My calling for Social Equity and Justice

GBV affects more than one in four women and girls in Nepal. Since only one-third of women who experience physical or sexual violence seek help, the true scale of GBV is underreported and underestimated. Nepal Police reported 21,568 cases of GBV and estimates an alarming increase in violence against women and girls.

Born and raised in Madhesh Province, Nepal, I have always lived and observed gender inequality and violence as a Queer person. Lack of agency creates a barrier for Madheshi women and Queer persons to claim their rights and are resultantly excluded from access to resources and public services.

Madhesh is one of the largest populated Provinces in Nepal and records one of the largest women populations. According to the UN factsheet, only 38.5% of women aged 15-49 are employed and 84.1% earn less than their spouses. Only 28.7% of women aged 15-49 use a bank account and 53.3% of women of the same age group have no education.

Madhesh has a unique geo-political economy in Nepal. The discrimination and exclusion against them have deteriorated their living standard and denied them access to state-availed services and resources. The social norms, values, and practices limit them to their houses and household chores hindering them from an enabling environment for education, career, and personal choices and growth. The discrimination gets multifold with gender, caste, and other identities as an added identity.

The Nepal Human Development Report, 2020 jointly published by the Government of Nepal and UNDP clearly states that Madhesh Province has the lowest HDI, 0.51, and the highest gender disparity, a GDI of 0.786. 

Hence, I realized the urgency to advocate for the rights of women, the LGBTQI+ community, and youths. In a youth-based organization, Sanskriti, I got the first-row seat to observe and learn about diverse cultural aspects of Nepal, especially of the Madhesh region where the issues and violence against women and non-binary people are rising.

I am currently involved with Dalit Lives Matter Global Alliance (DLMGA) in the capacity of CAMPAIGNER where I am supporting the team to build a global alliance of informed and empowered civic actors equipped with knowledge, skills, and tools to counter and fight caste-based discrimination and untouchability and build constructive resistance against caste-based inequalities, indignities, and adversities globally.

Through organizations like Samata Foundation and DLMGA, I have deepened my understanding of the struggles of women and people with diverse gender identities and the challenges faced by marginalized communities in the quest for living a dignified life.

Similarly, organizing large-scale public dialogue events such as TEDxBirgunj has allowed me to understand how creating an open platform for healthy discussion helps institutionalize democratic values in society.

I realize the urgency to adopt a collective impact approach to achieve large-scale solutions against complex and challenging human rights violations. Hence, I have been working to create a Strategic Alliance of community leaders, civic actors, governmental bodies, elected representatives, law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders with the support of my team and organization to foster an enabling environment to ignite conversations to challenge the unjust social norms and decentralize the space (both geographical and content) to periphery from the core. I am further planning interventions with an integrated approach addressing intersectional identities of gender, caste, and geography to institutionalize democratic principles and foster a vibrant and inclusive civic space. Similarly, I am targeting youths, the nation's primary builders, and students at school levels to create next-generation leaders equipped with practical skills, knowledge, and techniques to facilitate a collective rights-based movement.