Nepal

The Media Advocacy Group, in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), organised a panel discussion titled ‘Visibility of Women Leadership in Media’ on Tuesday, at Yak Palace, Pulchowk. The event followed up on research conducted by a group concerning the representation of women politicians in the media.

Constitutional, political, and legal arrangements have increased representation of women in various levels of governance in Nepal. Despite these improvements, there is still a significant gender disparity, with men overwhelmingly dominating leadership positions, especially at the local level. Almost 98 percent of the heads, presidents and ward presidents of the local level are men.

Election Commission is drafting a bill to increase women’s candidacy in all three tiers of government by a third.

At least one third of the elected representatives in the federal parliament must be women, as per the Constitution of Nepal. The constitutional provision has been met so far by inducting women representatives through proportional representation.

As proportional representation votes are scattered among parties, women, Dalits, Janajatis will be underrepresented.

With most Dalit, Janajati and women candiates across parties failing to win the first-past-the-post (FPTP) elections for the House of Representatives, the upcoming parliament is set to become less inclusive than the last one.