Nepal has
about two dozen laws that discriminate against women. One debars
them from inheriting parental property, unless they remain
unmarried till age 35. That is more than half the average
life-span of Nepali women. Also they have to relinquish property,
after deducting wedding expenses, if they marry after inheritance.
Women can dispose inherited property only with the consent of male
family members. For Nepali men, inheritance is a birthright.
Equality of
the sexes has been in Nepal’s constitution since 1958. But when
the Muluki Ain or Public Law was amended in 1962, clauses that
discriminated against women were not changed. A bill in parliament
seeks do to that. The proposed 11th Amendment of the Public Law
has resulted from a court ruling that required the government to
table a draft, following a petition by two women lawyers. The two
had petitioned the Supreme Court in 1993 seeking annulment of laws
that contravened with the provisions of Nepal’s democratic
constitution (1990).
There are,
however, no guarantees that Nepal’s parliament—which has
traditionally had more males than females—will adopt the bill.
The politics was apparently afraid because the new law could have
change some long standing traditions. That the bill could have
caused some short-term vote losses in the May 1999 elections was
perhaps one reason why the now-dissolved parliament did not make
approve the amendment.
The 11
Amendment would allow daughters to inherit parental property. They
would, however, be required to return the inheritance if marry
thereafter. According to the latest version in the House, the
provision would ensure that women, who can also inherit their
husband’s property, are not doubly propertied—in
"unfairness" to men. The draft also drops some
derogatory words and phrases used to refer to actions associated
with women. "Elope," for instance, has been replaced by
"marriage." "Daughters" has also been added to
every reference the law makes to "sons".
The
opponents still argue that allowing women to inherit property
would destabilise the social system. They fear that the law could
lead to increase in property disputes between kin and further
division of already divided land holdings. Some have even gone to
the extent of arguing that the economic freedoms for women could
lead to increased infidelity, divorces and sexually transmitted
diseases. Still others argue that giving uneducated women their
rights could be taking them only half the way. They ask: what
would they do with rights if they are not capable of enforcing
them? As solution they argue for leaving inheritance to the will
of parents. The argument for this is that parents can pass on
property to those that take care of them in old age.
Women
comprise more than half of Nepal’s 23 million people. They are
less educated and work longer hours than men. Son preference is
very high in the predominantly patriarchal, Hindu kingdom. In a
society where social security does not exist and property is
passed on to male descendants, sons are looked upon as old-age
insurance. It is also widely believed that sons "open the
gates of heaven" by carrying out the last rites of parents.
Daughters are "given away" in marriage. These explain,
to an extent, the prevalence of sayings like "let it be later
but let it be a son." The resultant discriminations in
upbringing of girls perhaps explain why Nepal is one of the few
countries in the world where men live longer than women.
Nepal’s
adult female literacy is less than 25 percent, compared to about
55 for males. There are also many communities that prefer to marry
daughters early rather than invest in their education. The new law
would also raise the legal age for marriage of girls from the
present 16 to 18 years.
The draft is
silent on many other issues activists have been raising. One is
enlistment of women in the army. Another is registration of
personal incidents—births, deaths, etc.—which can now be done
only under the name of the male head of family. Nor does it
address another provision which bars individuals from obtaining
citizenship on the basis of a mother’s status, but can if the
father is a Nepali citizen.
