Nepal is a land of multiplicity and equality. It is an evolving nation with an emergent economy and drives in bringing changes to raise its name high in front of the rest of the world. Though Nepal is recognized with its traditional and historical wealth since ages, the predicament of Nepalese women looks much of the same it used to before.
If on one hand, she is at the peak of ladder of success, on the other hand, she is mutely suffering the violence aggrieved on her even by her own family members. There are still countless problems every Nepalese girl has to face in her everyday life. I am not talking about rural Nepal, but even girls living in urban Nepal has problems that should be addressed by society.
“A girl is whole by all means, not a toy by any means, underneath her hair and make-up there is sign that says: handle with care.”
1. Mistreatment
Violence against women is substantially problematic in Nepal. Girls are not allowed to go out of the house after dark with the fear that they might be eve-teased or raped. They are stagnantly taught the standards and behavior in front of outsiders, especially men from different families. They are restricted to the household chores and not given the prospect to go grasp opportunity. A girl is still victimized – at home, outside home, everywhere. The basic freedom of girls is still a major issue for them to attain.
2. Marriage
According to the emblematic Nepalese parents, the best answer for Nepalese daughters is marriage. Nepal parents are still nagging and forcing their girls for marriage after they turn 23 with a view that no one will marry them in the future. The saying, ‘aile garena bhane, pachi kasle garcha biya?’ is still common among the mind-sets of people. Women are considered as a burden on a family who don’t have the right to stand by themselves even when they are capable of it just because she is a girl. While on the other side, men can enjoy their single status until a long as 30-40 years and marry according to their wish. People really need to think that boys will marry to a girl only – early or late. So it’s no point in forcing the girls and destroying their dreams.
3. Lack of power
One of the major problems girls face is that they don’t have access to any power. They cannot take part in major family decisions as males are there for it, they can’t even decide for their own life. They still have to seek permission from the male members of the family to decide on to something or going on an outing with friends.
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4. Short dresses are a big NO!
Girls, in some areas of Nepal, cannot even decide on what clothes they should wear. Girls wearing short dresses are considered as characterless and provoking the ‘men’ to attack them. If you guys have the same feeling, you really need to get a life!
5. An incredible pressure to juggle between work and family responsibilities
If Nepalese girls cannot cook food or do the household chores, they are given extreme pressure to learn all the things she might not like. Even today, it is not of much importance if a girl has completed her post-graduation or not, more important is to know how to fulfill the family responsibilities and cook food. She has to manage work with family, to be ‘sarva ghun bhayeko’ in front of her in-laws.
6. Women are routinely paid lesser than men
The reason why women never earn as much as men. They are still considered secondary in status in almost every aspect – be it professional or personal.
7. The freedom of being free and travel alone is still a dream
Parents don’t permit their daughters to roam about alone outside their homes and their freedom is very restricted and confined. They push girls not to live their lives on their own terms not knowing that before being a girl, she is a human, as much living as a boy and she also has some desires and wants she wish to fulfill.
8. Taught to Sacrifice
Nepalese girls are taught at home to sacrifice whatever they can for others, whether it means their happiness also. She is to be blamed for everything. If her brother or father beats her up, it is because of her bad behavior, if she is raped, it is because she wore inappropriate clothes. Even after marriage, if she has a bad partner, she is forced to continue with her marriage and consider it as her fate. So sacrifice has become symbolic to a woman, a girl or a female.
These are among the major problems girls face in Nepal. We, as humans must understand the needs of a woman and let her live like a free bird and not like a caged animal; whether it is Nepal or some other place. Help her overcome from the struggle she has been facing between medieval and modern Nepal and make her life worth living rather than a living hell!
