WUNRN
NEPAL - PREFERENCE FOR MALES -
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST FEMALES
Photo: Natalie Bailey/IRIN
Badam Mahatara, 46,
believes change is possible
URTHU, 22 September 2011 (IRIN) - In Urthu, Jumla District, in
Boy children are given preference for school, food and clothes. Men can take
four or five wives. Women wash their husbands’ feet then drink the water in the
morning, and it is disrespectful to even speak the name of their husband to
another.
A group of women met in Urthu to talk about their hardships, risking
repercussions when they returned home. The women said matter of factly that men
generally pass the time by gambling and drinking. But when asked how they might
improve their situation, they were speechless - until, Badam Mahatara, 46,
entered and broke the silence:
"In this community there is never-ending discrimination against women.
There is a six-day celebration when a boy is born and there is nothing when a
girl is born. I have two daughters and two sons and I decided to send both my
boys and girls to private school, but people in the community didn't like it.
Sometimes women are discouraged by other women.
"I was 15 when I married and 18 when I had my first child. I cannot read
and I never went to school, but after my children learned how to read and write
I wanted to learn how to sign my name, and I did. My children taught me.
"I learned to think more about discrimination and a better way to live
after we gained access to others a few years ago through the road WFP [World
Food Programme] built. That's where I got ideas about the need to change.
"I also went to visit another Nepali town, Lumbini, through a Western Uplands Poverty Alleviation Project, to see how women
act and are treated there.
"I did not learn about empowerment from my village - there are no good
ideas here.
"My husband has a job and supports my ideas, but he used to snatch money
and misuse it on gambling and drinking.
"To change our community, we have to do it ourselves. I don't feel I am a
leader, but I think I can change my community if I change myself."