Women of Nepal

Suprabha Gimire

Member of the Constituent Assembly, the Nepali Congress

Born in October, 1941 in Kathmandu

Few people in Nepali society half a century ago could have imagined educating their daughters. Suprabha Ghimre happened to be one of those women who not only  studied in school but also spent her life showing the light of education to people and being involved  in politics to liberate women from the clutches of a patriarchal society. She became an elected member of the Constituent Assembly in April 2008 from a constituency in the capital, becoming one of only two women who were elected in the seats for First Past the Post from Nepal's oldest political party the Nepali Congress.

She was born in 1941 to a big conservative family in Kathmandu. Her parents had seven daughters and four sons. After having their eldest daughter married at a young age, her parents took the bold decision of sending their other daughters to school. And thus the gate to education for Suprabha was open.

Although she won full support from her parents, they had to discontinue her schooling when she was in third grade because they were afraid of being criticized by society. Then she studied at home and after some time rejoined school in eighth grade. In the street, people used to stare at her as if she were an alien; it was like a revolution in those days for girls to go to school. For her, walking every day from her house to school was like punishment. However, she tolerated all kinds of criticism because she knew she would be a model for society.

She said, "Going to school holding books in my hands used to be extremely difficult in those days. People used to stare at me curiously and my parents had to face endless criticism. But I was determined to complete my studies and I did it." Thanks to the support from her family and her own commitment, she passed the examinations of School Leaving Certificate at the age of 15, which helped her carry on further education.

Her parents dreamed of making Suprabha a doctor. She could not pave a way to study medicine due to her weakness in mathematics, but she became a professor who educated a lot of doctors-to-be. She obtained a master's degree, majoring in English from Tribhuvan University and joined the same university as a lecturer. Her career as a university teacher started from Patan Campus, and she collected experiences also from Padma Kanya Campus, Thakurram Multiple Campus and others. In the meantime, she managed to visit England, France and several other countries to pursue further education.

In 1970 Suprabhra married Shankar Ghimire, who was an activist of the then outlawed Nepali Congress. In those days she was not interested in politics. But through her husband, she made acquaintance with many top-level politicians of the Nepali Congress. She was enjoying a peaceful and academic life of her own. Besides, she was taking care of her only daughter and providing her with the best education. Despite her lack of interest  in politics she developed an attachment to the political environment in her family.

Suprabha's  happy life fell into pieces after the untimely demise of her husband in 1981. She went through a state of grief and depression until she decided to join the tumult of politics. "None of my family members in my parents' house had a political background. Even after I got married I had no interest in politics though a political environment was there at my home, in which many people used to come, and I actually enjoyed it. But after the demise of my husband they stopped coming to my house. I felt very lonely and isolated. Then I thought I should do politics to reach the people," she said.

Suprabha was vocal in colleges for women and democracy. She was especially active in working for professional and women's rights. For the first time, she entered into politics by contesting the post of treasurer of the Nepal University Teacher's Association (NUTA) in 1986. She remembers it was a result of encouragement from the former vice-chancellor of Tribhuvan University  Basudev Chandra Malla. It gave her the opportunity to visit colleges in many districts and meet people with different backgrounds. People used to raise eyebrows to see a woman candidate coming to their districts to ask for votes. "Campaigning as a woman candidate itself was a struggle in those days," she said. She won the election with a comfortable majority and became the only female member of the 21-member executive committee of NUTA.

She was later elected as the general secretary of the Nepal Women's Association, led by Mangala Devi Singh, but soon had to resign from the post as she was elected president of the NUTA. The responsibilities opened new areas of work for Suprabha and she never refrained from taking on new challenges. Political parties were banned during the Panchayat period before the multi-party system was restored in April 1990.  Even intellectuals were not allowed to openly hold various programs in those days. As a supporter of democracy she used to organize programs in campuses for women lecturers and female students to raise political awareness.

"I always remember a mass gathering that was held in Padma Kanya Campus on March 8 during Janaandolan (People's Movement) of 1990. We commemorated the Women's Day to organize women in various fields and discuss political rights. All the speakers in the program were women. Parijat, Kamala Panta and Mina Pandey, respectively, represented writers, students and housewives. I made a speech representing professors. We all came to the point that only political right will open the gate to women's freedom," Suprabha said,  adding that professors in Tribhuvan University, such as Kamal Krishna Joshi and Narahari Acharya, supported them in co-ordinating the program.

Thus, Suprabha's career as a political leader began as an activist for freedom of professionals and women during the Panchayat period. She said, "The administration used to watch us, as any political activities were prohibited in those days. I used to go to college in old dresses under the guise of an old woman and changed into our uniform after I reached campus." It was because various professionals, including university teachers and intellectuals, participated in the movement that Janaandolan ended successfully.  

She has been a die-hard supporter of "40 percent women's representatives" since long ago. Whenever she found a chance she raised issues of gender discrimination and strongly demanded the government provide 40 percent of seats for women in all spheres of opportunities and appointments. But on most occasions, people used to look down on her demands. She recalled, "It was in 1998 I accompanied Deputy Prime Minister Shailaja Acharya to attend the program that was organized by the United Nations. In the program I presented a paper on gender equality, in which I claimed that there should be 40 percent representation of women in all fields. People from other countries appreciated my claim while those from my own country laughed it away."

Suprabha formed a group of women in 2000 which was named One Three Five Academy with the purpose of encouraging women to participate in politics and to support those women already in politics. Apart from this, she, along with other senior women politicians, formed the Inter Party Women's Network on Women's Day (March 8) in 2006. It was quite difficult to bring women in various political parties to a single table, but they thought it necessary to unite women in politics for a common cause. It is presently working on women's equal rights on parental property, getting a citizenship certificate from the mother's name, free education for women, as well as other issues. "We have genuine causes to raise issues. I'm not fully satisfied with the achievements but things are making progress. Only time will tell how successful we are going to be," she said.

Although the reinstated House of Representatives made a decision to assure the inclusion of women in 33 percent of seats of all state institutions in 2006, it has not yet been implemented. Women had 34 percent of seats of the Constituent Assembly, but the situations of women in other fields are almost the same as before.  "We still have to do a lot of struggling in the future. We had fought to change policies and laws for women but we need to do more struggling for implementation," she claimed.

The 10-year Maoist insurgency and 19-day People's Movement brought the monarchy down. But it will take more time to bring about change in people's thoughts. Suprabha thinks the patriarchal way of thinking that exists in all levels of Nepali society, from households to the highest posts in the state, will not easily change. She admits political parties are to be blamed for this. "Political parties should change their policies on women. Along with the efforts to replace the old unitary politics and state structure, special policies should be formed for gender equality. For this, more women in social movements are needed to join politics," she insisted..

Though she worked actively for the Nepali Congress since the time of the Panchayat period, Suprabha accepted party membership only after the political change of 1990. Being a professor she could not manage to work in the party but instead worked from a professional front. Like women politicians in all political parties, Suprabha also complains that political parties don't make much of women members. No names of women are seen in the lists of "senior leaders" in any political parties. She admits it is in that sense her party is actually behind others. "Political parties are still indifferent to women's rights. I have to admit that the Nepali Congress is not liberal and still lags behind other parties on women's issues. Male politicians who are junior to me have responsible positions in the party but there is no space for women," she said.

Her struggle in the party has provided her with an opportunity to contest the country's first Constituent Assembly elections. Few people believed Suprabha would win the election as she was supposed to lock horns with noted political players, such as another woman candidate, Bidya Bhandari of the CPN (UML), who had won in the constituency in Kathmandu. But she successfully secured her position and had the opportunity to raise demands for women's rights in the CA.

Suprabha is now waiting to play her role in the process of making a new constitution for a new Nepal. She says she will do her best to secure women's rights. "I will co-operate with all women members in the CA, regardless of which party they are representing, to fight for equal rights of women," she said.

Although she still thinks it will take a long time for women to reach top positions in political parties, she is not pessimistic at all. She believes the new constitution will definitely handle gender issues with due importance for an equal society, where there will be no room for gender discrimination.

Written by Laxmi Basnet