P Kharel

Typically, the British Guardian news outlet reported with a headline in January 2021: “Kamala Harris sworn in as first female vice-president,” which meant that of the United States. In the Philippines, Joseph Estrada’s Vice-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo not only completed Estrada’s remaining term in office after having to quit office on grounds of misuse of office but she secured a full six-year innings entirely on her own to become the archipelago’s longest executive head of state. In fact, the first president after Ferdinand Marcos was forced out of office in 1986 was also a woman, Corazon Aquino.

Bidya Devi Bhandari was sworn in as landlocked and economically struggling Nepal’s first elected woman to the highest office. But the latter two events did not create the sort of stir the regional and international media circuits showered on Kamala Harris. This was especially conspicuous oversight considering that Nepal is often portrayed as being dominated by basically male chauvinistic attitudes and practices, tied to age old superstitions and biases against women across the board.

Asian countries have tossed up more elected female heads of state and government than the most advanced nations combined. The Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand, in East Asia, have elected several executive heads. South Asia takes the cake in this respect. India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have put on the highest seats of honour at least eight women leaders—a record for any region in the world, developed or developing.

Women’s woes
Whereas female leaders in the seat of power would definitely contribute to maintaining gender balance and diversity, they would also contribute to the pool of talents for voters to select from. The whole thrust of the approach and exercise should be to ensure maximum opportunities for engaging in participatory democracy in all aspects. Different degrees of discrimination and disparity prevail in most countries and societies. A few random instances offer ample glimpse of the existing state of affairs, indicating the persistence with which conditions need to be addressed.

In the past 20 years, the number of women murdered by their husbands and boyfriends in the US is higher than the combined number of Americans killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In India, more than 8,000 dowry deaths a year occur 60 years after the horrendous malpractice was banned in the world’s largest multiparty democracy. In addition, official reports list rape as one of the fastest growing crimes in India.
Small mercies are, therefore, hailed as great milestones. When Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman allowed women to drive cars, the international news media praised him as a big reformist. In reality, it only uncovered how deep and extensive gender bias affects societies in general.

Not long ago, Pope Francis changed the law so as to enable women to officially perform mass but he came conspicuously short of breaking the taboo of women serving as priests and be accorded voting rights in the church circuit. America’s leading fashion and lifestyle Vogue magazine, with a circulation of more than 1.2 million, had to abandon the use of its cover story photo early 2021, in the which the picture tried “white-washing” the vice president-elect by audaciously “lightening” her skin.

And that was not the first time such tactics were applied from time to time on various occasions over the decades, especially those pertaining to pageantries, mixed group photo of brand models and the like. Ageism, lookism and sexism infect many a society across the globe. Protests in the US rose when the Donald Trump administration made a move to declare women had no fundamental right to abortion, joining dozens of other countries like Saudi Arabia, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Hungary and Indonesia.

A study by Pew Research, showed that American women accounted for only nine per cent of its 4,600 ambassadors who served abroad. Presently, too, barely 35 per cent of the ambassadors are female. Women are generally assigned to countries that are “less central” to the US foreign policy. Then there is the story of the British Broadcasting Corporation, accused of subjecting older women to “lookism”, which discourages them from growing naturally old in contrast to non-application of such approach to their male counterparts.

In 2018, BBC’s China editor Carrie Gracie went public about discrimination against women at her organisation: “It is a truth increasingly acknowledged that many men are paid more than their female counterparts.” She pointed out that the public broadcasting house paid some of its international editors 50 per cent more than the female editors.

Even if progress might be slow, sheer unflagging commitment leads to eventual success. Swiss women were granted the right to vote and stand for federal election in 1971. This was 53 years after Germany, 52 after Austria, 27 after France, 26 after Italy and 16 years after Nepal. The right was a positive verdict in a national referendum after its 1959 exercise saw two-thirds majority of male voters rejected such right to women.

Step by step
Soon after he returned from his visit to Britain in 1851, Nepal’s Prime Minister Jung Bahadur encouraged women in his family and close relatives to organise regular meetings on issues concerning females. He was apparently impressed by the activity of London’s women’s clubs, which hosted receptions in his honour during his visits to London and other cities.

Three years before the 1951 revolution ushered in the dawn of modern democracy, Buddhi Devi became the first Nepali woman artiste on stage in 1948 after Mohan Shumsher allowed a team to include women artistes, provided that they obtained permission from their husbands, if married, or by her father, if unmarried. Buddhi Devi performed in “Swargiya Milan”, and attracted unruly curious crowds that had lined up to watch her rehearse at the premises of a house at Dilli Bazaar in Kathmandu. According to noted scholar on stage shows, Krishna Yatri, police had to intervene to keep the crowds under control.

Compared to a century ago — or five decades ago — much has been achieved in terms of gender equality. But the overall progress still drags at snail-like pace. One has only to scratch the surface for the persistently pervasive discriminatory practices against women. There are enormously many miles to go, no doubt. But the significance in any achievement is that every step accounts for the making of every mile.

(Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)