In Bhageshwor Rural Municipality-4 of Dadeldhura district, a woman holds a position of power. Kaushila Bhatta, the chairperson of the rural municipality, has been encouraging women to speak up about issues related to women.

Dhanasara Kami, a local resident, had reached the rural municipality office to talk about the problems that she faced.

“I went to the rural municipality office to inform my situation to the chief. Since the chief is also a woman, I could easily express my problems and she was very supportive,” Kami said.

Not only Dhanasara, many women in Bhageshwor Rural Municipality have started to lodge complaints and get involved in various development activities.

Daimati Sarki of Ajayameru-3, who was thrown out of her house 13 years ago, has been able to return to her house after the vice-chairperson of the rural municipality, who is also a female, took initiatives to solve the case.

“I was driven out of my house because of a minor family dispute. I received justice because of Vice-chairperson Kalawati Bhan. I had never thought that I would be going back to that house again,” said Bhan.

With women representatives in the district, they take issues related to women frequently and take more initiatives to control violence against women in local units. Women have also started to take active participation in development activities.

“There is a drastic change in society because of women’s participation in development activities. Women have started to get empowered now,” said Chanda Bhatta, a teacher of Ajayameru. “Issues relating to women are being heard and the number of women violence cases is also decreasing.”