Sajha Sawal-468 Women Participation in Nepali Politics

The recent US election results have come across as a shock to many. While we were almost sure that America would get its first female president, Donald Trump, a candidate noted for being a racist and a misogynist and with no political experience, emerged victorious. Was the 2016 election then reduced to the battle of the sexes? That would be a fallacious argument, but things have never been easy for women. And this belief was reinforced by the recent US election results.

Nepal has its first woman President, first woman Speaker of the House and the first woman Chief Justice all powerful posts that sound great and inspiring. However, while these achievements are worthy of celebration, it is also important to look at other important things. How many women are there in our Parliament, our foreign services, legal field, corporate sector, sports or academia? Very few. Looking at all this, it constantly makes me wonder borrowing from Cynthia Enloe, a feminist International Relations scholar “where are all the women?