[Marxism] 'Women made anti-king protests successful'

["Huibin Amelia Chew" <hachew@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1767618.cms

The Times of India
July 17, 2006

'WOMEN MADE ANTI-KING PROTESTS SUCCESSFUL'
by Sudeshna Sarkar

Women, despite playing a major role in the
democracy movement in Nepal, have been excluded
from all decision-making proces-ses.

Vidya Bhandari , 46, senior member of the
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified
Marxist-Leninist), pushed for and recently got
parliament approval for two controversial rights
33 per cent reservation for women in parliament
and citizenship on the basis of the mother's
nationality. Bhandari spoke to Sudeshna Sarkar :

Why are women still protesting on the streets?

It was the overwhelming participation of women
that made the anti-king protests successful.
During the 'people's movement' in April, women
comprised 45 per cent to 70 per cent of the
protestors.

In remote districts like Dang and Chitwan, and
towns like Pokhara, there were all-women rallies
with 10,000 to 50,000 women. But this government
has given no representation to women. There is
just one woman minister in a cabinet of 20
ministers.

There are no women in the six-member committee
formed to draft an interim constitution. There
are no women in the teams formed by either the
government or the Maoists to hold peace
negotiations.

In a country where women comprise 52 per cent of
the population, this means repression of the
majority by the minority.

What are your demands?

We want proportional representation in the
constituent assembly on the basis of population.
This is imperative because, if you look at the
current constitution, you will see it has several
provisions that go against women and violate the
fundamental right to equality.

That is because the constitution of 1990 was
written without the participation of women. That
should not recur. We also want 33 per cent
reservation for women in all government sectors.
Nepal is a feudal society where women are treated
as second class citizens.

To change this, there need to be special efforts
towards women's education, health and employment.
For this, we need women in local development
organisations, parliament and, finally, the
cons-tituent assembly itself.

In theory, even men recognise this, and on May
30, parliament unanimously approved 33 per cent
reservation for women. But the approval has to be
put into practice.

How would you ensure that?

The women's wings of the major parties are
unanimous about minimum representa-tion for
women. We have been pressuring our own parties,
parliament and the ministries to ensure this, as
also to annul discriminatory laws.

After parliament approved of 33 per cent
reservation, we have been pressuring the ministry
of law and the ministry of women, children and
social welfare to introduce new laws, with a
focus on education, health services and
employment opportunities.

(Courtesy: Women's Feature Service )


--
The naiveté of Americans who can't believe their 'heroes' are
committing such atrocities is ridiculous. Who ever heard of an
occupying army committing rape?? You raped the country, why not the
people?

14. Imagine your 14-year-old sister...daughter...her 5-year-old sister
were also killed... I don't believe the troops should be tried in
American courts... they should be handed over to the people in the
area and only then will justice be properly served.

It fills me with rage... The pity I once had for foreign troops in
Iraq is gone...eradicated by the atrocities in Abu Ghraib, the deaths
in Haditha and the latest news... I look at them in their armored
vehicles and to be honest- I can't bring myself to care whether they
are 19 or 39...if they make it back home alive...about [those] they
left behind… it's difficult to see beyond the horrors... how many more
they'll kill before they go home. How many more young Iraqi girls will
they rape?

-Baghdad burning

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