Thanks to recent amendments in the Equality Bill, women will now enjoy many rights they were denied till date. Following the amendments, women will not have to forfeit the property of their deceased husbands when they remarry, nor will they have to reach the age of 35 to inherit it. Likewise, they can now get passports without the consent of any man and sell their inherited property sans the approval of their adult children. Hundreds of thousands of single women, especially those widowed during the decade-long Maoist conflict, are expected to benefit greatly from the new provisions.

Say women’s right activists, economic empowerment of single women will help change society’s negative attitude towards them to a large extent. As a result, the incidents of physical violence against women are also expected to decline. And by making them more independent and confident, it will also give single women tremendous confidence to decide their own future. The changes in old provisions took a long time in coming, but the discriminatory clauses have been appropriately amended. Unless men and women can move forward on an equal footing, building of a truly egalitarian society will not be possible. On the other hand, if, as expected, the amendments are successful at meeting their goals, it will go a long way in establishing a new Nepal that is free of gender discrimination and traditional biases against women.