Women of Nepal

Stella Tamang

Founding principal of Bhrikuti High School
Chairperson of Bhrikuti Knowledge and Development Centre
Co-founder of Nepali Women's Federation of Indigenous Nationalities

Born in 1948 in Gorkha district

Throughout her life, Stella Tamang has fought against the barriers which stand in front of a non-Nepali speaking Nepali. She has pursued education and has now established herself as an outstanding figure, both as an educationalist and an indigenous women's leader.

Tamang was born in the remote village of Sirunga in Gorkha district in September 1948. She was originally from Takharka village of Helambhu, but her family moved to her mother's birthplace as her grandfather, a Lama or priest of Bajrayana Buddhism, was invited there to practice Lamaism. Her parents then migrated to Myanmar to work in a mining company. Tamang spent her childhood in Myanmar, learning the local language and studying in a local school. But her family never lost their mother language - Tamang.

Tamang returned to Nepal in ninth grade, joining tenth grade in a Kathmandu school. "When I passed the exams of SLC (School Leaving Certificate), I did not know how to speak Nepali and then I realized the importance of education by mother language. It was like a shock for me. I was linguistically handicapped when I came back here. I then learned how education by other language not by mother language could be a barrier to a child's development," she said.

Tamang belonged to a low income class in which it was difficult to find three meals a day. Her family would weave woolen sweaters at home her father would later sell in the street.

In 1968 after her SLC, Tamang joined Martyr's Memorial School as an assistant teacher, while simultaneously continuing her studies to complete bachelor's degrees in Art and Education. After working again in Adharsha Vidhya Mandir, she established Bhrikuti Pre-Primary School in Boudha in 1975. She wanted children to learn in an enjoyable atmosphere, which could be accessible at a low cost. The school was slowly transformed into a high-school. "Education should be made a low-cost, without compromising with quality," she said.

It was difficult for a Tamang woman to run a school. Being a woman was her first disadvantage. Parents refused to see her as a principal. Secondly, Tamang are stereotyped as people who sell alcohol for living, so parents simply did not trust her. People enrolled their children in her school only at face value as a woman from Myanmar.

Tamang developed the idea of alternative education. She came to the conclusion that development of the education system is a must in Nepal and education would be effective only if girl children had enough motivation. Many girl children migrated from outside districts to the capital and many of these were subjected to sexual harassment. Thus, Tamang decided to support a thorough 'alternative education system'. Children who attended the school were also given the opportunity to learn income-generating skills, such as handicrafts, painting, weaving and agriculture.

She began her institution Bikalpa Gyan Tatha Bikas Kendra (Alternative Learning and Development Centre, Nepal) in 2001. So far, the institution has run six of eighteen months' programs for 150 young women from Dhading, Rasuwa, Lalitpur, Morang, Sindhupalchowk, Kavre, Ilam, Jhapa, Taplejung, Dhankuta and Sunsari districts. Students were young indigenous women from remote areas, living under difficult circumstances and had missed the opportunity for education. In the program, girls join the school for 18 months and learn the vocational skills of their interest, along with non-formal education. When the program ends they return to their respective villages to pursue further education or work in the fields. Thanks to income-generating projects the school is self-sufficient, and has now educated hundreds of girls. Tamang further developed a mobile school program to reach children from slums areas or the street with free education.

Tamang has organized several national and international peace camps for girl children, giving girls from various Asian countries the opportunity to learn about women's rights and non-violent modes of conflict resolution. Since 1999, over 50 girls from over a dozen countries have participated in such camps. Her dedication to the alternative education system helped Tamang win the Ashoka Fellowship in 1998 in the field of education.

She said indigenous women lag behind because of the country's education system. "Those things they have learned in their home have to be repeated in the school in another language, which needs immense effort. Their childhood days are spent learning the official language, that is, Nepali. So I concentrate on education in mother languages."

Tamang had a coincidental meeting with Parashuram Tamang, a known leader of the indigenous people's movement. She was perhaps the first to graduate from a university in Helambu. Influential people within the district were interested with marrying her off to someone famous. Tamang, however, preferred to marry within her own ethnic community. Dawa Finzo Tamang, a former deputy chairman of National Panchayat, met with her and arranged a meeting with Parashuram. He was a chairman of Nepal Tamang Ghedung. Although he had a leftist political background he retained strong feelings regarding the rights of indigenous people.

Tamang believed that although the women's movement had good momentum, it remained 'mainstream' and carried only the agenda of high-caste Hindu Bahun-Chhetri women, while failing to address the interests of indigenous women as most of the women in leadership were from high-caste Hindu societies. After 1990 all ethnic organizations, such as the Tamangs, Newars and the Tharus, became free and started working openly for the rights of ethnic people. The ethnic movement was at its height, yet they seldom spoke of women in indigenous communities.

The only organization working for women in ethnic communities was Nepalbhasha Misa Khala (NMK), that of Newar women. Tamang met with Dr Chunda Bajracharya, the then chairperson of the NMK, and agreed to start a movement for ethnic women. They decided to form a wing to concentrate on raising the issues of Janajati women in particular.

Tamang organized a conference for women of different ethnicities and floored the idea to form an organization of ethnic women in 1997. She wanted to form the organization, which would by no means weaken the ethnic movement in general, but would raise issues of women in Janajati communities separately. But the result voiced for an independent women's federation.

At that time they did not have the seven organizations necessary to form a federation. Dr Chunda Bajracharya, Dr Yashokanta Bhattachan and Tamang worked together to form the federation to form separate women's organizations in all ethnic organizations.

After a long, hard effort, those separate women's bodies of the Thakalis, Rajbanshis, Magars, Gurungs and others came into existence, along with those of the Tamangs and the Newars. Nepal Tamang Mahila Ghedung, the organization of Tamang women was registered at time. All women fought many struggles in their respective organizations to secure their independent identity as women's organizations. Furthermore, women were afraid to be in the executive committee or in leadership.

After the organization formed over seven groups, they constituted the Federation of Nepal Women Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities in 1998. There are now 36 organizations of indigenous women in the federation.

Tamang said it was even more difficult to form Janajati women's organizations as the ethnic movement was dominated by male leaders. Male leaders of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) wanted a women's branch in each community but bodies and were not ready to grant independent status.

Janajati women have been part of the women's movement from the beginning, but the movement never properly addressed their issues. Activists never tackle the need to incorporate the issues of different religions, races, castes and ethnic communities. In such, Tamang believes it is necessary to have a women's movement with separate agendas.

"It could be better if we were inside the 'mainstream' women's movement, but for this we first need to be organized. Then we can deal with other activists. It was a stage for Janajati women to feel neglected by the women's movement and thus we felt the need to stand independently. Now, I believe that we are inside the nationwide movement and we should now work together, making them aware of issues of Janajati women too."

Tamang admits discrimination against women among the ethnic community has decreased, comparative to the Bahun-Chhetri communities. Traditionally, most ethnic communities are matriarchal, but along with the national movement towards Hinduization, ethnic communities have slowly become patriarchal.

Women's status in ethnic communities is above average, but they are still trapped in the circle and need to come out of it if they wish to achieve real freedom. Tamang said, "In this sense, our fight should also be against the ethnic male folk."

According to her, Tamangs are one of the most matriarchal communities in Asia, but, in reality, male domination has deep roots in Tamang society as well.

Tamang believes one should not ignore the existence of domination and that women of indigenous communities must fight against both society in general and the indigenous society that pretends to be free of discrimination. "We should not live in double standard. We have to admit that there is discrimination against women, also in our ethnic societies, and we have to fight against them. We have to revitalize our tradition. Instead of claiming to revive the matriarchal nature of agreeing to be dominated by the men, we should go for egalitarian society where both men and women live in a harmony, sharing their responsibilities."

At the same time, indigenous people need to go to politics, as without political intervention, the indigenous movement would not move forward. They should do 'Janajati politics'. For Tamang, many indigenous people work for the indigenous movement because they want to benefit from impressing their respective political parties. Janajati faces are seen in all political parties, yet the issues of the Janajati are not coming to the front in political circles. "Physically we are invited but not allowed to speak. It is not a meaningful participation of women," she said.

Tamang has now become part of the international indigenous movement. She was an International Steering Committee member of the NGO Forum for the World Conference against Racism in South Africa in 2001, a member of the Indigenous Peoples' Coordination Committee for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa in 2002, and founder-chairperson of the South Asia Indigenous Women's Forum (2002). She chaired the Indigenous Women Caucus at the second session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in 2003 and in 2004, and was also a panelist on indigenous women, conflict prevention, and post-conflict peace-building at discussions at the Commission of the Status of Women, organized by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues at UN headquarters in New York in March 2004 and 2005.

Written by Razen Manandhar