In the time I will have finished writing this, somewhere in a rural corner of the country, or inside homes, or hotels, a woman is most likely being a target of rape.

Anyone can be a rape victim: house cleaners, homemakers, underage girls or old women, Dalit or Brahmin women. This isn’t just hyperbole—it’s something we read in our newspapers and tabloids more frequently than we’d like to. What’s most worrisome is the increasing trend of children being targeted. According to national data, the most vulnerable ones are girls between the age of 11 and 16, followed by those who are 10 years or younger.

Some people argue that rape is the result of violence based on pure lust for sex. The other school of thought is that rape is the by-product of violence, based on revenge and hatred against a specific class, ethnicity or gender. In Nepal’s case, both of these appear to be taking place. The more heinous rape takes place, the more it becomes urgent to see rape not only from a gender perspective but also from the ideological, political, social and psychological perspective—and from local, regional, and global perspective.

These days, rape is not limited to adult women being raped by adult men. There have been numerous cases of paedophilic rapes and rapes amongst the third gender. In South Asia, additional rape and murders are taking place in form of honour killings and as a form of revenge against lower caste or religion by the ruling caste.

Although Nepal abolished the monarchy, remnants of feudal values still prevail, encouraging—or forcing, rather—women to stay home, remain docile, shy and anonymous. At the same time, they are looked upon as the cultural beholders and procreators of their caste lineage and extension of male identity and power. As Nepal enters the phase of capitalism in full force, the influence of imperialism has turned women into commodities, sexualising and exploiting them.

Meanwhile, the political activities in Nepal are increasingly becoming power-centric. This naturally leads to a culture of power lust, and with it comes economics and moral corruption, leading to money, muscle, and merrymaking gimmicks that involve alcohol and women. As a result, the rapists mostly go unpunished or are brought to a mutual settlement by the political party’s leaders. Power centric politics further divides the rulers and the ruled, rich and poor people, breeding monolithic thinking by increasing gaps between men and women, Dalit and upper caste, one religion to the other, and one region to another.

Furthermore, the remittance economy is not only fragmenting the traditional family structure but is also creating distortion in the new nuclear family system. This economy is not being transformed to industrial activities; instead, it is increasing consumption leading to the further deficit in payment with our neighbouring countries.

It’s often said that the culture is a true reflection of the society. The mix of feudalism and imperialism complimented by rapid transformation of rural settings to urban settings has created a half-baked new culture that is neither feudalist nor capitalist, nor rural nor urban. This has distorted the country’s core values, which is neither Nepali nor western, leading to a crisis of identity and a loss in the sense of belonging. Prolonged political ills are bringing rape incidents in higher proportion and making it more heinous resulting in increasing depression and psychological problems amongst the masses. When children are being abused by their relatives and wives are being raped by husbands it is important to see it beyond sexual lust. While people are blaming men, patriarchy and feudal values, there is yet another angle to this phenomena. It may also be because of increasing empowerment of Nepalese women in local bodies, regional and federal bodies, bureaucracy, business and better education bodies. This may lead to inferior complex amongst men resulting in rape as a punishment.

Therefore, heinous rape is only the symptom: the underlying cause is the decay of society due to the failure of a nation. It is not only the incident that needs to be sensitised but particularly the cause needs to be unearthed and solved. In a nutshell, it is the poverty of economy leading to the poverty of social relations, distorting its culture and behavior.

The solution to this huge problem has to be considered both for the long-term and the short-term.

Productive forces and services should be developed to new heights and there should be judicial distribution of wealth. Similarly, wealth without inclusion will be unsustainable; it will also not bring peace. Hence, inclusive development with a progressive change of mode of production needs to be targeted.

In the short-term, the government must follow a system. There should be punishment for the wronged and reward for good behavior. Punishment for rapists must be categorised depending on the intensity of the crime. Those helping the victims or exposing the predators of the crime must be rewarded. Victims must be compensated. Family court and fast track court must be hastily formed. Women lawmakers, in particular, empowered by people, must be united to push for additional legal provisions or enhancing already existing legal provisions especially now when new criminal and civil law is now being promulgated. In addition, health education, including sex education, must be imparted from primary education level.

If we want to be known as a society that respects its women, any one of these actions would be a good way to show we mean it.