All the Single Ladies: The Time is Ripe to Mobilise Single Women for Peacebuilding

Editor's Note: During my internship, I helped work on this oped authored by Lily Thapa, Founder of Women for Human Rights, that was just published in The Kathmandu Post--Nepal's largest English daily newspaper.

Lily Thapa consulting with single women in Kavre district 
(Women for Human Rights, Single Women Group)

The evolving political process that is currently underway in Nepal provides an ideal opportunity for the government to support the rights of the country’s growing number of single women and to recognize their essential role in the nation’s new political era and peacebuilding process.

Over the last decade, there has been an unprecedented rise in the number of single women in Nepal—especially widows—totaling just under half a million, according to the 2011 census. This growing trend is mainly due to deaths and disappearances related to the ten-year conflict, the spread of AIDS, conditions of extreme poverty, early marriage, and the persistence of harmful traditional practices in some districts.

More than ever before, single women are carrying the burden of supporting their households, while still facing significant legal, political, cultural, and economic obstacles. Nepal’s traditional patriarchal social structure has created an environment of discrimination against women, and particularly single women, which has permeated society at both the national and local level. This can be seen in the form of gender-discriminatory provisions in legislation and the lack of women and single women in high-level government positions, as well as in customary practices against widows such as blaming a woman for her husband’s death, denying her the right to inherit her husband’s property, and not allowing her to wear bangles or colorful clothing.

Many of Nepal’s single women have become widows while they were still in their early twenties and thirties, destined by society to spend the rest of their lives in poverty and vulnerable to abuse. Single women often suffer economically and rarely receive education or vocational training to help secure their financial situation. Only 11 percent of single women in Nepal are literate, compared with the national average of women in Nepal at 57 percent. The future and education of single women’s children also remains a concern. With little financial support, often the children of single women—especially their daughters—cannot afford an education and become susceptible to early marriage, abuse, or human trafficking.

A major issue that plagues single women and girls who have been affected by conflict is the need for transitional justice. During the ten-year insurgency, women bore the brunt of the violence. They were often targeted as victims of widespread sexual violence and thousands of women young and old lost husbands or fathers. Now, six years later, many of these women have still not received proper reparations nor an opportunity to seek justice.

Over the past few years, the government of Nepal has taken some initial steps to recognize the rights of single women—such as the 2011 annulment of five discriminatory laws in the 11^th Amendment of the interim Constitution—but the realization of these rights is not always implemented at the local level. Also in 2011, the government of Nepal launched a National Action Plan for the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820, which emphasize the essential role that women play in the conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes, as well as the need for protection and justice for victims of sexual violence. To uphold its commitments to the National Action Plan and to the women of Nepal, the government must prioritize funding for programs and reparations in support of single women and ensure that these rights are protected.

Moving forward, the government should take a holistic approach by providing support for various services that can address the economic, social, and political challenges that single women face. The government can help support local Civil Society Organizations, such as Women for Human Rights, Single Women Group, or WHR, on providing counseling, legal assistance, social security, livelihood skills training, and a safe space for immediate services, which can collectively enable single women to reintegrate back into society. International agencies and donors should also demonstrate their commitment to the development of single women’s rights in Nepal by keeping it as a priority funding area.

During this transitional period following the Nepal peace agreement, the government must guarantee access to justice for conflict-affected women and girls as well as a role in an inclusive national transitional justice process that incorporates their input and gender sensitivities. The recently proposed blanket amnesty for perpetrators of crimes committed during the ten-year conflict must be amended to allow prosecution for serious human rights crimes including murder, abduction, sexual violence, and disappearances. Most importantly, conflict-affected women and girls want and deserve to know the truth about the crimes that took place, and the government should provide appropriate reparations.

In addition to financial support, conflict-affected women and girls also require programming to help them address their immediate needs and overcome the trauma that they have faced. The government should focus on providing more reconciliation programs that could assist these women in transforming their sorrows into strength. Many single women who have previously received holistic services from WHR have become empowered and now serve as peacebuilders within their own communities.

Today, our country stands at a crossroads. The evolving political scene, transitional justice process, and drafting of a new constitution provide an opportunity for the government to uphold the rights of single women and ensure that their needs are addressed. Subsequently, single women can play a unique role in our nation’s peacebuilding process and act as agents of change to help lead the long-term development process in Nepal.