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Women empowerment is an ongoing process

“...and we are not finished yet!” says Akal Mati Kurmi. She is the vice chairperson of the women’s group ‘Laxmi Sewa Samuha’ in Labani VDC, w.no.2. Together with nine other family members, she lives in the small village of Gulari in Kapilvastu district. Here she lives a typical Terai way of life, where the family mainly lives on agriculture. What is not typical about Akal Mati is the fact that she is a shop owner and she herself is the owner of land. Two years ago she bought a small piece of land. She earned the money from the shop and the chicken and goats she had been raising.

“I took a loan of 1000 rupees to buy chicken. I bought 50 chicken for 1000 IC (Indian currency i.e. 1600 Nepali rupees) and after six months I sold them for more than 4000 rupees.” For some of this money and with the help of her husband and son she bought the land: “My son works in Bombay and sends money back home. My husband has a small ‘hotel’. They both helped me and supported me to have the land in my name. That I own the land means that nobody else can claim this land like my husband´s brothers or their sons. When I die my husband and children will be the ones inheriting the land - not my husband’s family. But actually my whole family thinks it is all right: “They say if you earn money – you keep land in your name. if we earn money – we keep in our name.”

Akal Mati Kurmi owes a lot of her fortune to the support from Gramin Swabalamban Samajik Kendra (GSSK). The motivation to start saving and the various trainings have given a boost to the group of village women in Gulari. ‘Laxmi Sewa Samuha’ was established three years ago in 2058 B.S. and the number of members has increased from 13 to 19. The vice chairperson explains the increase in members and their benefits in this way: “When women and men are together they will pull each other in each direction. They will fight! That is why we need to be together in a women’s group. Our total saving now amounts to 16,000 rupees. From this pool of saving money we can help each other to solve our problems.”

The trainings given to the group have been on issues like vegetable production, papad and chips production and women’s rights. An exposure visit to Biratnagar and Janakpur has given the group new notions about gender issues and how to earn money . Concerning the land rights issue Akal Mati Kurmi says the training in legal provision and the rights of women convinced her that women as land owners is a good idea. “ I had bought the land well before this training in 2059 B.S. . Now I am even more convinced that our fight for property will benefit the next generation. In my home it will benefit my son’s daughter.” According to Akal Mati Kurmi many things have changed for her and sisters in the village: “So much has happened. 10 years ago no women left Gulari to go to the market in Labani. We were not allowed to by our husbands so we would all stay at home. People would talk badly if a woman went to Labani and talked to other men. The men knew our rights but still they did not allow us to go. Now our eyes have been opened and we have become aware of our rights. And now our husbands agree. Now we easily come to Labani and talk to the people in the organisation. We sit in the tea shop and we can express our opinions. We learned about women empowerment through GSSK. My life changed after I became a member in the group.”

However, in the vice chairperson’s opinion there is still a long way to go for women and men to be equal.” Ten years from now I hope that more things have happened in our area. Nowadays when many women talk to new people they giggle and become embarrassed,” she says, pretending to be like a teenage girl. “This should stop. And gender equality has to be real. All girls and boys should be given equal opportunity to go to school.”