Prime Minster KP Sharma Oli has stressed on the need for compulsory school-level education for girls to enhance overall development of women and end gender disparity.

“Education holds the key to ending gender discrimination and open avenues for them to become independent,” said PM Oli, addressing an International Women’s Day programme organised by the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW).

For those who have crossed the age to acquire education, PM Oli stressed on the need to provide them skilled training and seed money to help them stand on their own feet.

“The constitution has also ensured women’s rights and one-third representation in all sectors to boost women empowerment,” the PM added. 

The country currently has its first ever woman president and House speaker. However, he also cautioned women not to rely on affirmative action alone to take them to the top.

According to the PM, affirmative action can only provide women the breakthrough but will have to use their own skills in crucial battles for supremacy.

“We have a female president for the first time in the country but she did not get here only because of affirmative action. She actually won the election for the prestigious position.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare CP Mainali stressed on the need to include household work of women in the national economy to truly give women their due.

The Federation of Community Forestry Users’ Nepal, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, also organised a programme to recognise and commemorate the contribution made by women in protecting forest. The active role of women in forest management is crucial to the success in community forestry management, the organisation stated. 

Celebrating the day, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) highlighted the role of women from the mountain communities in management of natural resources and the health of their families. 

“Their (women) roles have grown and become more important with rising outmigration of men from the mountains in the last few decades,” said David Molden, director general at ICIMOD, in a message shared on Tuesday. 

However, throughout the Hindu Kush Himalayan region gender inequalities persist, characterised by women’s lack of control over and limited access to natural resources along with the continuation of deeply entrenched socio-cultural ideologies that marginalise their contributions, he said.