(part of openDemocracy's '16 days against gender violence' blog series)
By Hyshyama Hamin
Nepal is a patriarchal society: women are discriminated against from birth, in the family and right up to the state level. The scenario worsens for Nepali women if they are widowed. A widow is seen as a curse befallen on her family. For the rest of her life she is identified as an inauspicious omen, and the cause of the death of her husband. Religious and traditional practices enacted on widows harm her physical health and mental state, aggravating her suffering and lowering her status in society. These practices include set rituals, such as the removal of all jewelry from her body, dressing in only white clothes, and eating meals prepared without salt or spices. She is not allowed to be touched, doing so is considered “impure”, and because a widow cannot remarry, she is at the mercy of male members of her family. She no longer accepted by her in-laws, nor is she welcome back home. Many widows have been traumatized by family members most nearest to them. Widowed women and their dependants usually fall under the category of the most marginalised, poorest of the poor, invisible, their voices unheard and their needs, immediate and long-term, unmet. They are denied access to nutrition, health resources, and social security, and their movements are restricted. In Nepal, like in most developing countries, poverty has a female face. This is what drives the work of Women for Human Rights (WHR), founded in 1994 to address the rights of single women in Nepal, which gives widows opportunities include ng access to skills and vocational training to enable them to support themselves independently; micro-credit schemes; and funds for personal and child study scholarships. We have also succeeded in changing many discriminatory laws relating to, among other things, property rights ownership, and the acquisition of passports without male consent. Our most successful movement has been the Red Movement Campaign which freed widows in Nepalese society from wearing the color white for the rest of their lives, with the slogan that “Color is our birthright”. There was a huge backlash to this campaign from the conservative members of society, but it still succeeded in emancipating widows across the country. Although there have been social and legal advances, discrimination is still widespread in Nepal, and is at its most severe in the rural areas. Some of the stories and issues are heartbreaking.Widows are amongst the worst affected victims of conflict and societal practices in Nepal. We believe that by strengthening widows, we strengthen women, and by strengthening women, we strengthen families, and societies, and in our humble way we in fact strengthen the world.
Picture via ericpayette's flickR page.
