Rampant social evil of gender discrimination continue to plague Nepal

Gender-based discrimination is still a persistant social evil in Nepali society revealed a new finding of National Human Rights Commission.

The human right watch dog's annual report  of fiscal 2020-21said that major reason of the discrimination was since majority of Nepali women are still largely dependent on men for finance.

Due to anti-social norms and discrimination, oppression, exploitation, injustice, and exclusion in practice, the condition of women has not made significant progress compared to that of men in all spheres of national life, including political, economic, social, cultural and educational sectors.

Moreover, social harmful practices such as Jhuma, Deuki, Chhaupadi and Kumari have not yet been completely abolished.

Prevalence of dowry, child marriage, marriage without consent, witchcraft accusations, are some of major reason for women being discriminated in Nepali societ.

With the passage of time and development, the nature and forms of violence against women are also changing. As per the NHRC, there is a practice of identifying the foetus through video X-ray and having an abortion in case a daughter has been conceived.

“Women are subjected to rape, sexual abuse, and acid attacks.
They are forced to suffer due to dowry and tilak practice, child marriage, marriage without consent and accusation of witchcraft. Violence by family members, thrashings, burnings, evictions, and even deaths for not providing dowry continue to exist in one form or another,” it stated. Furthermore, the incidence of domestic violence appears to have increased amidst the pandemic.

The rights body said human trafficking continued to exist in different forms from the past.

According to the Nepal Police, 528 cases related to human trafficking were registered in the fiscal 2019-20 out of which almost all were related to women. Similarly, incidents of rape, trafficking, polygamy, and child marriage are constantly on the rise.

Moreover impact  of COVID-19, has been harsher on women. While overall situation of all women, the life of women in rural areas is more miserable.

In Nepal legal system, laws and constitution have become more women-friendly, however it's poor implementation has stripped women from their rights.