Madhesi women and political mainstream: Emphasise inclusion base
Gender discrimination is common in the Nepalese society. The Nepalese women are discriminated in economic, socio-cultural, political and legal spheres. According to the Census 2001, women comprise 50.45 per cent of total population of Nepal. It is not a homogenous group. It can be characterized by diversity in terms of race, caste, ethnicity, language, religion, culture and region. Women have been victims of gender discrimination but the nature, forms, degree and intensity differ among different caste/ethnic, religious and cultural groups. Therefore, some Nepalese women are victimized more than the
other women. This presents a rather sad picture of the status of the Nepalese women in general even when rapid strides have been made for granting equal status to them.
In this respect, the Madhesi women face multiple forms of discrimination such as regional, cultural and linguistic discrimination in comparison to other women. Madhesi women have never been fully integrated in the overall political, social, economic and human development agenda of the country. There is widespread feeling among them that they have been strongly discriminated and are not given proper opportunities. They lack proper share in development activities as well as in political or decision making process.
The Madhesi people feel highly discriminated against despite comprising of 32 percent of the country’s human resources. The imbalances ought to be rectified considering their contribution to the total socio-economic development of the country. This is an area that needs the total focus of the political leaders and the parties. Many of the modern day basic facilities have not yet reached Madhesi people. Nearly 40 percent of the Madhesi population comprise of Dalits and indigenous Janjatis who are inherently disadvantaged in many social and economic aspects. Again, poverty is very high among the Muslim population living in rural areas. There has been little effort to prevent social, economic and political exclusion and to reintegrate those who have become excluded through unemployment, landlessness and homelessness.
Only very recently, women were granted the political right to own property. For the first time in the history of Nepal, women’s 33 per cent representation has been ensured in Constituent Assembly. There are 197 women CA members out of 601 CA members who are the representatives of diverse women group. Among them, 42 women are of Madhes origin. It can be considered as a big step towards inclusion of the Madhesi women in the national political mainstream. However, the representation of Madhesi women (21.31) in CA is under representative compare to its total population (31.2 percent). There is still room to work for
ensuring Madhesi women’s equal participation at all levels of state mechanisms. The realisation is there but the need is to materialise the action plan.
Political inclusion provides a space for rational arguments, debates, acceptance of disagreements, cooperation, peaceful competition, compromise and tolerance of the views of other communities and groups. It builds an environment of trust, understanding human feelings and formulate joint policies and projects for all. It influences all the socio-economic and other mechanisms of the state. The effort of state or government alone is not sufficient for the inclusion. The political parties are at the centre, and have base at the grassroots level, state institutions, parliament and government. Hence, they represent social interest and state action So, they should adopt the inclusive democratic political culture to create a real sense of inclusion and justice. When reviewing the status of Madhesi women in major political parties of Nepal, their presentation in meaningful positions is found to be nearly negligible. They are treated as incompetent, illiterate and second class citizens. They are only viewed during
the time of elections. They feel that they are always
ignored by the state and
political parties, which should undergo a sea change for the better.
On the one hand, male dominated society, cultural taboos, lack of knowledge of their own rights, unequal access to the resources, feelings of incompetence and psychological inferiority complex create a reluctance in Madhesi women towards politics. On the other hand, political parties of Nepal still do not have a concrete policy to provide political justice to the Madhesi women. Even the donor agencies who have been speaking for the inclusion of women in every sphere do not seem to be specific about the Madhesi women. These are the major reasons that that have contributed towards the Madhesi women lagging behind from being active participants in the political mainstream. So, for the meaningful inclusion of the Madhesi women in the main political stream, there should be a strong agenda for their advocacy at all levels of the state and the political parties should address the concerns by reforming their party policies.
