Category: Education

Recent appointment of Sushila Karki as Nepal’s Chief Justice has brought cheers and effusion. With three females leading executive, legislature, and judiciary, this is one of the finest moments in the history as a society of justice and equal opportunity.

In the world arena, Theresa May became just the second woman to become UK’s Prime Minister. Angela Merkel took the helm of Germany almost a decade ago and continues to dominate the EU and world politics. On the spotlight is Hillary Clinton who is set to become the most powerful person on the planet provided that Americans will reject Donald Trump‘s calculative and derogative spews directed towards her.

What does this mean with regards to women empowerment and gender equality in Nepal and the world ?

Nepalese President Ms Bidhya Bhandari, Speaker of House Ms Onsari Gharti Magar, and Chief Justice Ms Sushila Karki. Picture source: http://nepaliheadlines.com

For Nepal, it certainly is symbolic. We have been pinched and punched by pessimists and opportunists alike about gender inequality. While there’s still a long way to go, the increase in female representation in all stakes of the society is a grind of two prominent ongoing transformations.

First is the Jana-Andolan II and opportunities it has brought about. With the royalty gone, so has the influence of its nexus of upper class elite. Appointment of vital positions in judiciary, diplomacy, military, and bureaucracy is now open for the greater proportion of the public.

The second, and the more contributing factor of the two, is the quiet and constant improvement in education during the past few decades – one palpable significance being the rise in our human development index despite the derailing economy. Although we are yet to see a lady in the top executive post of Prime Minister, it will only be a matter of time. However, positive changes like this are already in the air.

Nepal’s HDI has been positively influenced by improvement in education.
Source: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/NPL.pdf

For the west, and most importantly the US, the moment has finally arrived. While Hillary may claim the milestone, foundations were laid long ago – thanks to the recurring waves of gender equality movements in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Compared to their male counterparts, whether female politicians are more compassionate and empathetic, especially towards the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid, is difficult to generalize. Similarly, it’s almost impossible to anticipate whether they are fairer and robust. Top jobs are team efforts with huge number of people doing their own bits. History has shown, just like male leaders, some female leaders have championed, some of them messed around, and others have gone virtually unnoticed. However, for male-dominated society messed up and full of demagogues and hypocrites, it’s obvious a higher level of social justice is expected of female ones.

There is greater significance of female leaders’ rise to the top of social ladder. It’s the hope and inspiration they instill in young minds so we can see more of them in future. This collectively projects the society to equality and enrichment.

Go ladies, go!

Turkey’s recent failed coup made me ponder on our own situation in Nepal.

Successful or otherwise, every coup debilitates the society to such an extend that the overhaul process (even if there is a chance for one) is mountainous. It destabilizes the social-structure, asphyxiates the public, and backtracks democracy by decades.

Some examples are right in our backyard – Pakistan and Bangladesh.

From historical observations (my own – and I must admit I am neither a sociologist nor a historian), it’s obvious that factors such as unstable government, racial divide, corruption, ongoing tyranny or the aftermath of one, provide favorable grounds for military coups. In the context of Nepal, they are all prevalent.

Although the statistical research of these factors is a different subject on its own, it’s fair to generalize that countries where democracy is either weak or non-existent are worse-positioned for coups.

The biggest misery of a coup is that you are never quite sure when and how it’s going to end – it could be years, decades or even centuries. Even if it does end, the transition is bound to be very painful as newly emerging forces, internal and external, try to rock the vulnerable society back forth and sideways. Post-Suharto Indonesia is a pain many adults in that country will always remember. Iraq and Libya are as dire as they could possibly be. Myanmar is still recovering. We in Nepal are still trying to come to terms with a system where king has no place.

Even a failed coup contributes to totalitarianism. Aftermaths of the Turkey-incident has paved away for President Erdogan to fire a large junk of country’s judges, social servants, and the military, under the pretension of treason, consolidating further his grip of power.

To put it simple – if military tries to meddle in government affairs, it sucks a great deal!

When a country sees more fear over respect, blood over debate, and command over logic on the winning side, then we know that the formidable enemy of democracy is not far away.

And beware, authoritarian military system has its own adherents – especially those sick of venal politicians and beuracrats busy garnering wealth and power for themselves and for their future generations while they should be working. Fueling to this are, more-often populist, putative racial leaders – whose usual way of talking to masses is to spew hatred against other sectors of the society. I’ve come across folks advocating the need of a benevolent dictator who would use her magical stick to steer the course of this country towards that of Singapore and Malaysia. A very little pragmatic view it may be, but it’s precarious still, for at times it might be big enough to shift the public opinion.

Now, a coup is also more about whether or not there are, at least a faction within the military, determined and power-mongering personnel ready to risk not only their careers, but also their lives and the lives of fellow citizens.

While we don’t see any signs of an imminent military coup in Nepal, one should keep in mind that one emerges only when we expect it the least. As I write, Jung Bahadur’s Kot-parwa and King Mahendra’s take-over are on my mind.

Owing to its small size in geography and population, lack of decentralization, high poverty, and lower rate of education,Nepal is certainly vulnerable.

A triage? Well, I wish I could propose a panacea to all these menaces to democracy, as there is none. In my view, it’s very subjective and requires a lot of effort. Nurturing democracy and its values in the government and in everyday life is the only long-term approach, I’m afraid. Needless to say, politics and all other prominent sectors should be clean and muster high values. We citizens should play our part by electing more competent leaders. We should practice, and practice, and practice democracy and its norms.

Maybe we should concentrate on teaching our kids ethics and morale more while acting such ourselves too. A ethical daughter will certainly help her politician father refrain from bribes. A highly morale son will try to seek justice in the court and not by burning tires in the streets. I am pleased, public speakers such as Rabindra Mishra have been making this point a lot lately.

A morale society certainly deserves and gets morale leaders – and under such circumstances there will be no need nor any effrontery for the military to try to intervene on civilians’ affairs.