KATHMANDU: Diki Sherpa, who has been involved in the tourism sector for four years, is to ascend Mt Everest with the motto of ‘Positive thinking for gender equality, inclusive society championed from the highest peak’. Sherpa is planning to scale the Everest in the coming season to change the social culture of viewing women as second class citizens, and to prove that women also possess capabilities that are presumed to be dominant only in men, according to Sherpa. “I am going to ascend Mt Everest with the goal of empowering women and to try and bring a change in the society’s male dominant perspective,” said Sherpa, “I want to play a role in creating a nation with gender equality, in addition to facilitating the economic prosperity of the country through tourism.” Sherpa also informed that she has taken this initiative to increase women’s participation in the field of tourism, and in areas of tourism where courage is required, in order to motivate women to move forward in economic, social, and political areas of the country. Diki Sherpa, who was born in Num-4 of Sankhuwasabha district, has received the training as a guide and has also received basic as well as advanced training in mountaineering. Sherpa had successfully summited Mera Peak (6,476 m) and Ramdung Peak (5,925 m) in 2017. Likewise, in 2017 itself, she had summited Mt Manaslu (8,163 m), the 8th highest peak in the world. She is now planning to scale the Everest in March 2018.