Deputy coordinator of Mahila Adhikar Manch

२०६८ पुस १२ गते, मंगलवार १२:१४:१४ बजे

While she was studying in Amarjoti Secondary School in Gorkha her father was transferred to the Tarai's Parsa district. Her family moved to the remote village of Biruwaguti VDC .

 Deputy coordinator of Mahila Adhikar Manch ,

Born in March 1979, Khoplang VDC of Gorkha district

Although Sabitri Pokharel is now known as the first woman social worker in Parsa district she faced many struggles when she was young, as despite the fact she was born in the Pahadi (mountainous) district of Nepal, she worked in the Madhesi community. While she was studying in Amarjoti Secondary School in Gorkha her father was transferred to the Tarai's Parsa district. Her family moved to the remote village of Biruwaguti VDC there, where she joined fourth grade in a local school.

As soon as she passed the SLC (School Leaving Certificate) in 1997, Pokharel married. She was only 18 years old. Although Pokharel believed she must do something for local women's rights, once she had married she faced one challenge after another.

Pokharel's parents encouraged her to do something independently for society. However, life in the Madhesi community as a woman was very difficult. Whenever a woman tried to work outside her home the people would treat her with indifference. Almost the same time she passed her SLC and got married, she started work with a non-government organization (NGO). She says, "Though my husband supported me I knew that it was not from his real heart."

She also continued her studies, joining a campus even after her marriage. While studying Pokharel gave birth to her two daughters. She had to do everything alone, raising her small daughters and doing all household chores as a daughter-in-law, as well as studying and working, going from place to place often for several hours by bicycle.

"I alone had to play all these roles," she says, remembering her difficult days. Pokharel completed her Master's degree in Sociology from Harikhetan Multiple Campus in Birganj of Parsa district while raising two daughters and completing all household duties. She attended only six days worth of classes during her student life, yet managed to pass the exams by studying at home. "I worked at an NGO during the daytime, did household works in the morning and in the evening time, and studied at night time. In those days I slept only half of the night," Pokharel says.

Since she had moved from Gorkha to a Tarai district when she was small she had little knowledge about the general situation of Nepali women. But, on seeing women in her own community not studying, not openly coming out of their houses, and not wearing the dresses they wanted (in her community, married women used to wear only white and yellow dresses to prevent looking attractive), Pokharel began to think of ways to bring these women out into a more independent existence.

"For that, we have to do struggles. If women try to come out of their house, we have to own multiple responsibilities. But all the women who have an ambition to do something in a society dare to take those."

When she was in tenth grade she taught in a boarding school. When Pokharel began to work in Parsa's District Coordination Committee, very few women in the community worked outside their house. During the course of her works, she rode her bicycle from village to village to unite local women and teach children who didn't go to school through informal education. "In those days people used to look back to see a woman riding on a bicycle. I knew that people were talking about me, saying I was a spoiled woman. But I had no option but to ride a bicycle as I had to visit various villages for my works." She had no time to care about what people said about her.

Pokharel began work in the field of women's rights in Arunodaya Youth Club. After working for 13 years as a social worker in the field of women's rights, she feels society has changed a lot. "In our society people didn't consider women as human beings. For example, when someone visited the house and didn't see any man but for women or girls people used to ask if there is anyone at home. The women used to answer that there was nobody at home. It means people didn't consider women as human beings and women themselves could not say that they are also human beings. But at least now women became issues of society and women began to come out of their houses. If women don't consider themselves weak, society will not see them so," Pokharel says.

Before, even educated women were not allowed to come out of their house. Mother-in-laws have now begun to think they have to send their daughter-in-laws outside. Women began to organize themselves by forming mothers' groups, saving groups and cooperatives. They now wear what they like and are ready to take informal education. "Seeing these changes it can be said that we have achieved more than half the positive changes we need in society," Pokharel says.

Pokharel is now a deputy coordinator in the secretariat of Mahila Adhikar Manch (Women Rights Stage), whose current president is Muslim woman Rehana Begam. Manch launched its activities in Birganj in 2005 and is now launching various campaigns, such as the 'Women Against Hunger Campaign' and 'Women Not Waiting Campaign', in various districts, particularly in the Tarai.

The organization has two purposes its 'Women Against Hunger Campaign' focuses on, firstly to obtain equal right to land ownership, and secondly to end the custom in which women eat only after all other family members have finished their meals. "In our society cooking is women's work and only after feeding all other family members women can eat. This custom still works both in rich families and poor families. Due to this custom, women have never been able to eat full because they can eat only the leavings of a meal. That is why in the time of starvation women have to suffer more than men. We consider this custom as a serious violence upon women. Our campaign actually extended the definition of violence against women," Pokharel says.

"The situation of women who engage in agriculture in Nepal is even more serious. They do all the works in the fields from planting crops to carrying grains to granaries. Though women participate in all processes of production and spend all their life in the fields they have no ownership of products and no access to resources, including the income that comes from products."

"We also claim through our campaign that there should be equal ownership of lands between women and men. We started this campaign as we have reached a conclusion that only after women could have an equal ownership of lands all kinds of discrimination and violence against women will end," she says.

As part of this campaign, on December 8th last year Manch organized a national program in Chitwan district in which around 3,000 women from remote areas participated with various kinds of farming tools they use in the fields. "By displaying the women holding farming tools, we wanted to give a message that many women engage in agriculture but they have no right to utilize products. They work on land which is owned by other persons but they are not paid for their labor. In this sense women have been cheated."

The 'Women Don't Wait Campaign' was launched to end violence against women. The program specifically targets HIV-positive women who have worked in the sex industry. "We understand the main cause of this problem is also a reality of women not having ownership of lands. As women have no right on lands they have to run about seeking works to solve their financial problems. In the course of that some women were sold to brothels and were infected with HIV. We are doing various programs for women who were victimized by these kinds of violence."

The organization carries out this campaign in various VDCs of 22 districts in the Tarai and in Lalitpur district. "We want to bring this program to remote villages in these districts," Pokharel says. They plan to hold a national-level program in Mahottari district in the middle of May this year.

Manch is launching various programs related to the formulation of a new constitution. It also submitted '24-point demands' to the Nepali government to guarantee the rights of poor women in remote areas. Demands include amendment of a related law to punish both the persons who give dowry and who take it, the forming of a law to end all kinds of violence against women, the establishment of 'safety houses' for women victims of domestic violence in all districts and the declaration of minimum wage for agricultural laborers. Pokharel and her colleagues are working to fulfill these demands.

Manch plans to carry out research to identify the main causes of violence against women. It will also soon launch its 'One Rupee Campaign', in which it will collect one rupee from each woman for the treasury. "We will try to make as many women as possible participate in this campaign, through which we extend our network," Pokharel says.

On account of her work Pokharel has lived in Kathmandu since June 2008, while spending most of her time on the field in outside districts. She says, "I can see all of my family members only for some time. My husband lives in Birganj. I brought my two daughters with me but I have not enough time to look after them. So they kept on telling me to quit my job."

She encourages women to fight for the common cause. "Women should not be afraid of struggles. More women have to come out of their houses and play additional roles in society." Ending of all kinds of violence against women is her main mission. "Because of being a woman, all women in Nepal have experienced violence in some way. To minimize violence against women, all kinds of people including men, society and the state need to come on a common stage."

Shamsher Ali : 17/3 Tajmahal Road, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh

She is role model of women activist. wishing success of her ambition. we should cooperate to achieve this mission.