Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, June 11:

Thirty-one per cent women working in cabin restaurants in the Valley have expressed satisfaction about their jobs, while, 58 per cent said they were utterly dissatisfied, according to a study conducted from May 2004 to May 2005 by Rahat, a non-governmental organisation said. Rahat stated this during a function organised yesterday to publish the findings of the study. Rahat conducted the study at 55 cabin restaurants, including 16 in Bhaktapur and 14 in Lalitpur, on a random sampling basis. “Most of the girls said they wanted to opt out of such jobs if they are provided with other alternatives because of harassment by policemen and others,” Madhavi Singh, president of Rahat, said. According to the study, Sunsari tops other districts in the number of women coming for joining such restaurants for eking out a living in the valley, with the Central development region topping other development regions. Over 66 per cent of the girls were found to have come to the profession through their friends and some were found to have come through their relatives. The study saw the Maoist insurgency as the major factor that has driven women to work in such restaurants.