Gender Discrimination in Nepal a real menace
My neighbor is a pretty woman who has been living near me for the last 4 years. One day suddenly she came to me and opened her heart out. She told me how her family tortures and abuses her for not giving birth to a son.
When her family came to know that her first child will be a daughter, before letting the child see this beautiful world, they forced her to abort the child. They did not want any girl child as they saw girls as a burden.
The women somehow gave birth to the next child, a fun-loving daughter, who usually comes to my place and ask me to assist in her assignments. When she was born, the family did not see the child for one month just because she was a girl. They consider her a nuisance. In the hope of getting a boy, the family, over and over again, forced her to beget off springs. They warned her that if next time she does not give birth to a boy then she has to the home and her husband will marry another woman.
Nepal is a patriarchal society where people value the birth of men more than the birth of women. According to traditional belief it is only boys who can give deliverance to the ancestors and perform funeral rites. This belief subsequently led many families to abandon their girl children. Throughout their life time, Nepalese women face much discrimination. Women are only seen fit to stay at home and take care of children.
Men can divorce their wives for petty reasons such as if they fail to give birth to a male heir. No matter what the circumstance, in each and every situation the women are dominated by the men-folk.
It is time that women understood their power and stood up against such injustices. It is also time that Nepalese men understood the value of their women and respected them for what they are. After all their mothers were also born as girls weren’t they?