Gender Dimensions In Tune With The Changed Context
By: Rukma Sharma Acharya

September 27, 2006 – (The Rising Nepal) Following the Women and Armed Conflict plank at the Beijing Platform for Action (BPA) in 1996, the world has increasingly acknowledged the impacts of conflict on women, and of women on conflict. Many success stories have shown women's meaningful participation in peace negotiations, peacekeeping and peacemaking, resulting in significant progress. This builds the need for including women and gender issues in humanitarian assistance, peacemaking efforts and peace negotiations, following a conflict, namely during a period of transition as the one Nepal is currently experiencing.

Transition phase

The current political transition in Nepal offers opportunities to establish new norms and rules, engage new leaders and build new institutions. Each of these processes offers an opportunity to focus on women's rights and respect them, and to acknowledge and value the contribution of women in conflict transformation.

In addition to these processes, activities which focus on women as a specific group are required to redress gender disparities in women's access to essential services and resources. In this context, Nepalese policymakers can learn from global success stories. For example, a World Bank project has trained exiled Afghan women in Peshawar as teachers for Afghani girls who had no schooling because the Taliban prohibited female education. This 'women-in-development' approach aims to eliminate gender inequality.

Political rights and participation are an important component of women-focused activities during political transition. As the BPA underlines, women have the right to draft constitutions and elect representatives. Furthermore, countries like Nepal with a greater female than male population presents opportunities for females to fill positions previously held by men. Nepal can learn from African countries like South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia, which have established women's quotas in the candidate's list, despite some controversies.

In the recent commission to draft an interim constitution, women were not included initially. This attracted some to raise voices for women's representation. Similarly, structural adjustments are necessary even through a quota system has been provisioned by the Civil Service Act. Some may question why quota for women, when they are unqualified. Strategies have been found to address this criticism.

For example, when the National Council in Timor Leste rejected quotas in 2002, the Timor-Leste Women's Network sought UN funding to train 200 women to compete effectively in the elections. In Rwanda, where women make up over 60 per cent of the post-genocide population, women captured 49 per cent of the parliamentary seats in the election of late 2003. In Afghanistan, women occupy around 25 per cent of the seats in the lower parliament, despite the religious fundamentalism and negative traditional attitudes towards women that still pervade the country.

Let us be optimistic: the government and Maoists will reach a consensus on resolving the current political turmoil. In this situation, post-conflict reconstruction will involve sorting out property ownership and drafting property laws that uphold the rights of individuals to property. Such processes must guarantee women's full and equal rights to own property, and their ability to enjoy those rights.

Too often, as in Namibia, Rwanda or Uganda, customary law, which does not recognise women's rights to own property, prevails even after new civil laws which uphold gender equality are promulgated. The consequences can be devastating. So, political transition programmes in Nepal must develop women's literacy and access to justice. Priority should also be given to employment without discrimination and right to freedom from violence that is playing havoc on innocent women of Nepal. But, what is sure is that gender equitable laws and policies require a critical mass of capable women who can voice positions and garner collegial support.

Until now, little attention has been paid to the ways in which gender relations intersect with the country's macro-economic policies. These policies affect women and men differently because of their different economic roles in society. Lack of attention to this fact may both cause negative impacts on women and undermine socio-economic objectives of developing the culture of respecting the rights of all citizens.

Studies demonstrate that women bear the brunt of painful structural adjustment programmes which have been integral to many transitional political reconstructions. Cutbacks in the civil service and other formal sector jobs mean women are likely to have junior level posts. With the proposed Civil Service Act, new and energetic women are likely to take a back seat. Since there are very few women in the bureaucracy, their chances of making it to the top positions in sufficient numbers are low. Macroeconomic reforms during the transition period should, therefore, include spending reallocations, privatising state-owned enterprises, liberalising prices and trade, streamlining the civil service, and decentralising governance where women are equally or equitably treated.

Micro-credit programmes set up with a developmental aim can be a popular women empowering tool as a means of addressing their issues. However, while micro-credit programmes have shown women to be more reliable repayers of credit than men, lenders' attitudes toward women have not changed. Women initially may have no money to start a business and also lack relevant skills and knowledge. Hence, they need credit, information and skills relating to business development. Methods to remedy gender inequalities may include targeting credit to women and men equally, ensuring equal training opportunities for new business jobs, and maintaining sex-disaggregated records to identify and remove gender disparities.

Brighter future

Political transition represents a moment during which the state can take stock and plan for a brighter future. It can present an opportunity to aim higher than merely recreating the pre-conflict situation. In terms of education, this could mean that individual women and men develop skills in learning environments free from restrictive gender stereotypes.

New opportunities, such as information technology training, should be available to women and men alike. If they are not planned with an explicit focus on equitable access, they may inadvertently have a negative impact on women and gender relations. Besides developing male and female vocational skills to increase opportunities to earn income, reconstruction programmes must also teach men and women social and civic skills and values that are essential for building a non-violent society. This includes training women and men to work collaboratively and respectfully together.

It is high time for Nepalese planners to consider gender dimensions and act accordingly while the sun shines, to ensure that there is something for a society against the rainy day.

From : http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=3953