Women are not regarded as equal to men by the entire social structure, including the home, society, religion, law, and the state. Women’s bodies, labor, mobility, and sexuality are subjected to extreme control. They are deprived of access to resources, their presence in public spaces is nearly prohibited, and they are confined to the household in the role of servants.

Any form of struggle for equal rights and status against the structures, ideologies, and systems that have oppressed women in these various ways for thousands of years constitutes a women’s movement. Throughout every period in history, women have resisted, struggled, and organized in diverse ways.

In Nepal, the struggle and movement for women’s rights appear to have begun only after the first wave of feminist movements in the West, which primarily involved upper-class white women’s fight for suffrage, was nearing its conclusion. While figures like Durga Devi Acharya, Vidyapati, and Lokpriya Devi raised their voices as early as 1954 B.S. (1897 A.D.), their demands were primarily focused on women’s education.

In 1974 B.S. (1917 A.D.), politically aware individuals such as Divya Koirala and Mohan Kumari formed women’s committees. These efforts were driven by idealistic notions to elevate Nepali women’s social status and improve their dire conditions. However, these attempts lacked a class-conscious perspective and were limited in scope (Shashi Shrestha, 2077 B.S.).

During the same period, Nepal witnessed its first collective movement led by citizens, spearheaded by Yogmaya Neupane. This movement strongly advocated for women’s rights, raising critical issues such as the abolition of the sati system, ending child marriage and polygamy, and promoting the acceptance of widow remarriage (Binda Pandey, 2076 B.S.).

In Nepal, during a time when the democratic, political, social, cultural, and economic rights of the general populace were virtually non-existent, issues related to women’s oppression and rights began to emerge alongside the broader struggle for citizens’ political rights. However, the concerns of women from various communities only started to gain organized attention around 2046 B.S. (1990 A.D.). It was not until the decade-long People’s War that issues specifically affecting grassroots women began to take on a more tangible form.

In Nepal, similar to the West, the early stages of the women’s rights movement were led by upper-class and middle-class women. These women predominantly came from politically and educationally privileged families, representing the so-called higher-caste Brahmins and educated Newar communities of Kathmandu. Most of the issues they raised were shaped by their own social needs and realities, leaving the concerns of working-class women, indigenous women, Dalit women, Madhesi women, geographically marginalized women, Muslim women, and women from gender and sexual minorities overlooked.

However, over time, movements for identity, the decade-long People’s War, the Madhes movement, and other social uprisings created spaces for women from various classes, castes, communities, and regions to assert their presence within these movements. This process brought some of their issues to the surface, though not entirely. Many of their concerns remain marginalized, but the process of highlighting these voices continues.

Globally, various ideologies have emerged to explain, analyze, and address the oppression of women and the paths toward achieving their rights. Among these, liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, and socialist feminism have been particularly influential. These three ideologies have primarily shaped the discourse on women’s rights and movements in Nepal as well.

In the context of Nepal, not all women share the same status, nor do they face oppression to the same extent. Consequently, the issues and movements addressing women’s rights need to be shaped accordingly. The Constitution of Nepal, promulgated in 2015 (B.S. 2072), marked the conclusion of a significant political chapter. It is essential to recognize the sacrifices, struggles, and contributions of women’s rights movements in achieving the milestones institutionalized in this Constitution.

However, even in terms of legal equality, the current Constitution perpetuates grave discrimination against women (the provisions related to citizenship being a prime example). It confines women to a state of dependency and relegates them to second-class status. Several other laws also remain discriminatory. Women continue to be under strict control by family and religion, while the market thrives on the commodification of women. In the workplace, they face extreme discrimination, exploitation, and violence. Crimes such as domestic violence, murder, and rape are on the rise, with newer forms of atrocities continually emerging. These crimes are exacerbated by state-protected impunity.

Moreover, a significant portion of women’s time is consumed by unpaid domestic labor, leaving them without any form of economic or social security. This reality highlights the persistent and multifaceted oppression that women in Nepal continue to endure.

The state not only honors individuals who commit extreme crimes against women, such as murderers and rapists, but has even appointed such individuals to positions of power, including as ministers. Women have been marginalized by the state apparatus. Additionally, the struggles for equality led by women have been dismissed and undermined by male leadership at the highest levels. This reveals the urgent need for a strong women’s rights movement in Nepal. However, in the face of such a terrifying situation, the absence of any visible resistance raises the question: Is the women’s movement still alive in Nepal?

Arti Sah, who was murdered by her in-laws, and the demand for justice for Nirmala Kurmi, who was abducted and killed, have led the most marginalized individuals at the base of the state structure to protest on the streets for months and even years. Women, particularly from the Madhesh region, have been protesting for a long time due to the extreme exploitation by cooperatives and microfinance institutions. However, what kind of women’s movement ignores these women and their struggles? A movement that fails to recognize the laboring women at the grassroots, their diversity, and the specific forms of oppression they face, and turns a blind eye to the majority of women—who is such a movement serving?

Currently, the claim of a thriving women’s movement in Nepal is being made by NGOs and middle-class liberal women working within these organizations. These NGOs primarily focus on organizing programs to showcase donors and implement donor-driven projects. Outside of administrative processes, there is little to show in terms of tangible achievements in their activities. They often mock women who don’t speak English or wear “proper” clothing. These women have no connection with the laboring women at the grassroots level. The analysis of the root causes of women’s oppression, such as the structural and systemic factors, is missing from their work. Instead, they focus on uplifting women by teaching them leadership skills, empowering them, and encouraging them to develop qualities that are supposedly necessary for success, which is based on a victim-blaming analysis. Can women’s liberation truly be achieved through NGOs? This is a crucial debate that needs to be addressed.

In the broader context, there is a section of society that perceives women’s movement as simply raising fragmented issues without addressing the larger picture, speaking at festivals, seminars, and conferences, writing articles, or posting status updates on social media. Another group, mostly middle-class liberals, seems to be under the illusion that women’s equality will be achieved through various types of campaigns. Some believe that simply creating gender studies departments in universities and teaching about gender justice will lead to equality. However, this perspective overlooks the deeper, systemic issues that need to be addressed for genuine equality to be achieved.

Nepal’s women’s movement has become detached from the issues and struggles of grassroots women. The movement, which seeks legal equality as the highest form of justice and the end of all forms of inequality, is largely controlled by middle-class liberal ideologies and opportunistic NGO workers. Political representation has also been concentrated in the hands of a small elite. Has the long political struggle for women’s rights really led to the conclusion that women’s liberation is possible through these same women in power? This raises the critical question of whether the real, systemic struggles of marginalized women are being genuinely addressed in the current movement.

It is true that the global women’s movement and its discourse have slowed down. The development of new ideologies seems distant, and there is a lack of in-depth analysis and debate on existing ideologies. The issues and rights have become limited to academic circles and INGOs. It is not surprising that this trend has affected the women’s movement in Nepal. There is a need for discussions on the global women’s movement, the movements in the Global South, women’s movements in South Asian countries, as well as a review and comparative study of the lessons Nepal can learn. However, it is equally important to engage in a thorough debate on every aspect of Nepal’s women’s movement, critically examining its strengths, weaknesses, and potential for transformative change.

In the country, most women, especially those in rural areas, are unaware of the women’s movement. There are no visible programs or activities related to women’s rights in public spaces. Women are forced to endure double oppression under both feudal and capitalist patriarchy. To break this situation, what should be the path to securing women’s rights in Nepal? Is there a need for a movement specific to Nepal’s context, or not? How can women facing different and diverse layers of oppression collaborate in a movement? What should the issues be? On which ideological basis should the movement progress? A broad and serious discussion on all aspects of the movement is essential.

(This article is the edited English version of a previously published article in Kantipur National Daily. You can read the original Nepali version here: https://shorturl.at/q7Qpg  )