Women of Nepal

Urmila Aryal

Chief of Women's Department, Communist Party of Nepal - Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML)
Former State Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare

Born in 1956, in Parsa district

At first glance Urmila Aryal may seem an ordinary woman, but the extraordinary contributions she made to the advancement of Nepal have her now holding the top position of the women's department of the CPN (UML).

Born in the southern plains of Jhakhara Masiyani VDC in Parsa district on October 5, 1956, Aryal's father, Balaram Prasad Aryal, and mother, Jagatmaya Aryal, had a good reputation in the village.

Originally from Gorkha district, Aryal's family shifted first to the Terai's Morang district, then on to Parsa district, before finally settling in Bara district's Birgunj. She had four brothers and a sister who died many years ago. Her parents have also since passed away. Although Aryal's family was very large, it still held the philosophy which placed little importance on education for daughters. Her grandfather and father were educated in the Sanskrit system and modern education was only introduced to Aryal's generation. Her brothers were sent to India for higher education but the same opportunity was not given to either of the daughters.

Aryal's family migrated to Birgunj when she was five. She still remembers the day they moved, riding on horseback the entire day against the rain. They bought a plot of land in Birgunj and Aryal was sent to Nepal Rashtriya Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. All siblings performed outstandingly in school, and her parents were proud to be able to afford their education despite their poor economic condition.

Aryal's third brother, Rameshwar Raj Aryal, was involved in politics and would bring books written by political leaders home. This drew Aryal's attention and she became involved in politics at the age of 15 through leftist student organization All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU).

In 1976, after completing her bachelor's level from Thakurram Campus, Aryal came to Kathmandu to complete her master's at Tribhuvan University. In the meantime, between 1977 and 1978 she went to Panipokhari in Tanahu district to do her National Development Services, a kind of internship for all post-graduate students. She discontinued her work due to health problems but still used her time wisely by completing a one-year Bachelor of Education, majoring in English in 1979. After a year's gap, she went on to complete her Master in Economics also

While studying Education in Thakurram campus, she was elected vice-president of the campus union. Since then, she expanded her involvement in student politics. In 1979, she received party membership of the CPN (Fourth Convention) from then general secretary Bhakta Bahadur Shrestha and became one of the party district committee's founding members.

Aryal's parents faced huge pressure and criticism while their daughter was in politics as it was during the time all activities of political parties were banned by the Panchayat government. Her parents tried to arrange her marriage as soon as possible. It was difficult for her to avoid the pressure. "First I convinced my parents to let me complete my graduation, and then asked permission to do the master's level. I did not want to get involved in family affairs as my dreams were beyond that," she said.

In 1979, Aryal became a coordinator of the preparation committee for the conference of the All Nepal Women's Association (ANWA). The conference was held in 1981 in Ayodhya of India and lead to her election as first chairperson. It was a grand conference of representatives from around 45 districts in Nepal. Pampha Bhusal, who was elected a member of the present Constituent Assembly from the CPN (Maoist), was elected general secretary in the conference. "It was indeed a big responsibility for me," Aryal said. But Panchayat administration was alerted and began to search for her.

Aryal married low-profile party member Yam Bahadur Thapa from Pyuthan district in 1984. It was Pushpa Kamal Dahal (aka Prachanda, Chairman of the Maoists), who delivered her the proposal in 1983. The couple had what was considered a 'progressive' wedding ceremony. "We had a simple gathering at Balram Baskota's terrace in Ghattekulo in Kathmandu. My own and my husband's family, and some friends were invited. In front of all, we promised that we would help each other in the days of happiness and difficulties," she remembered. She added that the entire ceremony cost no more than Rs 600 to cover the tea and samosas served at the party.

Many problems followed the couple's conjugal life. Neither Aryal's, nor her husband's family helped them during the time of struggle. She was a full-time party worker and her husband had negligible salary, so it was difficult to survive in Kathmandu. To meet family needs, she worked as a Mahila (Woman) Development Officer in Kaliya from 1985 for around three years, and for INGO Save the Children for 18 months. Her husband later got a position at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). "My husband helped me fully. He even asked me to quit my job to do full-time politics. It was a great support for me. I left all my jobs in 1987 and worked for the party," she said.

"Now we have a position in the party and at least some people in the street take pains to greet us. Otherwise we have seen a hell of life. We did not have money to buy milk for our children and could not even buy a dress once a year. And there was nobody to lend us money," she said, remembering her hard days, adding she didn't even like to talk about it and had accepted it as a part of life.

Aryal worked in Siraha, Mahottari, Chitwan and Makwanpur districts when she was underground and has many stories of those days. She learned how to escape the police disguised as a village girl or housewife. She was even forced to take shelter at strangers' houses, tolerating inhuman treatment many times.

She recalled, "Once, in 1979, a friend of mine took me to a strangers' house in Rampur and left without briefing anyone about me. In the morning, there was a big outcry in the village because of me, people suspecting I was brought in as another wife in that house. Finally, I had to take reference of a known figure in the village who rescued me."

During the 1990 People's Movement, Aryal's party witnessed internal conflict. One faction wanted to form a united left front but another was against it. The discussion continued even after successful restoration of a multi-party democracy in April 1990. She decided to join another communist party, the CPN (UML), bidding farewell to what she had done for the party organization, society and the country as a whole.

She contested as a Member of Parliament in the first general election of 1991 from Parsa district constituency and was defeated. She chose the same constituency for the 1994 election and met with the same fate. But she refused to give up and again fought for the same place in 1999, finally succeeding in becoming a member of the House of Representatives.

Aryal worked in the district committee for around 12 years. The party witnessed her performance in Parliament and leadership agreed to give her a better position. In 2002, Aryal fought for the seat of central committee member of the party and was elected as an alternative member. In 2009, it was recommended she fight for the women's quota of central committee members, but she preferred to contest in an open full election and was elected such. Furthermore, she was elected into the higher level position of a Politburo member.

Aryal has come to realize that internal party conflict discourages many from working with commitment. According to her, capable male leaders prefer to contest from constituencies which party's already have a stronghold on and send women activists to critical areas where there is no hope of winning, for the sake of being able to claim generosity to women. But even among women, there is another tier of competition. Seats for women are limited so women are forced into cut-throat competition to win them.

She is of the idea that male leaders pretend to be supportive of female activists in their speeches, yet hold personal biases about women's capability. She urges for more exposure of women activists to enable male leaders to judge their capacities better.

Women are given space only when one movement or another is gong on, but are left high and dry at other times. "Apart from this, the party, as well as its leaders, should consider women's special periods like pregnancy and delivery. But I have never seen parties considering women for those reasons," she said.

Aryal said party leaders recognized her contribution when she was with her former party. The party took care of her when she was underground and a genuine feeling of caring and sharing was there among activists. Party workers did everything they could to help when women members were giving birth. But after the 1990 change when all the parties became open, everything was lost. Many friends still suffer today, but those who became rich are blind to them and their problems.

What made party workers so selfish? Post-1990, party leaders had little left to struggle for and turned their attentions towards gaining power. Those workers now see the towering economic condition of their fellow activists. Seeing an overnight change in a friend's status will naturally result in jealousy. Leaders have come to be more concerned about their own security than that of the party, fellow workers, or the nation.

Aryal was appointed State Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare on 24 June, 2006 for a period of 10 months. At the time the country had a joint government of the Nepali Congress, the Nepali Congress (Democrat), the CPN (UML) and Nepal Sadvawana Party and she had a dream to make changes in the women's sector. She was indeed successful in making some tangible changes in government policies.

In both the House and Cabinet, Aryal played an important role in introducing the National Women's Commission, passing the human trafficking and property rights bills, preparing a regulation for inter-country adaptation, a law for senior citizens, and disability policy documents. These are just a few of her major achievements. But she still harbors bitter memories of that time. "Even some of my friends had to send a message to the party leadership that a woman should be given a bigger status than a state minister."

She was made chief of the party's women's department after female leader Bidhya Bhandari was appointed Minister for Defense. "I was given a big responsibility. We are focusing on an activist welfare fund and income generation for women. We are working on the state of women's social lives and political contributions," she said.

Aryal also chairs the Women Democratic Network which has around 30,000 members from 53 districts, representing most political parties. "We have developed a report on women activists from all parties. Apart from this, we have records of educated and hardworking members, but they are not given a chance to come up. I will go to make a platform for those women who have potential for contribution in the party."

After working for the party and the country, Aryal is now thinking about progressing towards making substantial changes in people's perspectives on women and their role in the country. "Maybe I'm a bit different, but I know I'm not alone in this fight for equality, for an egalitarian society."

Written by Razen Manandhar

Written by Razen Manandhar