Kathmandu, January 27

Female candidates have shown least interest in applying for the posts under Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation.

Public Service Commission recently announced vacancy for two posts at Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, but there was just a single application from female.

Not only this, the number of female employees working as forest guards, rangers and other posts that require frequent field visits is very nominal. Very few women are interested in taking up jobs at national parks and buffer zones. Altogether there are 18,000 rangers in the country but there are very few females working as rangers.

National Nature Conservation Trust’s programme director Sarita Gyawali said women preferred desk work and chose offices near their houses.” Majority of women avoid field-based jobs citing security issues and family problems,” she added. Gyawali also said that their reluctance to take up such jobs ultimately affects the government’s plan to appoint equal number of female employees in conservation sector. “The country has 10 national parks, six conservation areas and four wildlife reserves where most of the employees are males. Likewise, there are nearly 19,000 community based forests but there also males outnumber females,” she said.

According to Central Forest Training and Expansion Centre Chief Radha Wagle, of the total employees working in conservation sector, females make just 3 per cent. “This is very low compared to 18 per cent females working as civil servants,” she added.

Spokesperson at Ministry of Forests Dhanajaya Paudel said security was the main problem for this situation. Paudel informed that the ministry had taken some initiation to ensure that female employees felt secure working in conservation sector. “We directed our district offices to ensure that of the total number of employees appointed in conservation sector, 33 per cent employees are females,” he added.