After the promulgation of the new Constitution of 2015, first women President,
Bidhya Devi Bhandari was elected, Onshari Gharti became Speaker of the
Legislature-Parliament and Sushila Karki became the women Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court for the first.113
• Of the 10 parliamentary committees under the HoR, women lawmakers
lead six.114
• Around 6567 Dalit female members were able to win in local level election.115
• The Foreign Service of Nepal has a total of 312 posts. Out of this 61 posts
are filled by women employees, which is about 20 percent of total posts.116
• Women can be found involved in international committees as well. Ms.
Sapana Pradhan Malla was elected in UN CAT Committee in 2015, Ms.
Bandana Rana was elected in UN CEDAW Committee member in 2016
and Ms. Melisa Uprety was elected in UN Working Group on Discrimination
against Women in Law and in Practice in 2017.
• After the elections, women occupied about 41 percent of posts at the
federal, provincial and national levels of government in Nepal. A total of
seven women were elected mayors of municipalities, 11 chairpersons
of rural municipalities, 276 deputy mayors and 424 vice chairs of rural
municipalities.117
• Out of 753 local bodies, only 18 (<3%) are headed by women (Chairperson/
Mayor and only 23.54% are in civil service sector.118

3. Persistent and Emerging Challenges

The appointment of women ministers in the cabinet is less in executive system.
The ministerial cabinet after the federal election in 2017 listed 1 prime minister,
19 ministers and 3 state ministers. However, out of 19 ministers of the central
government only 2 of them are female and out of 3 state ministers, none of them
is female.119

113. SDG report

114. Bhattarai .2019.“The woeful presence of Nepali women in politics and government”.The
Annapurna Express. February 26, 2019
115. Paswan, Bhola. 2017. “Data Reveals Local Elections a Disaster for Gender Equality.” The
Record. October 24, 2017
116. Government’s reply on LOI., CEDAW Committee
117. SDG report.
118. Department of Civil Personnel Records, 2018
119. Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Minister. 2019, via https://www.opmcm.gov.np/
cabinet/

39 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

Out of 21 judges in the Supreme Court only 3 (14.28%) are female, out of 148
judges in High Courts only 14 (9.45%) are women and out of 230 judges in
District Courts only 5 (2.17%) are women.120 Government has started nominating
women as ambassador to other countries giving them opportunity as delegates
and in the foreign diplomacy. Out of 30 embassies in 30 countries only 3 female
ambassadors are appointed in Oman, Japan and Israel as in 2019.121 However, in
the academic sector there has been no appointment of female vice chancellor
in universities.
There is a provision to appoint commissioners on inclusion basis at constitutional
bodies. However, less involvement of women can be observed. CIAA has
one female commissioner.122 Public Service Commission has one female
commissioner as well.123 Despite the promise of state restructuring, women
continue to be denied political power at the local level.124
Even though a large number of Donors, INGOs and UN agencies are
contributing towards women’s decision making and participation, women are
still less fortunate in respect to income, opportunity, access to the services and
also positions in the public decision-making. Most political parties have less
involvement of women.
Despite a number of initiatives and provisions made by the government through
process and plans in different ministries and departments, the budget allocation
for the purpose is either very poor or not used properly. The number of women
especially from marginalized communities coming into power currently augurs
well for gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) but, the road to women’s
substantive participation in leadership and decision-making roles is littered
with manifold challenges.125
In the name of ‘women's participation and empowerment’ more emphasis is
being placed in quantitative indicators than qualitative performance. Therefore,
the number count is overriding the quality of representation and participation.

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

The persistent gender discrimination and social exclusion in Nepal which
includes gender stereotypes, stigmatizing values and attitudes at socio
cultural and structural level has brought different challenges against women in
acknowledging their critical roles in development process.

120. Data collected from Judicial Council, 2019 December

121. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nepal. 2019. Via https://mofa.gov.np/
122. CIAA, 2019. viahttp://www.ciaa.gov.np/page/4
123. Public Service Commission, 2019 via http://www.psc.gov.np/
124. Paswan, Bhola. 2017. “Data Reveals Local Elections a Disaster for Gender Equality.” The
Record. October 24, 2017
125. TAF, DFAT and Samjhauta Nepal .2017. “Nepal’s Locally Elected Women Representatives
Exploratory Study of Needs and Capacity. Nepal

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 40

 The main cause behind gender inequality has been traditional patriarchal,
religious and social practices of Nepal which can be reflected from low
participation of women in formal institutions like academic, economic, politics
and profession. The historic movement of women, and the valued contribution
for the democracy, right to education, participation in the armed combatants,
militia, national army, public transport sector, foreign labor challenging gender
stereotype norms and values is noteworthy. Different international and national
provisions along with continuous advocacy and persistence have enhanced
participation and decision making of women in Nepal. However, the level of
recognition and the support women get in noticeably minimal.
• The decision making role of women in regards to her bodily autonomy, her
family, community and in different state machineries should be considered
for the meaningful decision making process.
• Ensure constitutional right to equality by ensuring women's quality
participation, representation and leadership in all state machineries and
emphasizing substantive equality where more women should be given the
leading position not merely role of deputy.
• Women having high academic as well as professional expertise need to be
given opportunity to represent and lead.
• Ensure mandatory proportional representation of women in all the
constitutional bodies, federal and provincial commissions and cabinet
ministries. The advocacy for the at least 50% participation of female political
candidates in the election where the competition should be between female
candidates in the first past the post system. The position of commissioners
in the different Constitutional bodies needs to be fulfilled with priority to
follow at least 33% representation of women. The measures guaranteeing
• Ensure the measures guaranteeing equal and inclusive participation of
women in all levels of political, public and professional life, especially Dalit
women, widow, women with disabilities, women from sexual and religious
minorities, indigenous women, Madhesi women, impoverished women and
rural women.
• Ensure equal and quality representation of women at local government by
ensuring quality in education and capacity development of rural women
and likely giving technical support to the women who are capable to hold
the leadership position.
• The yearly-disaggregated database of women leadership in different
sectors should be updated regularly through different academic, research,
social and government institutions.
• National Women Commission uses the national and international legal
mechanism to check and balance the system. Therefore, advocating,
monitoring of the representation, active participation and following of the
constitutional mandate regard to the decision-making and leadership is
must.

41 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM FOR
THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN
1. Present Status
Nepal has made substantial progress in terms of establishing institutional
mechanism and national machineries in place which supports for advancing
the rights of women at state structure. But gender disparity is entrenched
extensively despite of the improvements made. Constitution of Nepal (2015)
is progressive and constitutes several encouraging basics for the upliftment of
women in every sector of development. The National Women Commission was
established as statutory body in 2002 to monitor Nepal’s women’s rights situation
which is now a constitutional body with the provision of Constitution of Nepal
2015.126 The National Women Commission (NWC) is governed by the National
Women Commission Act 2017.
Nepal with having new federal system has brought up newly formed
decentralized government structures which indeed consider women
empowerment a priority in increasing Nepal’s overall human development.127
Ministry of Social Development and social development unit in local level
Over 25 years of Beijing Conference in 1995, the major outcomes that the
Country has been able to pursue is the establishment of National institutions
for Women in Particular but there still the prevailing gaps and challenges that
needs to be addressed to advance the rights of women in national structure.
The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW) (which is now
Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens) was established following
the Beijing Conference in 1995 for advancement of women’s rights.128 The
National Women Commission was established as statutory body in 2002 to
monitor Nepal’s women’s rights situation. The Government of Nepal (GoN)

126. Constitution of Nepal Part 27, other Commission, Article 252-254

127. https://thehimalayantimes.com/opinion/editorial-gender-equality-new-opportunities/
128. National Review on the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
(1995) and the Outcomes of the Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly
(2000)

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 42

 had Women and Children Offices (WCOs) established in all districts to deliver
women development services effectively. Government of Nepal had formulated
National Plan of Action in 1997 and then in 2004 as a result of Beijing review on
Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.
The Gender Coordination and Empowerment Unit established at the Office
of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) in 2010 has been
instrumental for necessary coordination and facilitation for enhancing access
of victims to justice mechanism. It has been monitoring the implementation
of National Plan of Action against GBV and gender empowerment along with
information management for anti-GBV investigation, research and development
initiatives.129 There is also a National Committee for controlling Human Trafficking
(NCCHT) is a focal unit in Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen
(MoWCSC) to combat trafficking which coordinates with non-governmental
organizations and other stakeholders for rescue and rehabilitation of trafficking
survivors and employ prevention efforts. There are service centers and OCMC
(One-Stop Crisis Management Center), Rehabilitation Centre for the survivors of
violence against women and to provide shelter and restoration to those women.
Gender equality and social inclusion policy has been adopted. Similarly, there
is Gender Based Violence Elimination (GBVE) Fund; and Gender responsive
Budgeting system. Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) seeks to ensure that
the needs and interest of women and men from different groups are addressed
in governments’ budget. Ministry of Finance has even formed a committee on
Gender Responsive Budget to address the issues regarding GRB. Government
of Nepal had formulated National Plan of Action in 1997 and then in 2004 as a
result of Beijing review on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.

2. Progress Achieved
• Law has provisioned several mechanisms including National Human Rights
Commission, National Women Commission, National Dalit Commission,
Tharu Commission and National Foundation for Development of Indigenous
Nationalities were established to address all possible violations of rights.130
• Gender Unit have been established in each Government Ministry.131
• Women and Children Service Centre in all districts and directorate in
headquarter has been established and expanded to deal with issues of
women and children within the Nepal Police.
• Ministry of Social Development has been established in provinces which
is focal ministry to deal with formulation of gender related policies in
provincial level along with other social issues.

129. Sixth Periodic Report of Nepal on CEDAW submitted to CEDAW Committee, April 2017, p. 6
130. Ibid
131. Gender Assessment and Gender Budget Audit in Seven Ministries

43 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

• There has been increase in number of OCMCs. As of 2017, Ministry of
Health has established 21OCMCs with technical backstopping support
from NHSSP among which, three OCMCs were established after the massive
earthquake in three highly affected disaster districts (Sindhupalchwok,
Dolakha and Ramechhap).132
• Owing to GRB, the total budget for the current fiscal year (2019-2020)
amounts to NPR 15.3 trillion (USD 137 billion), out of which NPR 585.2 billion
(USD 5.24 billion), which is about 38.17% has been known as allocations
made for programmes that are directly benefiting women. Similarly, the
share of indirectly gender-responsive allocations amounts to NPR 545 billion
(4.88 billion), i.e. 35.56% of the total budget. Finally, NPR 402.7 billion (USD
3.61 billion), i.e. the remaining 26.27% has been allocated for gender-neutral
programmes.133
• Women and social committee formed as Parliamentary Committee.

3. Persistent Challenges/ Gaps

• Dissolution of Women and Children office at all the district levels which
along has created the difficulties for women in assessing the facilities for
advancing the socio-economic political rights of women
• GBV fund mechanism is dysfunctional due to which it has become difficult
to distribute the fund to survivors.
• Failure in appointing commissioners of National Women Commission (NWC)
which have led it being inactive.
• Lack of adequate financial and human resources for National Women
Commission (NWC) to operate effectively.134 The position of Joint Secretary
of Government of Nepal has been mandated to be appointed as the secretary
of NWC which has derogated the constitutional status of NWS and has made
it difficulty in making dealing at higher level meetings.
• No separate department or authority has been allotted in state’s structure
for women with disabilities, and LBTI women.135
• Lack of disaggregated database at federal, provincial and local level of
government and judiciary Non-integration of Gender Responsive Budgeting
(GRB) at provincial and local levels.136

132. Health Sector Transition and Recovery Program: Case Study on Performance of Hospital
Based One Stop Crisis Management Centers (OCMC), Ministry of Health, January – March
2017, p. 13
133. Ministry of Finance, 2019
134. Shadow Report on Sixth Periodic Report of Nepal on CEDAW cited from Budget for National
Women Commission, available at http://mof.gov.np/uploads/document/ file/speech_
english_20180715091522.pdf, accessed on 20 September, 2018.
135. Consultation workshop held at province 3, 2019
136. Shadow Report on Sixth Periodic Report of Nepal on CEDAW submitted to CEDAW
Committee, 2018, p. 7

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 44

 • Lack of adequate number of well-equipped rehabilitation and shelter
homes.

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

Nepal has made considerable progress in relating to the establishment of
various institutions for uplifting the status of women in Nepal. However, as Nepal
is being federally restructured and there is need to establish these institutions
at provincial and local level to expedite the implementation and formulation
of laws and policies at these levels in order to ensure gender equality at all
levels of the country. Owing to the above mentioned challenges and constraints
following recommendations have been provided.
• Dedicated Women and Children Office need to be established at district
level.
• Appoint commissioners of National Women Commission and also of other
commissions; Ensure adequate Human and Financial resources to ensure
the accountability in implementing obligations on gender equality and
mainstreaming.
• Assessing the integration of gender perspective into the legislation, plans
and policies through sensitization and strengthening of machineries and
government officials as a significant concern that needs to be taken into
account; Adoption of Collaborative approach among the government/ non-
government organizations, Women based organizations, stakeholders to
strengthen the action-oriented plans fostering gender equality.
• Adopt specific plans for implementing Concluding Observations and
update Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Plan of Action
• The perception and attitude of government towards women needs to be
changed and treat men and women equally, further the discriminatory laws
need to be amended. At the other side, there is a need for adoption of
preventive measures of all forms of exploitation against women along with
the follow up mechanism to ensure the implementation of Gender equality
plans and polices.
• Planning and execution of gender-responsive budgeting activities along
with the monitoring mechanism of the government planned programs at the
National, provincial and local level to identify the existing gaps, which provides
the clear indication for coming up with the obligatory policies budget
allocation ensuring the availability of resources for the implementation of
plans to address the issue inequalities for gender mainstreaming;
• Development of a comprehensive gender indicator system, with a view to
improving the collection of disaggregated data as a means of assessing the
impact and effectiveness of policies and programs aimed at mainstreaming
gender equality and enhancing women’s enjoyment of their human rights.

45 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

• Strengthening the liaison between Women Ministry, Nepal Women
Commission, Government Bodies, and Intergovernmental organizations to
enhance and expand gender mainstreaming in policy level.
• Establish adequate number of Shelter and rehabilitation homes keeping
in mind the federal structure with comprehensive services including
legal, psychosocial, medical and livelihood support at all local levels with
appropriate facilities for women with disabilities, LBTI groups, women with
mental health problems, and victims of all forms of violence including SGBV
• Ensure that diversity within women such as Dalit, Madhesi, indigenous
communities, religious minorities, LBTI, women from geographically
disadvantaged locations, women with disabilities and displaced women are
considered while establishing institutional mechanism for advancement of
women.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 46

 HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN
1. Present Status
As a state party to the CEDAW137 and its Optional Protocol along with other
major international human rights instruments like ICERD138, ICESCR139,
ICCPR140 and CRPD141, Nepal has its international commitments to guarantee
and promote gender equality. Domesticating those international commitments
into the national legislations the principles of non-discrimination and gender
equality have been enshrined in the Constitution of Nepal.142 The preamble
of the Constitution aims to protect and promote proportional inclusive and
participatory principles in order to ensure economic equality, prosperity and
social justice, by eliminating discriminations based on class, caste, region,
language, religion and gender and all forms of caste-based untouchability.142
The Constitution furthermore guarantees right to live with dignity,144 right to
equality,145 right against untouchability and discrimination,146 right to social

137. Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979 which
Nepal ratified on 22 April 1991
138. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965 which
Nepal accessioned on 20 Jan 1971
139. International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 which Nepal
accessioned on 14 May 1991
140. International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 which Nepal accessioned on 14
May 1991
141. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 which Nepal ratified on 7 May
2010
142. The Constitution of Nepal, 2015 which came into effect from September 20, 2015
143. The Preamble of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015
144. Ibid, Article 16: (1) Every person shall have the right to live with dignity (2) No law shall be
made providing for the death penalty to anyone.
145. Ibid, Article 18: (1) All citizens shall be equal before law. No person shall be denied the equal
protection of law (2) No discrimination shall be made in the application of general laws on
grounds of origin, religion, race, caste, tribe, sex, physical condition, condition of health,
marital status, pregnancy, economic condition, language or region, ideology or on similar
other grounds (3) The State shall not discriminate citizens on grounds of origin, religion, race,
caste, tribe, sex, economic condition, language, region, ideology or on similar other grounds
4) No discrimination shall be made on the ground of gender with regard to remuneration and
social security for the same work (5) All offspring shall have the equal right to the ancestral
property without discrimination on the ground of gender.
146. Ibid, Article 24

47 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

justice147 and right to social security148. Under the right to equality it guarantees
non-discrimination on the grounds of origin, religion, race, caste, tribe, sex,
economic condition, language, religion, ideology or on similar other grounds.
It also ensures special provisions by law for the protection, empowerment
or development of the citizens including the socially or culturally backward
women, Dalit, indigenous people and minorities.
Despite of abundant guarantees, women in Nepal still face many fold challenges
due to the deep rooted patriarchal mindset that often takes precedence over
these laws and policies and lack of practical implementation of the Constitutional
guarantees. Gender inequality in Nepal remains high, as indicated by the
Gender Inequality Index of 0.48, ranking it 118 out of 160 countries in 2017.149
Furthermore, Gender Equality has only been considered equality among male
and female and not for the LBTI150 group. LBTI group is hardly considered while
considering gender equality.
In addition, non-recognition of the independent identity of women in conferring
the citizenship to the spouse and children151 is a direct violation of the Article 9
of the CEDAW that obliges the state to grant women equal rights with men to
acquire, change or retain their nationality and equal rights with respect to the
nationality of their children. Nepali women are envisioned in three categories
by the Constitution that are Nepali mother with Nepali father, Nepali mother
with unidentified father and Nepali mother with foreign father, which derails
the personality of women.152 Further there is no provision for conferral of
Nepali citizenship by Nepali woman to foreign spouse through marriage while
the Nepalese men can convey their Nationality to foreign spouses and their
children.153

2. Progress Achieved
• Promulgation of the new Constitution in 2015 has been the milestone for
enabling environment for gender equality in the country as it ensures equal
lineage right to every woman without gender based discrimination154 and
the right to obtain special opportunity in education, health, employment

147. Ibid, Article 42

148. Ibid, Article 43
149. Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical Update <http://hdr.undp.org/
sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/NPL.pdf> accessed on 18 September 2019
150. Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex
151. Constitution of Nepal 2015, Article 11(5) and Article (7) has impaired the independent
identity of women undermining them to confer the citizenship to their children when the
father of the children remains unidentified.
152. Ibid, Article 11 (2), 11(5) and 11(7)
153. Article 11 (6), the Constitution of Nepal states that: “A foreign woman who has a matrimonial
relationship with a citizen of Nepal may, if she so wishes, acquires the naturalized citizenship
of Nepal as provided for in the Federal law.”
154. Ibid, Article 38 (1) every woman shall have equal lineage right without gender based
discrimination

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 48

 and social security, on the basis of positive discrimination.155 It further
stipulates right to participation of women in all bodies of the State based
on the principle of proportional inclusion156 as well as the spousal rights to
property and family affairs.157
• The Act to Amend Some Acts for Maintaining Gender Equality and Ending
Gender-Based Violence2015 amended few discriminatory provisions.
• In 2015, Nepal joined other members of the United Nations in adopting the
global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that follows the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) as the international development targets. The
Government of Nepal has already started to mainstream the SDGs into the
national planning and budgeting systems.

3. Persistent Challenges
• There is an absence of definition of discrimination against women in existing
laws and the legislations of the country have failed to address the indirect
forms of discrimination and to address intersectional158 and multiple forms
of discrimination of women. Though the laws have ensured that instances of
de jure discriminations have been eliminated in most of the areas still the
same cannot be said about elimination of de facto discrimination. Further,
deep rooted patriarchal mindset of people including those who are in the
position of implementation of laws is one of the major causes for insufficient
of implementation of laws.
• The discriminatory provisions in articles 11(3)159, 11(5)160, 11(6)161 and
11(7)162 of the Constitution limiting women’s autonomy regarding nationality

155. Ibid, Article 38 (5) Women shall have the right to obtain special opportunity in education,
health, employment and social security, on the basis of positive discrimination.
156. Ibid, Article 38 (4)
157. Ibid, Article 38 (6)
158. Women with disabilities, Indigenous Women, Dalit Women, Displaced Women, Women
affected by Disaster, LBTI, Women of religious minorities, and women from geographically
disadvantaged locations
159. Article 11(3), the Constitution of Nepal: a child of a citizen having obtained the citizenship of
Nepal by birth prior to the commencement of Nepal shall, upon attaining majority, acquire
the citizenship of Nepal by descent if the child’s father and mother both are citizens of Nepal.
160. Ibid,Article 11(5): a person who is born in Nepal from a woman who is a citizen of Nepal and
has resided in Nepal and whose father is not traced shall be provided with the citizenship
of Nepal by descent. Provided that his or her father is held to be a foreign citizen, the
citizenship of such person shall be converted into naturalized citizenship as provided for in
the Federal law
161. Ibid, Article 11 (6): A foreign spouse who has a matrimonial relationship with a citizen of
Nepal may, if she so wishes, acquire the naturalized citizenship of Nepal as provided for in
the Federal law.
162. Ibid,Article 11(7): Notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in this Article, in the case
of a person born from a woman who is a citizen of Nepal and married to a foreign citizen, the
person may acquire the naturalized citizenship of Nepal in accordance with the Federal law if
he or she has permanently resided in Nepal and has not acquired the citizenship of a foreign
country. Provided that if such person’s mother and father both are citizens of Nepal at the
time of acquisition of citizenship, such person born in Nepal may acquire the citizenship of
Nepal by descent

49 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

 and the ability to transmit citizenship through marriage and to their children.
That women, in particular single mothers, are being denied citizenship
certificates and registration of their children, which prevents those women
and their children from opening bank accounts, obtaining driver’s license,
voting, managing their property, gaining access to education, acquiring
travel documents, applying for employment in the public sector and
benefitting from social services.
• Despite of the Constitutional guarantee of non-discrimination, the LBTI
women are not being able to enjoy equal rights in citizenship, marriage and
social justice in practice. Same-sex relationship has been decriminalized a
long back in the country however same-sex marriage is yet to be recognized
legally and socially. LBTI women are not permitted to amend the sex in
the citizenship certificate in the cases where they have already acquired
citizenship before identification of their sexuality. Because of this, many of
them are compelled to be legally recognized with different sex then they
are.
• The government has failed to enact law to implement the special opportunity
provisions under fundamental rights of women as per the Article 47 of the
Constitution. It also limits the special provision by adding the condition of
‘lagging behind socially and culturally”163 which indicates that the positive
discrimination may not extend to all women but only those who are proven
to fulfill the condition.
• The Country Civil Code 2018 prevents women from claiming their property
rights upon divorce if they do not provide food for their spouses, terminate
common living arrangements with their spouses, inflict physical or mental
harm on their spouses or plan to do so, or in cases in which the woman has
had extra conjugal relations164 whereas same provision is inapplicable to the
husband.165
• The Judiciary has been a crucial component in protecting and promoting
gender equality in Nepal. The Supreme Court of Nepal has repealed various
discriminatory laws through its decisions. The Court has made the notable
decisions in regard to discrimination against women whether it is on property
rights of women or equal right to citizenship from the mother's identity
however, on implementation or delay in implementation of the judiciary
orders to ensure equal status of women still stand as a major challenge in
ensuring women's human rights. Most importantly Non implementation of
the progressive court decisions and precedents is a major challenge.

163. Article 18(3), the Constitution of Nepal – provided that nothing shall be deemed to bar the
making of special provisions by law for the protection, empowerment or advancement of the
women lagging behind socially and culturally.
164. Section 94(2), the Country Civil Code
165. Ibid, Section 99 (6)

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 50

 4. Conclusion and Recommendation
Despite of significant improvement in legal guarantees for protection of women's
rights and gender equality, women in Nepal still face multiple discriminations
due to the continuous dominance of the patriarchal value system. Insufficient
implementation of laws in reality remains a major challenge in Nepal with regard
to fulfilling the international obligations under various human rights instrument.
Nonetheless, it can be said that the Government of Nepal has succeeded to
eliminate de jure discriminations against women in most of the areas but de
facto discrimination is still remained. Therefore, some recommendations are
presented herewith:
• Adopt a comprehensive definition of discrimination against women in the
legislation to encompass both de jure and de facto discrimination, direct
and indirect discrimination in line with Article 1 of the Convention along
with the definition made by CRPD and CERD specially to address the issues
of intersectional and multiple discriminations. Men's engagement shall also
be ensured in achieving gender equality and women's empowerment.
• Acknowledge the diversity of women within the framework of special measures
and introduce target-based and time-bound temporary special measures in
general with preference to socially or culturally backward women, women
with diversity especially Dalit women, women with disabilities, women from
religious and sexual minorities, indigenous women, Madhesi women, poor
women, and rural women on the basis of positive discrimination together
with phase out policy where applicable discrimination. Also enact law to
implement the special opportunity provision of the Constitution without any
delay.
• Take immediate steps to amend/repeal discriminatory provisions that
prevent women from acquiring, retaining and transferring citizenship on an
equal basis with men in the Constitution particularly Article 11(5),11(6),11(7)
and Problematic Provision of Citizenship Act Amendment Bill that still does
not recognize the independent personality of women.
• Ensure right to amend the sex of LBTI women in the citizenship certificate
and take appropriate steps in order to guarantee dignified social live of
LBTI women.
• Recognize women as an independent coparcener as men in all ancestral
property documents and repeal the discriminatory provisions of the
Country Civil Code that prevent women from claiming their property rights
upon divorce.
• Ensure effective and full implementation of the decisions and directive
orders of the Supreme Court regarding women's equal status, identity and
rights of women.

51 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

WOMEN AND MEDIA
1. Present Status
News media has power to take stories related to women and gender equality
out of the private realm. But, when there are few female news sources, it forces
audience to believe that women are unimportant or invisible.166 The Nepal‘s
achievement of having female leaders has brought effortless coverage of
women in media. However, the general women ‘s issues of the grassroots or
micro level are the unwritten and unspoken stories and concerns.167 As the
information technology advanced, the participation of women in the media
has increased considerably, but few have attained decision making positions
and governs board and bodies that influence the media policy. Along with
the mainstream media, the use of social media has also increased which has
widened the parameters of media. As a result, women’s participation has
also increased. Currently, there are 51 television channels (153 registered)
in operation. Similarly, 672 FM Radio (1089 registered), 953 newspapers and
around 16 online media are in operation.168
In terms of representation, FNJ’s working committee is not complete without
three women journalists. Similarly, one among five general secretaries of FNJ
has to be a woman. In the district branch of FNJ, at least one-woman journalist
has to be its member.169 In the core committee of Nepal Press Union, six seats
have been reserved for women. There is reservation for women for the post of
general secretary, vice president and secretary. Three seats for women have
also been reserved for the post of executive member.170 In Press Chautari

166. Available at https://thehimalayantimes.com/opinion/gender-news-media-where-are-the-

women/ accessed on 2019/11/30
167. Portrayal of women in print media: A Nepalese Context by Lina Gurung available at https://
www.researchgate.net/publication/325259566_Portrayal_of_women_in_print_media_A_
Nepalese_Context accessed on 2019/12/01
168. 43rd Annual report of Press Council retrieved on September 30, 2019 from http://fnjnepal.org/
en/page/membershttp://www.presscouncilnepal.org/np/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Yearly-
Report-2075.pdf accessed on 2019/11/30
169. Research on professional journalist in Nepal conducted by Sancharika Samuha available at
https://www.sancharika.org/portal/html/images/item_images/files/All_Sancharika_English_
Survey_book_2016.pdf
170. Ibid

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 52

 Nepal out of 57 central working committee members, 12 (21%) are females
which includes 1 vice-president, 1 secretary and 5 member.171
After the restoration of democracy in 1990, two polices regarding media came
into force, National Broadcasting Policy 1992 and Long-term Broadcasting
Policy 1990. At present, both of these policies are replaced by National Mass
Communications Policy 2016. The policy addresses the issue of the mobilization
of the media, promotes an active and visible policy of main-streaming a gender
perspective in policies and program. It also ensures participation of women in
different structures of media. Being based on National Mass Communications
Policy 2016, The Advertisement Act, 2019 is enacted. The Act ensures sensitivity
while dealing with women’s issue. Similarly, it guarantees the participation
of at least one women as a member in the advertisement board established
according to the Act. Information and Technology Bill is tabled in the parliament.
It focuses on demotivating cyber bulling, cyber crime and vulgar contents,
and also states about cyber security. Media Council Bill, 2018 and Mass
Communication Bill, 2018 which is under discussion in the parliament ensures
women’s participation in its proposed structures.

2. Progress Achieved
• The total number of journalists registered with the Federation of Nepali
Journalists (FNJ) is 13,050 out of which only 18% are women.172
• There is increment of women’s participation in the communication sector
and structures of media. The research conducted by Sancharika Samuha
in 2015, women journalists account for 25% in the media. However, the
number of women in decision making positions is very nominal. Of the total
25 %, 41.5% are news presenters, 29.3 % are correspondents, and only 2.9
% are bureau chief.173
• Women have been taking the challenging news stories and investigative
news coverage.174
• There is gradual improvement in the participation of female in news byline
and as news sources in both print and online media. In the six months since
January 2019, the print media recorded 12% female byline and 88% male
byline; while in the same period, the online media recorded 18% female
byline and 82% male byline.175

171. Ibid
172. Accessed on September 29, 2019 from http://fnjnepal.org/en/page/members
173. Research on professional journalist in Nepal conducted by Sancharika Samuha available at
https://www.sancharika.org/portal/html/images/item_images/files/All_Sancharika_English_
Survey_book_2016.pdf accessed on 2019/12/01
174. Report on media monitoring content published from Freedom Forum available at https://
kathmandupost.com/author/bhrikuti-rai
175. Available at http://freedomforum.org.np/interface-meeting-on-womens-presence-in-nepali-
media-2/ accessed on 2019/11/30

53 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

• Most of the media house has followed labor policy. Out of 31 television
media houses, 71 % had labor policies and 19.4 % did not have any kind of
labor policy while the remaining 9.7 % did not disclose about labor policy.
Out of the 306 ration media houses, 72.5 % had adopted labor policy and
practices while 12.7 % did not have labor policy and 14.7 % remain silent
on the matter. Likewise, out of 39 online houses, 64.1 % had adopted an
effective labor policy and 25.6 % did not have a labor policy remaining
10.3% remained silent on the matter.176

3. Persisting and emerging challenges

• Lack of in-house gender policy and gender equality and social inclusion
(GESI) principle in the media house has created deficiency of gender
friendly environment. Consequently, many women journalist could not
continue their job.
• Since, Communication and Technology Bill which addresses the issue of
cyber crime is tabled in the parliament and is under discussion, it is difficult
to penalized cyber crime. As a result, the number of women being victim is
rapidly increasing. In the Kathmandu District Court, 34 cases of cyber crime
were filed in 2016/17 which increased to 81 in 2017/18. In the year 2018/19
the number of case reached 118. In these cases, 80% of the victims are
women.177
• The subject matter published and broadcasted by media are not monitored
being based on the gender lens.
• Internet, blog and website are developing rapidly. However, there is no
mechanism to monitor it.
• There is not sufficient representation of women from different ethnicity and
community (dalit, indigenous nationalities, people with disability, Madhesi,
marginalized community and backward region, class and community
in mass communication sector). Out of total women journalist, 58.6% are
Brahmin/Chhetri, 29.3% are Indigenous nationalities, 5.7% are Dalit, 4.4%
are Madhesi and 2% from other ethnicity).178
• Although news of violence has taken place, structural differences have not
yet become the subject of news.
• The number of women using social media is increasing but they are not well
informed about cyber security.

176. Research on professional journalist in Nepal conducted by Sancharika Samuha available at

https://www.sancharika.org/portal/html/images/item_images/files/All_Sancharika_English_
Survey_book_2016.pdf accessed on 2019/12/02
177. https://nagariknews.nagariknetwork.com/news/104571/?fbclid=IwAR2OLiGh-38k-u_k-wo6BM
r9wVwFnkuCcwS5VCvutavYOc0o4j1QuwWdgAg accessed on 2019/12/02
178. Research on professional journalist in Nepal conducted by Sancharika Samuha available at
https://www.sancharika.org/portal/html/images/item_images/files/All_Sancharika_English_
Survey_book_2016.pdf accessed on 2019/12/01

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 54

 • There is increasing number of click bait degrading the image of women.
The credibility of online and YouTube streaming is being questioned. Some
of the social media raise the risk of further exacerbating violence against
women.
• There lack of internalization of gender inclusive newsrooms at editorial
level.179
• There is problem of security of women working in night shift as most of the
media house does not provide drop facility.180
• Women are not getting equal opportunity and there is a pay gap among
women and men. Only, 2.4 % of the total 41 chief editors are female journalists.
Similarly, 4.3 % of the total 47 executive chief editors and managing editors
are female.181

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

Some of the print, broadcasting and online media have started to create women
friendly environment and have prioritized women ‘s issues. Women working in
media sector have contributed to the changing scenario as they are engaged
in reporting, editing and publishing. To transform the process and practices
of positive portrayal of women in media, gender sensitization is vital. It should
be done through advertisements, news, interviews and articles because it
consequently enriches the knowledge of gender awareness among the mindset
of people. In terms of laws and policies, The Government of Nepal has tabled
different laws regulating media sector which ensures participation of women in
different mechanisms and bodies in media sector.
• Women’s participation and gender sensitivity should be incorporated as the
subject matter in the different laws related to media.
• The Constitution of Nepal states that women shall have the right to participate
in all bodies of the state on the basis of the principle of proportional
inclusion.182 So, it should be implemented in the media sector too. Women’s
participation from different ethnic community (dalit, indigenous nationalities,
people with disability, Madhesi, marginalized community and backward
region) in the mechanisms should be guaranteed.
• Training should be provided to the journalist about the gender sensitivity
and GESI.
• Sexual violence in the workplace should be prohibited and women friendly
environment should be created in the media sector.

179. Ibid
180. Ibid
181. Ibid
182. The Constitution of Nepal, 2015 Article 38(4)

55 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

• Special mechanism should be made to monitor the gender sensitivity issues
published and broadcasted by the media.
• Legal Awareness and information dissemination regarding government
initiations for promoting gender equality and women's empowerment shall
be done in proper manner so that women of rural areas can access the
facilities and programs of the government.
• An effective mechanism should be built to monitor whether the salary as
fixed by the minimum wage fixation committee is being provided in time. It
will help women journalists to continue with their profession.
• Women should be included in both management as well as newsrooms for
their quantitative and qualitative participation
• Media houses should arrange breast feeding room and children room, so
that women could be regular at work.
• Women should represent in diverse roles in media sector which are non-
stereotypical.

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 56

 WOMEN AND THE ENVIRONMENT
1. Present Status
Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries in relations to natural disasters.
Globally, it is ranked fourth, eleventh and thirtieth in terms of vulnerability
to climate change, earthquake and flood risks respectively.183 More than 80
percent of the total population of Nepal faces risk of flooding, drought, landslides,
windstorm, hailstorm, fire, earthquake and Glacial Lake Outburst Flood
among other severe climatic conditions.184 Most significantly, Women and girls
are disproportionately disadvantaged in humanitarian crises due to gender
inequality, which shapes and deepens vulnerability to hazards and constrains
their responses, even while their duties as workers, wives, and mothers remain
and conditions worsen.185 The Internal Cluster Gender Task Force (ICGTF)
(2015,) estimates that the 14 districts most affected by the first earthquake were
home to approximately 2,710,239 women (50.5 per cent of total population)
and that an estimated 26.5 per cent of the households affected were female-
headed households.186 Furthermore the ICGTF in Nepal estimated that, in May
2015, approximately 40,000 women were thought to be at immediate risk of
sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) (ICGTF 2015, 1).187 Similarly, Nepal
recorded its first ever tornado in April 2019 that killed 29 people in Bara and
Parsa district situated in southern plain of the country and left many wounded
and displaced. Again, women and children were the worst sufferers.188
VAWG in the aftermath of conflict and natural disasters need to be seen and
understood within the context of GBV in society in ‘usual’ times. For those

183. http://www.np.undp.org/content/nepal/en/home/energy-environment-climate-and-disaster-
risk-management/in-depth.html
184. Ministry of Home Affairs. (2018). Nepal Disaster Report, 2017: The Road to Sendai,
Kathmandu: Government of Nepal.
185. Kay Standing, Sara Parker & Sapana Bista (2016) Grassroots responses to violence against
women and girls in post-earthquake Nepal: lessons from the field, Gender & Development,
24:2, 187-204, DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2016.1194562, cited from : (Chew and Ramdas
2005 ) (accessible on: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Grassroots%20
responses%20to%20violence%20against%20women%20and%20girls%20in%20post%20
earthquake%20Nepal%20lessons%20from%20the%20field.pdf
186. Ibid p. 188
187. Ibid p. 188
188. https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/bara-parsa-was-hit-by-nepal-s-first-recorded-
tornado/

57 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

women and girls who survive natural disasters, gender inequality shapes and
amplifies their vulnerability to VAWG.189 The problems facing women and girls
in the aftermath of the earthquake were complex and their scale was immense.
Many survivors of the earthquake were displaced and police estimated around
100,000 people had to move into temporary camps which could be located
far from their homes, depending on the location of the earthquake (BBC News
2015).190 Life in temporary camps can be hazardous, as women and girls face
risks in everyday survival, using unsegregated or otherwise unsuitable toilet
and washing facilities, or undertaking certain roles, such as gathering firewood.
They are at greater risk of forms of VAWG already present in their communities,
and of additional forms which arise as a result of the crisis. These include sexual
violence, trafficking, child marriage, exploitation, and abuse.191
Women's access to the natural resources and their role in the decision making
in the same is a priority when the issue of women and the environment
is discussed. Under this context, Women play a critical role in managing
natural resources on family and community levels and are most affected by
environmental degradation.
Women constitute just over half the world’s population, but women are responsible
for feeding much of it — especially in rural regions of developing countries.
Women produce between 60 and 80 percent of food in developing countries
— and yet they officially own only 2 percent of land worldwide, according to
the Food and Agriculture Organization. Historical inheritance laws and customs
often prohibit or limit women’s direct control over land; even when women are
able to own and lease land, they may not be able to secure loans or insurance
to keep their resources safe. The lack of equitable land rights remains a major
obstacle to women’s empowerment and poverty alleviation.192
International agreements have made crucial links between women and the
environment; the challenge is to take action. It foreshadowed the different
impacts global warming would have on women and men, which are now evident
across the globe.193
Moreover,Women are the least capacitated in responding to disasters, and its
aftermath. Women are not recognized as an active change agent, and therefore,
their role in disaster management and reconstruction is found to be very
limited.194

189. Kay Standing, Sara Parker & Sapana Bista (2016) Grassroots responses to violence against
women and girls in post-earthquake Nepal: lessons from the field, Gender & Development,
24:2, 187-204, DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2016.1194562, (accessible on: https://reliefweb.int/
sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Grassroots%20responses%20to%20violence%20against%20
women%20and%20girls%20in%20post%20earthquake%20Nepal%20lessons%20from%20
the%20field.pdf
190. Ibid p. 192
191. Ibid p. 192
192. https://opentextbc.ca/womenintheworld/chapter/chapter-11-women-and-the-environment/,
accessed on November 30, 2019
193. Ibid
194. Shadow Report on Sixth Periodic Report of nepal on CEDAW, 2018 October, CEDAW Shadow
Report Preparation Committee (SRPC), p.30

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 58

 Similarly, there is a lack of disaggregated database at federal, provincial and
local level of government and judiciary including SGBV and impact of disaster
and earthquake195 which could be considered as a significant issue when it
comes to women and the environment.

2. Progress Achieved
Nepal has attempted addressing gender and social inclusion (GESI)principle
in the management of biodiversity and natural resources,with emphasis in
forestry and agriculture policies for women’s participation in decision making
and benefit sharing mechanisms. In order to strengthen this, gender equality
units in the National Planning Commission, ministries and departments of
the government have been established. The UN Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous People and ILO Convention 169 has been ratified. Several
agencies, including the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, have adopted
separate strategies to address gender and social inclusion (GESI) principles.196
Climate Change Policy-2019 aims to mainstream (GESI) concept across
climate change mitigation and adaptation programs. National Wetlands
Policy (2012) recognizes the promotion of traditional knowledge, skills, and
wetlands practices inclusive to the wetlands dependent communities. It
promotes gender equity in planning and management of wetlands to improve
their wellbeing from the enterprises and businesses. While National Ramsar
Strategy and Action Plan (2018- 2024) further reinforces (GESI)197 in the
conservation efforts of the wetlands in Nepal. Furthermore, National Forest
Policy 2019, has provisions to enhance the access and participation of women
and grassroots communities in forest resources and its management. The
policy has provisioned 50% of women representation in executive committees
and key positions in all the institutions related to forest institutions.
Gender and social inclusion perspectives have also been included in Disaster
Risk and Management Act,2017.Moreover, National Policy for Disaster Risk
Reduction-2018 has enhanced access, representation and meaningful
participation of women and other vulnerable members of society in the
process of implementing disaster risk reduction initiatives based on inclusive
disaster management concept.
Women’s contribution in the environment conservation, especially in
the area of community forest management has been lauded globally. To
date, 19,361 Community Forestry User Groups (CFUGs) have been formed of
which there are 1,072 women only committee members.198

195. Ibid p. 5
196. GoN/MoFSC, 2014. Nepal Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2014-2020. Government of
Nepal, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Kathmandu, Nepal.
197. National Ramsar Strategy and Action Plan (2018-2024), accessible at http://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.
cloudfront.net/downloads/national_ramsar_strategy_and_action_plan__nepal___2018_2024_.
pdf, accesssed on November 30, 2019
198. http://dof.gov.np/dof_community_forest_division/community_forestry_dof

59 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

3. Persistent and Emerging Challenges
• Nepal is 7th most affected country in terms of climate related natural hazards
and women are the ones who are affected most by such extreme weather
events. Women’s high dependency on natural resources due to socially
assigned gendered roles such as cooking, fetching water, washing clothes,
fodder and fuel collection puts them at further challenges and risks due to
climate change
• Socio-economic discrimination based on gender limits women’s capacity to
exercise their rights and abilities to utilize the resources on their own.199
• Limited participation of women and other disadvantaged social groups
in environmental conservation area and Women participation in disaster
response risk reduction and planning is low.
• Gender based violence against women (GBV& VAW) and harassment
in community forest by strangers, rangers and foresters are challenge to
women forest users.
• Lack of proper data (gender disaggregated) on the differentiated impact of
climate change as per the diversity and intersectionality of women further
disempowers women.
• Lack of proper and long-term government policies on disaster preparedness
and post disaster reconstruction and result based policy plus program
implementation.
• Despite provision of (GESI) in legislative and constitutional frameworks and
examples of women's involvement including the area of environment and
development, the substantive gender equality is still a work in progress.
• The plan and policies do not always spur positive changes in reality.200
Moreover, there is a paucity of documentation on the specific risks and
vulnerabilities from a gendered perspective.

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

Women in Nepal have benefited from the fruits of environmental endowment
such as natural resources, water, forest, land, agriculture and livestock.
Women are also the key players and contributors in the household economy
where natural resources play pivotal role in the coping strategy of the family.
Government has been a partner and signatory in many of the international
development, protocols, conventions and agreements on environment including
climate change. It has also obtained and channeled financial resources in the
environment sector including women and GESI friendly, policies, plans and
programmes. Despite these laudable efforts, gender parity, equality and equity
have not matched in proportion with the efforts, contributions and population
that women provide to the environment and socio-economic development of
the country. Therefore, greater efforts need to be applied in the future in the

199. Prakriti Resources Centre (PRC), 2018: A resource book on Gender and Climate Change
200. https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/long-road-gender-equality-nepal

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 60

 area of women’s empowerment and substantive participation in environment.
Under this context, the following recommendations are relevant:
• Build climate resilience community with enhanced capacity of women with
due consideration of intersectionality and diversity among them.
• Ensure dedicated financial resources for effective implementation of gender
mainstreaming activities in the environment protection and climate change
impact adaptation and mitigation.
• Ensure gender balance of staff composition within the Ministry of Forest and
Environment among other related institutions.201
• Increase women's meaningful participation and engagement in national
and international forum on climate negotiation.202
• Ensure inclusive participation of women in all disaster cycle, process, and
committees at all levels.203
• Promote women's leadership role projecting them as changemakers in
adaptation and mitigation strategies to strengthen climate resiliency.

201. Recommendation from Provincial consultation ( Province 4)

202. Recommendation from Provincial consultation ( Province 4)
203. Shadow Report on Sixth Periodic Report of Nepal on CEDAW, 2018 October, CEDAW
Shadow Report Preparation Committee (SRPC), p.31

61 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

THE GIRL CHILD
1. Present Status
Harmful traditional practices, gender biased social and cultural mores and
gender based violence and discrimination have greater toll on the lives of girls
in Nepal. The population of young children under the age of 18 is 41.82 % of
total population. The population of girl child is 49% of total population of young
children.204
The tradition of child marriage pervasive in the Nepali society have been
trapping girls in the vicious cycle of violence and thereby denying their hope
of a bright future.205 Nepal has lifted the legal age bar for the marriage to 20
years in 2017 but still around 29 percent of the marriages take place under the
age of 18. More specifically, 41% of girls are married before the age of 18.206 
Cases of sexual violence against minor girls are reportedly increasing in the
country. A total of 2233 rape cases were reported in the fiscal year 2018/019.
Out of these, 40 percent victims are girls aged between 11-16 years while 13
percent victims are children below the age of 10.207
Dowry system is yet another social-ill impacting the lives of girl child. Even
though criminalized, the system still thrives and is one of the major reasons
behind child marriage, sex selective abortion, son preference and reinforcement
of gender based violence. Some of the districts in Nepal have witnessed the
birth of as many as 119 male children for every 100 newborn female children
recently indicating the widespread sex-selective abortion and strong son
preference among the populace.208

204. Central Bureau of Statistics (2011), National Population and Housing Censu (2011), retrived
from https://cbs.gov.np/national-population-and-housing-census-2011national-report/
205. The Himalayan times (21 October 2016) https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/
international-day-girl-child-marked/
206. UNFPA, 2017 https://nepal.unfpa.org/en/events/international-day-girl-child-19
207. CID Magazine , 2076 retrieved from https://cid.nepalpolice.gov.np/images/Publication/CID_
Magazine_2076.pdf
208. The Himalayan Times, 2019. https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/nepalis-showing-strong-
desire-for-male-child/

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 62

 Chhaupadi, a social practice of banishing menstruating women and girls to
narrow and secluded hut often far from home, presupposes period as bane
and women and girls as debased and untouchable during the time. In 2017,
government criminalized Chaupadi system but this harmful traditional practice
continue to exert detrimental effects in the life of girl children exposing them to
insecure situation, impending violence, debarring them attending school and
normalizing the menstrual stigma.209
Due to porous border with India, poverty and lack of awareness and illiteracy,
large numbers of Nepali girls fall prey to labor, sexual exploitation in India and
the Gulf countries.210
GoN has rolled out various legislative and constitutional frameworks and policy
measures for the safety, security and empowerment of girl child at national,
sub-national and local levels.
Nepal's Constitution has ensured the rights to name and identity, birth
registration, health and education and proper care and elementary development
and participation for all the children in the country. It has also protected them
from child labor, trafficking and kidnapping, physical, mental or any other form
of torture in home, school or other place or their induction in army, police or
any armed group in pretext of religion, culture or tradition for sexual or other
forms of exploitation and improper use.211
As Nepal embarks on new federal forms of governance, it is expected to bring
positive changes in the lives of women and girls with new policies and program
and prompt and efficient service delivery.

2. Progress Achieved 
The partnership between the Government and civil society for the protection
of the girl child from discrimination and exploitation as well as for their overall
development in the country has considerably increased.
GoN’s “President Women Upliftment Programme”212 aims at reducing gender-
based violence and discrimination and decrease maternal and child mortality
rate. In the fiscal year 2018/19 alone, the program provided helicopter service
to 18 pregnant women, new mother and children from far-flung area faced
with birth related complication airlifting them to Kathmandu for better health
treatment. Various sensitization programs aimed at mitigating violence against
children, child marriage and gender based violence were also conducted
across the country under this initiative.

209. Karki, K. B., Poudel, P. C., Rothchild, J., Pope, N., Bobin, N. C., Gurung, Y., Basnet, M., Poudel,
M., Sherpa, L. Y. SCOPING REVIEW AND PRELIMINARY MAPPING Menstrual Health and
Hygiene Management in Nepal (pp. 1-96).
210. USAID, 2018 https://www.usaid.gov/nepal/fact-sheets/stop-girl-trafficking-project
211. Constitution of Nepal 2015, Article 39
212. MoWCSC, President Women Upliftment Proram Bulletin https://mowcsc.gov.np/uploads/
uploads/17swYZ9qvxVF6YOfQZGoKNdAdQCXP4rQr2QDLXR5.pdf

63 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

Nepal has adopted National Strategy on Ending Child Marriage-2016. The
strategy aims to end child marriage by 2030 through the empowerment of girls
and ensuring their access to education.213 Act Relating to Children-2018 has
been enacted with the objective of respecting, safeguarding, promoting and
fulfilling children’s rights in Nepal. In 2017, GoN adopted Inclusive Education
Policy for children living with disability with the aim to reduce educational
exclusion of physically, visually and mentally challenged children as well as
code of conduct against sexual exploitation on women and girls.214
Nepal has adopted the ‘Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights
Act’ in 2018 that protects women’s, girls’ and newborns’ health rights .Gender
equality was achieved at primary and secondary education levels with gender
parity index (GPI) scores of 1.09 in primary and 1.0 in secondary education in
2015.215
Toll Free Child Helplines 104 and 1098 have come into operation for Rescue
and Rehabilitation of Lost and Found Children and Rescue and Rehabilitation of
Children Who Are at-Risk.215
GoN has provisioned free access to sanitary pads as and when needed for all
the female students enrolled in public schools.217
Nepal's current fourteenth periodic plan (2016/017-2019/020) is focused to
create a conducive environment to ensure the rights of children. The plan aims
to protect children from all types of physical and mental violence including all
sorts of degrading behavior.
Educate Daughter: Save Daughter campaign, cycle distribution to school girls in
province no 2 and girl child insurance schemes among other programs by sub-
national governments have positive impact in safety, security and empowerment
of the girl child.218 Nepal's new and civil and criminal codes prohibit dowry and
criminalize Chhaupadi.219
Additionally, federal220 and provincial level girl child summits were held to
promote gender equality and garner commitments of the stakeholders to
address the gender biased social practices like Chhaupadi, Dowry system,
child marriage among other discriminations faced by the girls in Nepal.

213. National Strategy on Ending Child Marriage( 2016) retrieved https://nepal.unfpa.org/sites/

default/files/pub-.pdf
214. NPC (2018). 15th_Plan_Approach_Paper . Retrieved from https://www.npc.gov.np/images/
category/15th_Plan_Approach_Paper1.pdf
215. Nepal’s Sustainable Development Goals-Baseline Report 2017.
216. State of Children in Nepal 2017. Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Central
Child Welfare Board, Pulchowk.
217. https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/free-sanitary-pads-for-public-schools/
218. https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/educate-daughter-save-daughter-plan-gains-popularity-
in-province-2/
219. https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/new-muluki-codes-take-effect-from-today/
220. https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/nepal-hosts-first-girl-summit-kathmandu/

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 64

 3. Persistent and emerging challenges
• Nepal has achieved gender equality at primary and secondary education
levels however; the percentage of the girl student in grade 9 to 12 is just
43.7%. Girls outnumber boys as SEE examination candidate. However,
result shows poor performance of girls in the exams.
• Child Marriage - 18% of women aged 20-49 years married before the age
of 15 and 48.5% of them married before 18 years of age. Despite being
outlawed in Nepal, Child Marriage is socially accepted and pervasive
(Gurung, 2017).221 Over 26 % of children aged between 10 to 18 years are
already married. 17 % girls aged between 15 to 19 become mother or get
pregnant.
• The percentage of girls (aged between 5 to 17 years) involved in child
labor is 38 compared to 30% boys. Among the total child labor exposed to
hazardous workplace 60 % of them are girls.
• Girl children are yet to get required nutrition as stunting and wasting in girls
less than 5 years of age is still 39.50%.
• Despite the criminalization of the practice, 89 % of adolescent girls still face
discrimination during their menstruation including Chaupadi
• Harmful practices like Jhuma and Deuki system are still affecting girl child.222
• Separate bathrooms for boys and girls are still not available in 28 % of
schools while very little schools provide sanitary pad for menstruating girls.
Lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities in
schools are among the main reasons for the menstruating girls' increased
absenteeism
• Around 8,000 to 10,000 women and girls were trafficked to India every year
and 40 per cent of the trafficked girls were under the age of 18 years.223
• Girls are discriminated in accessing quality education as parents choose
to send their daughters to community schools, faced with mismanagement,
low standards of teaching and poor result, while sons are sent to private
English medium boarding schools with better education environment.
Secondary School Examination (SEE) in 2019 shows that of the 304,196
students appearing the SEE224 from community schools, 118,807 are girls
while the number of girls attending same SEE from private schools is only
56,751. The number of boys attending the SEE from private schools is
78,056,

221. https://thehimalayantimes.com/opinion/girls-education-failed-programme/
222. Feedback from participant at national level consultation Beijing+25 on
223. https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/human-trafficking-continues-unabated/
224. https://english.aarthiknews.com/see-examinee-girls-higher-in-community-schools

65 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

• Dowry system, one of the harmful traditional practices, has been promoting
gender based violence and is one of the main reasons for child marriage.
• Advent of smart phones and social media, increasing penetration of internet
and easy access to social networking site such as Facebook has led to
an increase in child and early marriages.225 Cyber crime is yet another
emerging challenges faced by the girls.
• Women and girls have insufficient access to high-quality sexual and
reproductive health-care services and information due to stigma attached
to sexual issues.
• There is a lack of a clear mandate, expertise and resources in local and
provincial government to adequately address discrimination against young
girls.
• Family members opt to remove uterus of their intellectually disable girls
fearing the rape and resulting pregnancy which they are prone to. This is the
violence of rights of such girls.
• Children whose parents and family is unidentified are faced with statelessness
as they cannot acquire citizenship without family identity.
• Sex is still a binary (boy and girls) consideration in Nepal. Children born
with ambiguous sexual organ faces discrimination and identity crisis,
genital mutilation without their consent before the age of 18 due to the fear
of discrimination and social stigma.

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

Nepal has comparatively progressive constitutional provisions toward child
rights and has endorsed related international treaties and conventions.
Moreover, Nepal's agenda for sustainable development 2030 has a number
of targets for safety, security and overall development of children and children
needing special care. Additionally, Nepal has been implementing numerous
programs and adopted policies for child friendly environment.
• Ensure adolescent girl's ( in and out of school) access to comprehensive
sexuality education and high-quality sexual and reproductive health care
regardless of geography, education background , language, age , sexual
orientation and gender identity, physical ability , and ethnicity including
the safety and security safety and security issue needs to be adopted to
address Girl child during humanitarian crisis.
• Take strict measures against corporal punishment, sexual violence,
harassment, abuse or gender-based violence perpetrated against girls at
school also including safety issues for girls out of school.

225. Pudasaini, 2018, https://kathmandupost.com/opinion/2018/02/09/you-should-wait-baby

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 66

 • Establish strict monitoring and punishment measures to stop sex-selective
abortion
• Launch a campaign to raise awareness aimed at increasing social
acceptance for the girl child to be heir of their parents, socially, economically
and religiously. The incidents of daughters performing mourning rituals and
ancestral worship of their parents challenging the social norms that entrust
this responsibility only to son need to be promoted.
• Provide a clear mandate, due expertise and ensure sustainable resources for
local and provincial government for the safety , security and empowerment
programs of girl child
• Establish Youth promotion centers in each province as committed in the 15th
Development Plan provisioned for girls at greater risk of being trafficked
and falling prey to violence.
• Ensure education, safety, employment opportunity for girls who have no
parents, guardians; including citizenship card to such children.
• All forms of discrimination and violence towards intersex child (girl)
including genital mutilation of the intersex girls before the age of 18 needs
to be addressed.

67 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

ANNEX: REPORT WRITING TEAM :
Editorial Team
Ms Bandana Rana
Mr Deepak Dorje Tamang
Advocate Sabin Shrestha

Report Writing Contributors

Sabin Shrestha
Binu Lama
Roshana Pradhan
Dechen Lama
Nabin Kumar Shrestha
Sushant Bashyal
Sagar Pathak
Deepesh Shrestha
Neha Gurung

Article Contributors
S. Critical Area Lead Author Mentor Member Youth Engagement
NO
1 Women and Manju Gurung Puspa Ghimire, Susan Gautam
Poverty (Pourakhi) (Gender (Pourakhi)
studies )
2 Education Nira Shrestha Dr Bindu Amrita Bhattarai
and Training (Gender Pokharel, Sabin Malla
of Women Studies) (Gender
Studies)

3 Women and Smriti Thapa, Tulasa Lata Madhabi Aayusha Karki,

Health (Young Women Amatya (CAC Bajracharya YWC
for Change) Nepal) (IPAS), Swikriti Thapa,
Anupa YWC
Regmi,(Radha Nista Basnet, YWC
Paudel
Deepesh Shresha,
Foundation)
FWLD

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25 68

 S. Critical Area Lead Author Mentor Member Youth Engagement
NO
4 Violence Kusum Sakhaa, Indira Shrestha, Uma Shah (Saathi) Una MayaTamang,
against (Strishakti) Strishakti LaxmiNeupane SEARCH
Women ( Blind Women Neha Gurung ,
Association) FWLD

5 Women Srijana Pokhrel, Lily Thapa, Kamala Panthi Smriti Kafle,

and armed (INHURED) WHR (SAS) INHURED
conflict Gita Rasaili, Sabina Dhakal,
(CVNA) INHURED
Rajin Raymajhi
(WHR), Upasana
Rana (WHR)
6 Women and Sristi Joshi Chandni Joshi, ArunaThapa, Veera Lamichhane
Economy Malla (WFDM) Nita Dhungana (SABAH)
(SabahNepal,) ( RISE),
MohineeMaharjan
( Nepal Silk)
Omita Joshi, (CAC
Nepal)
7 Women and Sumeera Saloni Singh Shital Sijapati
Power and Shrestha (Didibahini) (FWLD)
decision (WHR)
making
8 Institutional Anita Thapaliya Bharati Silwal Urmila Shrestha, Rakshya Risal,
Mechanisms (LACC) Giri, (NNAGT) (TEWA) LACC
9 Human Rights Binu Sabin Shrestha Renu Sijapati Sagar Pathak
of Women Lama,(FWLD) FWLD (FEDO) Sarita KC (FWLD)
(Mitini Nepal)

10 Women and NituPandit Babita Basnet Kamala Panthi Rima Joshi

the media (SAS) (MAG) (SAS)

11 Women Mr. Santosh Mr.Deepak Upasana Shrestha,

and the Pokharel Dorje Tamang TEWA
environment (Saathi) ,SearchNepal

12 The Girl Suvekchya Pinky Uma Tamang Saharsha Joshi

Child Rana Singh Rana (Maiti Nepal) (Saathi)
(Saathi ) (RUWDUC) Trillotam Paudel Niraj Neupane
JCYCN (Girls Kick)
Medha Sharma Kabita Tamang
(Visible Impact) (Women Lead)
Subashna Gurung
(Mitini Nepal)

69 Civil Society Report on Beijing+25

Provincial Level Consultations

Province 1

Organized by : WHR and Nispakshya

Dharan, Sunsari [August 18, 2019]
Civil Society Report on Beijing+25
 Province 2

Organized by : TEWA and FEDO

Janakpur, Dhanusha
Civil Society Report on Beijing+25
[August 20, 2019]
 Province 3

Organized by : WFDM and MAG

Kathmandu [September 11, 2019]
Civil Society Report on Beijing+25
 Gandaki
Province

Organized by : SAATHI
Pokhara, Kaski [August 22, 2019]
Civil Society Report on Beijing+25
 Province 5

Organized by : SAATHI
Butwal, Rupandehi [August 20, 2019]
Civil Society Report on Beijing+25
 Karnali
Province

Organized by : Shtrii Shakti

Birendranagar, Surkhet
Civil Society Report on Beijing+25
[Sepember 6, 2019]
 Sudur-
pachhim
Province

Organized by : Shtrii Shakti

Dhangadhi, Kailali [August 29, 2019]
Civil Society Report on Beijing+25
Civil Society Report on Beijing+25
Civil Society Report on Beijing+25
Supported by:

The Ford Foundation

Available at:
Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD)
72, Aadarsha Marg, Thapathali
P.O. Box 26538, Kathmandu, Nepal
Ph No.: 977-1-4233524, 4233525, 4242683, 4266415
Fax: 977-1-4240627
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.fwld.org
Youtube: youtube.com/fwldofficial

Civil Society Report on Beijing+25