Women of Nepal

Renu Rajbhandari

Founder and Executive Chairperson of Women's Rehabilitation Center (WOREC)
Born on August 7 1960, in Bastipur VDC, Siraha district

Renu Rajbhandari is one of a few women activists in Nepal who doesn't hesitate to introduce herself as a "feminist". Most of activists here who fight for women's rights do not like to be called so. It can be said that she is a feminist by birth. She got concerned about women's situations and women's rights since she was very small, when it was too early for her to learn about phrases like women's rights, discrimination or the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women and so forth. The idea of the need of gender equality clicked in her mind when she saw the plight of her mother and her grandmother in her own family. Then she determined that she must do something to eradicate the factors which cause discrimination against women. Thus her mother and grandmother happened to be her open textbooks of feminism.

Renu's parents got married at the age of twelve. She was born as the first child of her father Shaym Pasad Upadhaya and her mother Dibyashwari Adhiarki on August 7 in 1960, in a small village of Bastipur in Siraha district. Her father used to work in West Bengal, India and her mother was staying in her maternal house with her grandmother. After Renu's birth, her family shifted to India. She studied in an Indian School at Barnapur till 5th grade. Her mother gave birth to two sons and another one daughter there but she did not have much time to play with her brothers and a sister. She was sent back to Nepal when she was nine years old and spent her childhood as a company to her widow grandmother at her mother's house, where there were only two members living.

While she was staying with her parents in Padampur of Siraha, she was a regular observer of the family disputes. She saw that her father had every right to beat her mother but her mother never retaliated. It was enough for her to understand the difference between being a husband and a wife. Memories in her childhood related to disputes between her father and mother still haunt her. The perpetual question frequently disturbed her psychology. "Why do women have to face all these sufferings?" This very question led her to make a determination that she would spend her life fighting against these sexual inequalities and discriminations against women.

Renu was a brilliant girl in her childhood and passed examinations for a School Leaving Certificate when she was only 13 years old. After that, her involvement in the local social life naturally got more frequent. So, much so, she was often termed as a "famous" child in the village. After having passed SLC, her mother wanted to give her daughter a chance for higher education but her father and her grandmother were not interested in her future. Rather they wanted her to be married as early as possible. Her mother insisted on the daughter's education and a father had one more cause to misbehave her. Other members of a family too criticized and mocked Renu's mother for aiming too high. Despite all these disputes, she convinced her husband to send Renu to his sister's home in Kathmandu, to pursue further education.

Renu's aunt gave her a shelter in Kathmandu but it still turned to be very expensive. She had to tolerate all the insulting and misbehavior of her relatives. More than often, she had to go to bed without taking her dinner as her aunt didn't give foods for Renu. When the torture crossed the limit, she decided to rent a room in the city of the strangers, which was indeed a daring step for a 14 years old girl. But, she made it happen and continued her studies.

When her father was forcing her to return to the village and get married as other ordinary girls of her age, she joined the course for health assistant. She passed this course and went to teach at Birgunj College. She was so young in the college that none of the students obeyed her. Meantime, she was also trying to win a fellowship for further study abroad.  After a long struggle, she got a fellowship from Russian Embassy to study in a college in Uzbekistan.

When she came back from Russia for holidays after two years, her mother insisted her to get married. She could not reject it that time and got married with a man with whom she got acquainted in Kathmandu. She was then 18 years old. On the course of a day, her husband died in an accident when she was in Russia. She came to know about it only after nine months because her family dared not to inform her, considering her health condition. She was pregnant at that time. Renu says that her relation with the husband's family is still good though she did not go there to live later. "They treat me like a daughter. I contact them and consult when I face a big problem or I want a company," she says.

A couple of years after her husband's death, Binayak Rajbhandari who studied Agriculture in Russia proposed marriage with Renu. She was not quite sure if her second marriage would make her family happy. She asked suggestions from her family. Her mother did not agree because a man belongs to another caste. But due to her brother's support, their marriage was successfully arranged.

She had got a degree of M.D. from Moscow Medical Institute in Russia in 1985 and another degree on Primary Health Care from Mahidole University in Thailand in 1994. After completing her degrees of M.D., she joined the Maternity Hospital at Thapathali. She had seen many cases of women violence in her village, but while working there, she found that the situation is same even in the city area. She had worked as a medical officer in various hospitals, such as Kanti Children's Hospital, Siraha Hospital, Bharatpur Hospital of Chitwan, Himal Nursing Home and Teku Hospital in Kathmandu. These were the places where she had gained wide experiences about general public's health-related problems.

Besides being a successful medical person, Renu manages time to work as an activist for women's rights. A touching story of a woman brought a turn in her career.  While she was working with AIDS Control Project, she met a woman from Nuwakot district who was HIV positive. She got a disease when she was working in a brothel in Bombay, India. The story of this tailor's daughter left her depressed. She came to know that stories of girls who were trafficked to brothels in India were even more heartbreaking than she had imagined.  After that, she determined to do something concrete for rehabilitation of trafficked women. With suggestions from a friend at Kathmandu District Administration Office she established an NGO called Women's Rehabilitation Center (WOREC) in 1991. Thus she managed to take two campaigns as a women's rights activist and as a medical officer in her life side by side.

She had a bitter experience when she had worked as a District Health Officer (DHO) of Lalitpur. When she arrived there to take her office, the former officer refused to quit and she had to fight for her right. She felt it happened because she is a woman. She found cases of discrimination and domination against women even among educated people in government offices. After having experienced difficulties in another government office when she was deputed as a medical superintendent in Salyan district, she decided to quit her government job and to concentrate on works for women's rights.

She has been a president of WOREC since 1991. WOREC is working with a mission to unify and mobilize local women and marginalized groups of people for sustainable development and social justice, especially in the field of trafficking of women and children. WOREC is currently working against this crime and providing support to the survivors in 11 districts of the country and through network within whole country. WORED could have been established as a leading NGO in the country working against this issue. 

As a president, she has handled a number of projects. Apart from that she is seen almost everywhere, where a true voice of women's liberation is needed: training, presenting papers, involving in discussions, sitting in, demonstrating with placards or even chanting slogans in the street. She is one of some selected resource persons in the country, who can conduct training programs for policy makers implementing agencies as well as the grass-root organizations or women's right activists. In addition to these activities, she has initiated a special health program for women called "Barefoot Gynecologist Concept" in the country. This program has turned to be a boon for women in remote villages, where women are deprived of even the basic health facilities.

She specializes her trainings and other programs on gender, reproductive health/reproductive rights and life skills from a multidisciplinary perspective - combining socio-cultural, gender and medical perspective as capacity building in these areas for greater gender awareness at various levels is critical to addressing issues of social and gender based violence.

In 2000 she was engaged in a research project with ILO as a team member on situational analysis of Nepalese boy children who had been trafficked in different hazardous sectors in India. She joined National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Women and Children that was formed by the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) in January 2003. She supported the NHRC in its policy formation on the issue of trafficking of women and children. She also worked with the NHRC on the human rights, gender and human security dimensions of trafficking and related exploitation, and handled complaints of human rights violations against women and children including violations relating to the recruitment and transportation of women and children who had been trafficked. Currently she is involved in a research work to identify communities' perceptions on violence, AIDS and trafficking.

Renu is a founder member of Alliance for Human Right and Social Justice, Nepal. It is an alliance of seven major human-rights organizations in the country. For the establishment of this alliance she played a major role along with other founder members. Within the alliance her major responsibility is to coordinate women's rights and reproductive right issues. She has traveled extensively in south and Southeast Asia, Europe and North America for studies, conferences, networking/exchange programs, and professional meetings.

Renu has many organizational affiliations. She was one of the organizers of preparatory activities in relation to World Food Summit in Nepal and was one of active members to organize a national preparatory committee for Beijing conference.

Political participation of women is another area of interest of Renu. She started reading books written by Karl Marx when she was just 13 years old. Thanks to her affiliation with study circle in Russia and also relation with some selected political thinkers, she never keeps herself away from political development. She thinks that women's liberation is not possible until they are politically aware and active.

Renu became a feminist by having watched her mother's life. And now it is her daughter's turn. Renu's dedication to women's liberation has made a strong impact on her daughter, who had studied gender issues in India and worked in WOREC with her mother for some time. Renu says "My daughter can be even more 'committed feminist' than me."

Written by Amika Rajthala