Women of Nepal

Uma Adhikari Regmi

Member of the Constituent Assembly, the Nepali Congress Party
Chairperson of Inter Party Women's Alliance
Member of the Central Working Committee of the Nepali Congress Party

Born on July 15th, 1954, in Kerabari VDC of Gorkha district

On February 5th 1990, five days before the historical Jana-andolan (People's Movement) was launched by the Nepali Congress and the United Left Front, Uma was arrested by the police while walking in the Ratna Park in the center of Kathmandu. She was detained in a jail for the next two months until then king Birendra proclaimed to restore the multi-party democracy in Nepal. Sixteen years after that, another movement launched by seven political parties' alliance was going on across the country against the autocratic rule of King Gyanendra. In the course of the movement Uma was again arrested in January 2006 as soon as she led the demonstration in Basantapur, the center of the capital, following her party's direction. She was kept in custody for two months.

Since the time of Panchayat period, whenever major political movements were launched by political parties, Uma used to be detained by the authority. She spent in total three years in detention as a political prisoner in her life. She said, "During my forty years' life in politics I experienced all kinds of injustice, domestic injustice by my husband, social injustice by my society and political injustice by my party because I am a woman." Those experiences made her a strong advocate for women's rights.

She was born as the last child among three of typical Brahman parents in Keravari VDC in Gorkha district. Her father was a simple farmer in a mountain village and her family migrated to Gunjanagar VDC in Chitwan district in Tarai for seeking better life when Uma was seven years old. She said, "Had we continued to live in Gorkha I would not have been able to get a higher education and I would not have joined politics." In those days parents didn't usually send their daughters to school. But after having moved to Chitwan Uma got a chance to go to school through her elder brother who told his parents that he saw Brahman girls coming to his school. At that time her parents were just trying to marry Uma off after her elder sister had married at the age of eleven. Her parents allowed Uma to go to school only for three years. In this way she for the first time joined a school at the age of nine.

Uma, however, broke her original promise with her parents as she became the top of her class. Her teacher came to her house to ask her parents to send their daughter to school for more education. Finally, she passed the examination of SLC and joined the college in Baratpur of Chitwan district to study Economics. At the age of 23 she joined the Padma Kanya Campus, the only woman campus in Nepal, to study Economics and Mathematics. Two years after that she joined the Tribhuvan University to get a bachelor's degree in Education. Her marriage for love at the age of 26 with a Brahman whom she had known since eight years didn't stop her study. After giving birth to a son she began to teach in a campus in Gorkha as an assistant lecturer. Then she taught in Birendra Multiple Campus and in Mahendra Multiple Campus. In the meantime she joined the Tribhuvan University for further study, where she succeeded in becoming the top in a master course of the Faculty of Education.         

When Uma was a high school student she met with 'politics' through an underground paper called 'Tarun' which her elder brother used to bring secretly to her house. 'Tarun' was published in Varanasi in India by then outlawed political party Nepali Congress. Reading articles on anti-Rana movement, stories about martyrs who fought for democracy and in particular stories on struggles for the country of Bisheshwar Prasad Koirala, she was slowly attracted by the Nepali Congress and its activities. When she was 16-year-old she became a president of the Nepal Student Union (NSU) in her high school that is a student organization of the Nepali Congress.

She was actively involved in student politics in her college life as well. While activities of political parties were strictly banned by the autocratic Panchayat government students were the main forces to fight against the regime. As soon as she joined the Padma Kanya Campus she along with her friends founded the first campus committee of the NSU. Uma became its first president. During the student movement in 1979 launched by various student organizations after the execution of Pakistani former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Butto she led the movement in her campus. She told about her experience during the Panchayat regime, "The only student organization that was formerly allowed to work in those days was that of Panchayat supporters. So we had to work underground in campuses. I was arrested during the convention of the NSU in 1981. While I was in detention I had a miscarriage."

After the multi-party system was restored in 1990 political parties began to work freely and openly; however, her struggle didn't end. In the first general election after the political change in 1991 the Nepali Congress gave her a ticket to run as a candidate in Parbat district. She won and became one of only seven women members of the Parliament that had 205 members. After she entered into the central politics the relationship with her husband who had been working in the same field professionally and politically got cool. Since then she began to live separately from her husband. She claimed about the difficulties for women to survive by themselves, telling "In Nepali society whenever problems appear among wife and husband the society will blame women, telling that as a wife is not all right the relationship of a couple is broken up. I had to face a financial challenge as well as I didn't get any property from my parents. I worked very hard to survive by myself and to bring up my son."

Uma who had been elected as the first president of the Nepal Women Association, women's organization of the Nepali Congress, in 2004 openly blames her own party doing injustice towards women. "In the general election of 1991 my party gave me a ticket to contest in Parbat district where I had never visited. The party gives priority to male candidates and women are usually given constituencies where there are less possibilities to win. Only daughters of big politicians can have larger opportunities. Women who were born in simple farmers' family like me will be discriminated even by own party." Her claim may be right as in the Constituent Assembly election held in April 2008 only two women candidates of the Nepali Congress won in the First Past the Post system (the Nepali Congress got 37 seats among 240 in the FPTP system).

Uma tried to contest as a candidate for the FPTP seat in a constituency in Chitwan district in the CA election but the party didn't give her a ticket. Like her most of women members of the CA of the Nepali Congress were elected by the party for the seats of proportional representations. She criticized political parties for discriminating women, telling "No political party has equal representation of women in higher positions in party organization. Our party has only seven women members in 64-member Central Working Committee. No political party wants to give high position to women. In this sense Maoists are not different at all as they have only two women members in their 35-member Central Committee. Nepali politicians, especially those of the Nepali Congress, still have old thoughts of feudalists."

After they saw situations for women had not changed senior women leaders of seven major political parties, including Uma Adhikari, Sahana Pradhan of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and Suprava Ghimire of the Nepali Congress, had discussions and decided to establish 'Inter Party Women's Alliance' on March 8th, the International Women's Day, in 2006. Uma became a president of this Alliance. She said, "The main purpose to form this alliance is to increase women's participation in policy making process. We want 50% women's representation in all the policy making bodies. So we don't talk about differences among political parties in our alliance but we discuss about our common issues, that is, how to increase political rights of women."

This alliance has been involving in giving pressure to leaders of the SPA (seven political parties alliance) and the Maoists for women's participation in the peace process. When no woman was included in the SPA government that was formed immediately after the Jana-andolan 2 ended in April 2006, when no woman was appointed as a chairperson to lead any of ten parliamentary committees and when no woman was included in the committee to constitute the Interim Constitution, the Alliance along with other women activists staged protests, which effectively worked and as a result women were included. They also gave pressure on the SPA and the Maoists to include a clause of women's inclusion, at least one third of total representation in the Constituent Assembly, when they wrote the Interim Constitution Bill.

According to the Interim Constitution, the CA has women participation of more than 33% in total members. Eight of thirteen founder members of the Alliance from various political parties, including Uma Adhikari, became as CA members. However, Uma is not satisfied with the situation as no woman was elected in the county's four top posts, president, vice-president, prime minister and chairperson of the CA. Uma's struggle in Nepali politics still continues.

Written by Kiyoko Ogura