A talk programme on ‘United Nations conventions on women and prevailing discriminative laws in Nepal’ held here on Saturday had the participants emphasising on the need for equal opportunity for women for overall development of the country. “Women, who make more than 50 per cent of the country’s population, need to be given their equal rights and opportunity they deserve,” said Durga Poudel, president of All Nepal Women’s Association (ANWA). Presenting his paper, Member of Parliament Navraj Subedi said “Women never were and are not weak, they can accomplish anything they set their mind on…but the provisions that we have retains them from exercising their rights as women and human beings.”With an aim to maintain peaceful environment in the world, United Nations Organisation (UNO) issued Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948. To provide legal backup for declaration, UNO issued a Convention on Civil and Political Rights and Convention on Financial, Social and Cultural Rights on 1966. However, realising that gender based discrimination still prevailed even with the Human Rights Convention, UNO had issued Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on 1981, which Nepal had comprehended on April 22, 1991. However, the conventions have been found to be limited to legalities and have not been implemented as yet. MP Subedi, put forward a list of suggestions, which include need to suspend the discriminatory acts, execution of UN’s convention for women that Nepal has agreed on, planning and effecting of awareness and empowerment programmes for women.Giving her suggestions on the paper, Dr. Durga Pokharel, president of Nepal Women’s Commission said, “The feeling of respect should come from within, but unless we have legal provisions to back it up, the discriminative situation will never change.” She complimented MP Subedi for the commendable work he has done in the paper.“We should try to improve on the discriminative laws rather than build a negative mindset about the males in a whole,” said advocate Biswo Kant Mainali, giving his comments on the paper.