KATHMANDU, March 13: Despite the government's ban, Nepali women continue to engage in illegal domestic work abroad, resorting to illicit processes and routes. This has exacerbated issues of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Since 2073 BS, Nepal has prohibited sending women for domestic work abroad.
During this year’s 16 Days campaign, Human Rights Watch is spotlighting ten courageous advocates rights activists, trade unionists, and worker’s rights leaders from around the world who have dedicated years to combating gender-based violence in the world of work.
Lorraine Sibanda (Zimbabwe): President of StreetNet International and Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations Lorraine Sibanda is a leader for informal economy workers globally, bringing an authentic voice to her advocacy drawn from her personal experience. Lorraine has worked jobs as a teacher, a cross-border trader, a vendor, and a goat farmer in Zimbabwe, where 65 percent of the people who trade in the informal economy are women. Her journey not only reflects resilience but
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.