Changes make programs more "women friendly"

Kathmandu, Nepal

Nepalese women have little opportunity to attend school. Even when UMN, of which Mennonite Central Committee is a member, offered academic scholarships, it still attracted only a few women. This lack of involvement prompts the question: How can an aid agency develop programs that assist women, who tend to be the "poorest of the poor" in Nepal?

In 1990, UMN created the Advisory Group on Nepali Women to ensure its 35 health, education and development programs meet women's special needs. To show its importance, the advisory group was placed structurally under the executive office. Results of the group's work are beginning to show.

The UMN agricultural program was made "women friendly" by shortening the sessions so women could attend while juggling their many family responsibilities. The training seminars are held closer to villages; when overnight travel is required, UMN staff reassure families that women will have a safe place to sleep. Now nearly 25% of participants are female. UMN's educational program reserves half its scholarships for women, but staff have to find ways to encourage women to ask for these.

In Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, UMN has helped established a YWCA. One room is reserved for 20 schoolgirls to come and do their homework daily from 4 to 6 p.m. UMN also works to combat the negative messages Nepalese women receive. Some Nepalese proverbs, for example, compare women to shoes, considered low and dirty, or to dogs. UMN has produced a calendar that shows women in positive roles--one month depicts women voting in an election, another a woman learning to read. UMN staff acknowledge some people find the advisory group's activities threatening. But Edgar Metzler, UMN executive director, asserts, "The best way to address family's and community's needs is to give women more opportunities and help them raise their status."

And he adds, "From a Christian standpoint, it is much better for children to grow up in a family where the mother is seen as more than a slave or a workhorse." Metzler is jointly appointed to his position by MCC and Mennonite Board of Missions.

UMN staffperson Dorothea Vestal says, "Things look different depending on gender. When UMN plans programs, staff have to see things through women's eyes so they know how to encourage them." Within the UMN network, made up of expatriates from 39 agencies in 18 countries and 2,000 Nepalese staff, workers find informal ways to assist women. For example, Nepalese women who suffered from incontinence after difficult deliveries were often abandoned by their husbands. The simple operation that could alleviate the problem was unavailable to them, dooming them to a life of hardship. Today a UMN-affiliated hospital offers the surgery. Nepalese women in the town of Tansen embroider cards to earn income for themselves. Women in Europe sell the cards and a portion of the proceeds helps pay expenses for Nepalese women who need the operation. As women make some progress, new challenges emerge. More Nepalese are moving to cities. Alcohol, traditionally used in festivals and weddings, is now being consumed more frequently. Domestic abuse is also increasing. As in many Asian countries, AIDS infections in Nepal are on the rise, proving deadly for women lured into prostitution. The custom of dowry, which requires the bride's family to give goods or money to the groom's family, is being adopted from nearby India. This too can lead to abuse when the woman's family is unable to pay.

But there are also many hopeful signs. Since 1990 when Nepalese Christians gained more freedom to organize churches, women's plight has received increased attention. Draupadi Rokaya, a Nepalese Christian woman, has begun an organization to assist women. She is also working to raise general awareness of women's issues, explaining, "We need men with a heart to understand women." Nepal, still a fledgling democracy, is also enacting more laws to protect women. But ultimately the best hope lies within Nepalese women themselves. "More and more Nepalese women are daring to ask for advice," Vestal notes.

Vestal relates how a mother came to discuss her daughter's family problems. Women have just started to think, 'This shouldn't be happening to me.' Before they were fatalistic, thinking 'I just have to accept this,'" she says.

Pearl Sensenig, MCC Communications

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