WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY:

June 2005 - (PeaceMedia) "Women at the village level are involved in peace activities, but their work is not acknowledged at the national level and they have not developed linkages and networks to national level organizations. Since last year a small number of women's organizations have been raising the issue of conflict at the national level, but these have no presence at the village level. Nepali women are challenged in their peacebuilding activities by being unable to protect grass-roots women and by the fact that civil society is divided."
Anonymous

International Alert: Gender and Peacebuilding Programme, Women Building Peace: Sharing Know How, June 2003

In Nepal, the opportunities for women to exchange views and forge a common policy against violent is minimal even women are often the main victims in situations of conflict, suffering human rights abuses. Nepalese women believe, if they are given an opportunity to make their voice heard, if they can bring their own perspective to the table, the chances for lasting peace and reconciliation will improve immeasurably. Women in Nepal always have to bear a disproportionate burden of poverty and they have painful experience arising from the uncontrolled flows of arms. When there is lawlessness in society, women s lives are torn apart. Many Nepalese women are living a miserable life, are not educated, do not have access to health facilities and safe drinking water. Nepalese women can not forget how women with political power does not mean improvement overall in women s political, economic or social status .

Nepalese women must have a right to be involved in all peace processes because displaced women are the real problem in Nepal. If Nepalese women are to play an equal part in security and maintaining peace, they must be empowered politically and economically. In the last general elections held on may 1999, out of 2238 candidates for 205 seats only 135 were women and as many as 113 constituencies did not have any women candidate at all. As a result, the elections to the local bodies held on 1997 and 1998, returned more than 40,000 women representatives. It constitutes almost 20% of all the elected office bearers. They must be empowered at all levels of decision- making, both at the pre-conflict stage as well as at the point of peacekeeping, peace-building, reconciliation and reconstruction.

From: http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=1314