Beijing +30

Beijing is in the news in Nepal because of Prime Minister K P Oli’s forthcoming visit to China next week. But this year also marks nearly 30 years since 189 countries signed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to advance equality for women.

Next March in New York, the 69^th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women will review progress since 1995. Since then, women have taken great strides in achieving equality, but these achievements are now being undermined by the climate crisis, the rise of populism, increasing political polarisation, and the double-edged sword of algorithm-driven online content.

“Beijing was a platform that we would not get in this day and age, what was agreed to in 1995 was unparalleled,” admitted Regional Director of UN Women Christine Arab during a Beijing +30 ministerial review in Bangkok last week. “If we held the same meeting today, we simply wouldn't get the agreement we did then. It is a different world order today.” 

The Asia-Pacific region has taken major strides in female literacy and access to health, including reproductive rights for women and girls. For example, the adult female literacy rate in 1995 in South Asia was just 36%. Today, it has nearly doubled at 69.5%, and even better at 91.47% for females aged 15–24. Nepal went from 25% in 1991 to 69.4% in 2021. 

However, women are bearing the brunt of climate breakdown in the most vulnerable countries like Nepal. Harvest failures and disasters risk reversing gains in poverty reduction, and has even slowed progress in preventing child marriage, and led to an increase in girls trafficking.

Climate change-induced water scarcity has increased the drudgery of rural women. And too much water in monsoon puts everyone at risk, and as we saw with the floods in September women and children are disproportionately affected. 

Sharmeen S Murshed, adviser to the Bangladesh government told the Bangkok meeting  that the climate crisis has “feminised families”, further jeopardising the lives of women and children.

Women’s participation in the labour force is not highlighted enough, although the expansion of small and medium enterprises as well as microfinance in Nepal and South Asia has helped at the grassroots. Of the 71.5% of Nepal’s 30 million population who are of working age, 11.53 million are female as opposed to 9.2 million males. Most of the women are in the informal sector or engaged in unpaid household work.

The Covid pandemic exposed the limitations of the informal sector while also bringing the focus on the care economy, and increasing the burden on women as they try to balance both home and work, and in some cases miss out on opportunities as a result. Colloquially called household chores, from cooking, washing, and cleaning to child and elderly care, they are not even considered ‘real work’.

Last year on 8 March International Women’s Day, Nepali Times set out to put a monetary value to the work homemakers do daily. We calculated that if women were to be paid based on current market rates, they would be the highest earners in an average Nepali family.

Every year, 25 November marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), concluding on International Human Rights Day on 10 December. As a nationwide public opinion poll shows most Nepalis say the biggest challenge for women is safety and security in society and within the home.

The legislation around violence against women and girls has improved, but new challenges have emerged with cyber bullying and online abuse. Also concerning is the pushback from governments on women’s representation in politics and the civil service. While the Constitution of Nepal mandates that women should make up 33% of MPs and 40% of local representatives, electoral alliances in the 2022 elections meant those numbers were not met.

The ruling coalition now wants to do away with proportional representation, even though they were using this quota provision by nominating token women. Women with disabilities and those from marginalised communities are further down when it comes to their participation in politics and civil service. 

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are supposed to be met by 2030, and there is too much left to do in light of new global challenges. Although only Goal 5 directly addresses gender justice, it is also true that no other goal can be met without achieving true equality and equity. 

Sonia Awale in Bangkok