February 19, 2021
Women activists lie down on the road near the police barricade during their sleeping protest demanding women s rights in the new constitution in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Aug 7.
Reuters
To the Nepalese government, a proposed law requiring women under the age of 40 to get permission from a male guardian before travelling alone to the Gulf states and Africa for the first time is a means of protecting them.
But to hundreds of Nepali women who have taken to the streets this past week in protest , the law smacks of a regressive, patriarchal attitude they say reflects poor gender equality in the Hindu-majority country of 29 million. Nepal ’s women are less literate, have less access to health care and have limited representation in public life compared with men, according to UN statistics.