This paper was compiled by Dr.

Sushan Acharya and was presented at the Adult

Learning and Literacy for Democracy and Citizenship International Adult Learners
Week, September, 2004, Cape Town, South Africa.

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Democracy, Gender Equality and Women’s
Literacy:
Experience from Nepal

Prepared by

Dr. Sushan Acharya, EdD.

Central Department of Education
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

 UNESCO
Kathmandu Office
Jawalakhel • Lalitpur • PO Box 14391 • Kathmandu • Nepal
Phone +977-1-5554-396/769 • Fax +977-1-5554-450
 Democracy, Gender Equality and Women’s Literacy:
Experience from Nepal

Democracy, Gender Equality and Women’s Literacy:

Experience from Nepal 1

Democratic Values: The Constitutional Provisions 4

Gender Parity Status in Literacy 5

Women’s Literacy in the Midst of Diverse Values and Practices 5

Task ahead for Gender Justice through Adult Literacy 8

References 10

Annex I:
Table 1. Female literacy rate and educational attainment levels by caste/ethnicity (1991 and 2001)
Table 2. Literacy rates and male/ female differences (1991- 2001)

Annex II:
Examples of cultural values and practices that inform gender relation of different caste/ethnic
groups

Annex III:
Proposed revision on the Women's literacy Curriculum
Democracy, gender equality and women's literacy: Experience from Nepal
Nepal has in its history witnessed patriarchy, different forms of monarchy, and oligarchy. The culture thus
shaped and nurtured hierarchical values and a gender based social construct. In 1951 the country
introduced a parliamentary form of a democratic system with the removal of the 104-year-old Rana
oligarchy. This system continued for a decade, but it contradicted with the culturally shaped and nurtured
hierarchical and gender based social arrangement. Consequently, Nepal suffered from political
instability, frequent change in government, and conflict between the pro-culturist and pro-transformative
forces.

The excessive number of illiterates (98 per cent) contributed to the negation of democratic values. It is
within this context Nepal National Education Planning Commission (NNEPC) produced its report in 1955
to enable the country’s illiterate to exercise their democratic rights and support in nation building
(Sharma, 2059 BS).

Literacy in Nepal followed the Hindu Varnashramic caste line. Even the indigenous people (IP or ethnic
groups) followed hierarchical values in imparting literacy education. This implies that the Nepali culture
and the political system did not make an effort to introduce mass education. The beginning of adult
literacy programs in 1940 is also the continuation of the class education. In other words, literacy
education in Nepal was introduced to prepare the Gorkha Army for British India. And it was the NNEPC
that advocated for the adult literacy campaign for the first time in the history of Nepal.

The planners assumed that the lack of knowledge would deter the citizens to fully exercise their rights
granted by the newly instated democratic system. In order to utilize the rights such as freedom of
expression and participation in nation building activities, Nepal needed fully informed, knowledgeable
and 'functional' citizens. Literacy was thus viewed as an appropriate means to achieve this. It was also
assumed that the rural development initiatives delivered via oral and demonstration methods were slow to
yield the desired results because of mass illiteracy (Ibid). Consequently adult literacy programs were
designed to assist specifically the rural development initiatives to achieve their goals.

The literacy program thus revolved around imparting knowledge and skills on agriculture and home
improvement. The areas to be taught included productive as well and reproductive activities such as
poultry, cattle raising, farming, cooking, food preservation, childcare, and home management. It can be
concluded that the objective of the adult literacy programs during the 1950s was to prepare the citizens
______________________________________________________________________________

who could fully function in and/or adapt to the country's changed political and economic systems, and
thereby assist in the development agenda. In this sense literacy was viewed narrowly through a
functionalist perspective. This implies that though the NNEPC tried to incorporate some of the
democratic values in adult literacy, it basically nurtured gender roles.

In 1960 the parliamentary democracy was taken over by a party-less Panchayat system. This political
change was a set back to the uprising people’s interest and their political awareness. However, in this
period as well the education reform was continued. The adult literacy was still viewed as a vehicle to
nation building. The drive was thus to enable the citizens to fully function in and adapt to the changed
political system, and the development efforts guided by modernism. The All Round National Education
Committee 1961 also recommended for an improved version of literacy programs. With the name of
'Society Education' the Committee recommended for an improved adult literacy program in order to retain
the literacy skills and to develop qualified and able citizens. In this context the women's literacy also
continued enabling women to better perform their traditional roles as homemakers and child care takers.
Here again the legacy of the gender role continued through adult literacy program.

The Panchayat regime, which lasted for three decades (1960–1990), introduced Integrated Rural
Development (IRDP) and Basic Needs Program (BNP) together with community development movement
(Bhattachan, 1997). These programs mobilized women for community development activities through
literacy centers. Nevertheless, during the same period the government adult literacy approach was
revamped and a new set of primers was developed. The new set of the primers used the key word
approach of Paulo Freire. It appeared to be a departure from the functional approach but the
revolutionary nature of Freire's approach was tailored in such a way that it did not challenge the existing
system. It rather focused on social change through functional modality. The approach was used not to
raising consciousness but to teach the letters and words (Adhikari, 2059 BS). The wave created by the
IRDP, BNP and the new approach to literacy education helped introduce democratic values such as
shared learning, collective decision making, and collaborative action among women but not much change
was achieved in terms of gender equality.

The UN declaration of Women's Year in 1975 advocated the need for integration of women in
development. Nepal also started integrating women in its development initiatives. As a result in the sixth
five-year plan (1980-1985) provisions specifically related to women were included. This process was
continued in the succeeding plans. Up to the eighth five-year plan women's concerns were included. But
till then the purpose was only to improve women's conditions. In other words WID approach remained as

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a dominating framework while formulating policies and plans. With the emergence of women and
development (WAD) approach in the international context, Nepal also moved towards this direction and
began to pay attention to improving women's position as well. Women's literacy programs began to focus
on areas such as income generation, awareness building, and access to health care facilities through
educational processes. Consequently micro credit approaches became popular even within literacy
programs with a notion that such approaches would enhance women's economic as well as social
positions. This implies that UN efforts and the concept of WID and WAD could include some of the
democratic values in relation to gender equality in a gender-based society of Nepal.

Nepal witnessed another political change in 1990. This year the three decade long party-less Panchayat
system was overthrown by the pro-democratic peoples’ movement. In other words, Nepal restored its
parliamentary form of government. With this political change the number of NGOs and INGOs
dramatically rose. Currently the country has more than 40,000 NGOs and 102 INGOs and a substantial
number of them are working in the field of adult literacy. Ideally these agencies reach to 60 per cent of
the targeted number of illiterates and the rest of the people are catered to by government resources. It is
obvious that during the 1990s a massive expansion of adult literacy programs took place. NGOs
particularly with support from INGOs and international donors emerged with a variety of approaches to
improve women's lives through educational processes. Some adopted a 'literacy first' approach, whereas
others relied on a 'literacy second' approach in achieving women's empowerment and gender equality.
However, most NGOs had their own development agenda attached to their programs.

Health, natural resource management, environment conservation, agriculture, and economic development
are some examples of the agenda. Among others, REFLECT was also one of the major approaches that
some INGOs applied in Nepal with empowerment and consciousness raising purposes. The trend thus
shows that both functional and critical perspectives continued to be tested quite extensively in the adult
literacy programs in Nepal. The above discussion however still validates the observation made by
UNESCO (cited in Acharya, 1999) that "literacy education has been viewed as a development challenge
in Nepal since 1951" (p.3). But on the other hand, it has also been a challenge to inculcate democratic
ideals in a deeply rooted hierarchical and gender based social construct.

International efforts to put pressure on UN member countries (CEDAW, Beijing Conference, etc.) gave
another impetus to change cultural values and gender bias approaches through adult literacy. The change
could be clearly observed in the ninth five-year plan (1997-2002). The agenda of the plan included
gender mainstreaming, women's empowerment and gender equality as the three major strategies for

3
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women's advancement and gender justice. What the ninth plan advocated for was continued in tenth five-
year plan (2002-2006) as well. The tenth plan not only gave continuity to the strategies but also accepted
and pointed out the challenges and failures in achieving gender equality and/or gender justice. Keeping
the challenges in view the tenth plan therefore aimed to ensure gender equality by making educational
opportunities available to all irrespective of caste or ethnicity. In order to achieve the goal of gender
parity and equality, Education for All (EFA) has also formulated policies such as elimination of gender
and social discriminations through improvement in women's literacy status and equitable access to basic
and continuing education to all adults.

The historical scenario discussed above indicates that the (a) contents and approaches of adult literacy
have been modified with the change in the political system, (b) efforts have been made at the national
level through plans and policies to achieve gender justice, (c) adult literacy programs have been utilized
as a vehicle to reach and mobilize women for national as well as their own development, and (d) changes
at different levels (political system, national plans, development notions, adult literacy), however, have
not been able to bring the desired change in the cultural practices and attitude of the people with regard to
gender justice.

Democratic values: The Constitutional Provisions

The Nepali constitution carried cultural values, and religious dos and don'ts. Even today this legacy
continues. Nevertheless, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990, is a bit progressive in a sense
that it guarantees fundamental rights to all citizens without discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, caste,
religion or sex. The Constitution also ensures equal rights to all citizens to earn, enjoy, sell and transact
wealth within the law. It also guarantees equal pay for men and women for similar work. The Directive
Principles have made statements for making special arrangements for women in education, health
facilities and employment. In order to increase women's political participation the Constitution
specifically indicates that all the political parties contesting elections to the Lower House must have at
least 5 per cent women candidates and the Upper House of 60 members must have at least 5 per cent
women.

As one of the signatories of CEDAW, Nepal has been continuously modifying the laws that contradict
with provisions of the Convention. Yet there are many discriminatory laws that need to be amended in
line with the CEDAW. The Treaty Act 1991 specifically provides that international instruments ratified or
acceded to by Nepal prevail over the domestic legislation; therefore The Supreme Court on its decision
issued the directive order to the government to amend all discriminatory laws in regard to property rights

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of women in accordance with the CEDAW provisions. Recently changes in discriminatory laws were
made mostly through the Eleventh Amendments to the Country Code of Nepal, 1963, and it guarantees
importantly, women's right to property, rights in marriage and family life besides other rights. But
discrimination still remains amongst the daughters on the basis of marital status in partition and intestate
property.

In case of intestate property, a married daughter is much lower in hierarchy for succession. Furthermore,
only an unmarried daughter is entitled to receive share in parental property and intestate property but has
to return her remaining share of property to her maternal family upon marriage. But in a recent verdict
(2004) of the Supreme Court (final written text of the decision is yet to come) says that "an unmarried
daughter is entitled to have a right over intestate property and has to return her remaining share of
property to her maternal family upon marriage" declared null and void. Furthermore, the Supreme Court
has also issued the directive order to form the recommendation committee headed by the Secretary of
Human Right Commission to recommend amending all discriminatory laws of the said section
inconsistent with CEDAW.

The provisions with regard to the citizenship rights still follow gender biased patriarchal norms. In other
words, children of a Nepali woman married to a foreigner are not entitled to Nepali citizenship. In a
society like Nepal where marriage is assumed as compulsion a woman's property right, rule of residency
and social mobility are dependent or based on her marital status. In spite of the 'loopholes for
discriminating laws' (Acharya, date not available) the Constitution of Nepal in essence guarantees women
the right to equally participate or represent in all sectors of society, freedom of expression, freedom to
choose their representatives to form the government, and access to and control over resources. In this
respect the constitution challenges the traditional gender values, norms and practices of the society.

Regarding the inclusion of constitutionally guaranteed democratic values in women's literacy programs,
there have been efforts to incorporate them in literacy packages and facilitator training, and women
learners are continuously informed about their constitutional rights and responsibilities through mass
media and public meetings. The above discussions make it clear that in Nepal as well the women's
literacy program "is both an outcome and a tool of democracy" (UIE, 1999, p. 8). Consequently one can
see the signs of both functional and critical perspectives in the curricular materials of women's literacy
programs. The programs thus teach women functional skills to change their conditions, and democratic
values and norms to change their positions.

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Gender parity status in literacy

Historically Nepali women's literacy rate remained less than half of their male counterparts. But
restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1990 as mentioned above helped expedite the process of
enrolling more women in literacy programs. With concerted efforts and additional financial and technical
inputs to the programs over the last decade, women's literacy has increased. As a result, increase in
output has also been observed. However, the caste and ethnic disparity in literacy attainment is still
reflected in the output level. For example, the increase in the literacy rate among upper caste hill women
(19 per cent) and hill ethnics (18.7 per cent) are higher than that of other caste and ethnic groups (See
Annex I: Table 1).

A comparative analysis of the changes in men and women's literacy rate during the same period still
witness gender disparity (See Annex I: Table 2). Although the literacy rate among 6 year-old and above
urban males has not changed much, the gender disparity in literacy in this group still persists. Similarly,
the literacy rate among 15 year-old and above women has more than doubled. Yet literacy rates of men
from similar groups are higher. This indicates that the decline in gender disparity in literacy attainment
has been very slow. This further implies that gender parity and gender equality through literacy programs
need to be analyzed from lived culture of the beneficiaries. Attempts have been made to do this in the
following paragraph.

Women's literacy in the midst of diverse values and practices

The analysis of the lived values and practices of ethnics and caste groups of Nepal reflects immense
diversity (see Annex II). Among diversity there are some commonalities as well:
(a) Marriage is a social and cultural obligation and thus a compulsion; (b) child bearing is the most
important part of a married woman's life is thus a compulsion. Child bearing, especially giving birth to a
son is linked to a woman's security, respect and family dignity as the sons give continuity to the family
lineage, and (c) sons alone are entitled to ancestral property.

The rights and democratic values in relation to women guaranteed by the constitution and legislation
revolve around these limited commonalities. In fact these values and practices are the mainstream norms
of Brahmin and Chettris who cover 15.8 and 12.7 per cent of the population respectively (Gurung, 2003).
The women's literacy curriculum no doubt is informed by the same values and practices.

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Following the democratic values advocated by the constitution and legislatives the educational
policies/plans have adopted affirmative actions to achieve gender parity and equality in education.
Women's literacy has thus received much attention for three main reasons. One is to improve overall
quality of women's lives. Two is to create an egalitarian society. Three is to attract the next generation
towards education and school. Questions arise about these intentions. The questions are: what is the
men’s role in women's improved quality of life? What is the men’s role in creating an egalitarian society?
Why are women alone taught to educate children? These questions imply that women alone are the ones
who should be oriented for domestic as well as social responsibilities. Moreover, men are gradually
released from family responsibilities. Nevertheless, the current literacy curricular materials and
pedagogical training do pay attention to it. In this sense they do highlight the role of men in “women
labeled domestic world” and structurally perpetuated practices. But the pedagogical practices or delivery
of the curricular materials concentrate only on women.

From the gender perspective this approach of literacy education further polarizes men and women within
a complex social structure. For example, in a Hindu social structure women are confined to the household
chores and men are involved in the outer world. This structure is based on the notion of interdependence.
But the value of interdependence is submerged and rather one group's work began to be valued over the
other's. The question is how to achieve gender justice in this so called “interdependent social structure"?
The same question applies to the Sherpa’s (Buddhist) social structure, where women are treated as an
“independent being”. Therefore the question is how gender equality can be achieved in a given structure?
This analysis supports that gender is both structural and personal. "It is also an axis along which power,
hierarchy and inequality, among others, are distributed, explained and rationalized" (Acharya, 2004, p. 3).
This notion clearly indicates that imparting knowledge and skills to women alone and taming them to be
more responsible for the household as well as for themselves will not help achieve the goal of gender
justice. Most literacy programs of Nepal have been unable to internalize this knowledge.

Reflecting upon the literacy and non-formal education programs of Nepal one can capture three trends in
approaching gender justice. These three trends are (a) women targeted functional literacy education with
critical flavor in it. The government's modality belongs to this trend. (b) REFLEFT guided by non-
negotiable conflict modality. Modality applied by Action Aid and Lutheran World Service belongs to this
trend. (c) Shift from functional literacy with critical flavor to empowerment model to gender perspective.
Nepal Australia Community Resource Management and Livelihood Project (NACRMLP) belong to this
trend. This section draws examples more from the government's initiatives because most women's
literacy programs make use of the government's curriculum and primers at least for the basic level.

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The government's women literacy curriculum, which follows the ATLP design with 7 focus areas,
include: Women development, Civic awareness, Culture and tradition, Family life, Income generation-
agriculture, Health and nutrition, and Environment conservation and sanitation. The review and revision
of the curriculum elaboration as well as primers’ and facilitators training manual of both basic and
advanced levels, have recently been completed. (See annex III for revised curriculum elaboration). The
revision utilized the gender perspectives in general and women's reproductive and legal rights in
particular as frame of reference. The curriculum in this sense ideally covers all the democratic values.

The contents and topics try to grapple with people's belief and practices regarding gender relation through
topics like gender roles, power relation, and divorce. In essence, ideally the curriculum has tried to
ensure gender justice by promoting democratic values. However, in practice the curriculum ignores the
fact that some of what it has been trying to promote already exist in most ethnic and caste groups. For
example, marriage related norms such as divorce, widow marriage, selection of one's partner, are not
restricted or seen as problems in most ethnic groups. Rather than utilizing such democratic values
curriculum or literacy program tries to inject the value of the mainstream or power holding people, i.e.,
Brahman and Chettri in the case of Nepal. Furthermore the literacy trends if interfaced with the cultural
values of different caste and ethnic groups of Nepal provide conflicting scenario. For example, the lived
democratic values associated with choice of partners and the concept of “my body, my choice” of the
mountain people and some of the ethnics of the hill people as well is under-represented in the existing
curriculum and primers. This reality also gives the knowledge that both curriculum and NFE primers are
nurturing injustice to the cultural values of the ethnic groups and Dalits. This to an extent is the reluctance
to accept democratic values of powerless people.

These examples imply that Nepali women's' literacy and non-formal education curriculum and the primers
do not promote “others’ values. It rather attempts to establish the values of the mainstream or power
holding people as the values of "others" as well. This again creates the question, is this democratic
practice? Are we celebrating diversities that are available in the country and are we letting NFE and
literacy participants know that they have good values and practices to be shared with mainstream people
as well? Obviously these unanswered questions lead to the conclusion that “others” are yet to be given a
chance to be heard. This context also indicates that women's literacy curriculum has not been able to
include the notion of legal pluralism (Benda-Beckmann, and Et. al. cited in Upreti, 2004). Ways to
respect existing democratic values and practices belonging to different ethnics and facilitating the
modification of undemocratic values/practices are thus desired in women's literacy curriculum.

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Issues related to women's access to and control over resources and reproductive health are deeply rooted
in the culture of most ethnics and caste groups. Women's literacy curriculum tries to address these issues.
But the delivery mode and selection of target group ignores the fact that cultural values, norms or
practices are inseparable elements of social structure. In other words, engaging women alone in the
discourse hardly helps achieving gender justice, which demands structural changes along with change in
individuals.

The second trend, REFLECT, as mentioned earlier focuses more on empowering the disadvantaged
people and women in order to improve their condition and position. Thus the concept of empowerment is
dynamic, it is not only limited to sharing of power. Its multiple meanings extend from the personal to the
political, from inner transformation to that of structural change (Deyo, date not available). Women's
empowerment strategies gradually took a shift from power sharing towards relational issues and began to
stress on changing "institutional rules, procedures, identities, and relationships" (Kabeer, cited in Deyo,
date not available, p. 2). This implies that the empowerment process demands the involvement of both
the oppressed and the oppressor in naming as well as resolving the conflict. The REFLECT modality
also negates this. It focuses on provoking the subordinated alone with very little scope of conflict
management and mediation.

The third trend that NACRMLP is going to apply soon is known as Social Equity Awareness Action
Program (SEAP) and emerged out of the experiences gathered for almost two decades of intervention.
For years women's literacy programs remained one of the major activities. But gradually, when this didn't
yield the desirable results in terms of gender equality and equity, the project moved to women's
empowerment strategy. This realization demanded a new effort in literacy. The new effort was to
involve men, women and other stakeholders together to discuss gender related issues and help negotiate
and collaborate for gender equality at all levels of life. Though the empowerment strategy is still applied
the project could not bag desired outcomes to the extent it aspired for. The women were sensitized but
their guardians under whose control or guidance they were supposed to interact did not understand the
intent. As a result women did not receive the necessary support from the family and/or forest
management institutions. Therefore SEAP was devised. The Forest User's Groups (FUG) are both the
implementers and the beneficiaries in this program as they realized the persistence of gender equality and
inequitable benefit sharing. Thus they are also in the process of developing working strategies. The basic
premise of the SEAP strategies considers family and institution as units of intervention. It will thus
attempt to sensitize the institution as well as the household.

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The above deliberations indicate that there is a need of shift from functional or critical perspectives
towards more constructive measures in achieving gender justice and/or democratic values. Dealing with
injustices and conflicts from constructive thinking involves "learning, negotiation and collaboration"
(Upreti, 2004, p. 61). In line with this notion some options are proposed below.

Task ahead for gender justice through adult literacy

Universal democratic values, diverse cultural values of the country, and the notion of gender justice are
three broad areas where literacy providers of Nepal need interface. This is not an easy task. It is in this
setting, some directions are proposed for the future.
• Since Nepal has diverse cultural values that comply or confront with universal democratic values,
the task for literacy providers from the gender lens is to identify the values of different caste and
ethnic groups to be incorporated, nurtured, and discarded in literacy curricula and pedagogy.
This task demands ethnographic studies in different cultural and geographical settings.
• Since literacy trends of Nepal go in three directions, its providers should ensure the inclusion of
universal democratic values in them and thereby gender justice. This task needs to develop
formula to be applied in the curriculum and pedagogy. The frame for this formula could be
(a) Functional literacy + cultural value analysis from gender lens + enabling women and
men for shared undertaking for gender equality and equity = gender justice
(b) Critical literacy + cultural value analysis from gender lens + negotiation skills +
enabling women and men for shared undertaking = gender justice
(c) SEAP modality + cultural value analysis from gender lens + enabling women and
men for shared undertaking = gender justice.

• Since gender issues differ in degree from one ethnic group to another, literacy providers should
analyze cultural values and develop cultural reconstruction, deconstruction, and construction
movements as a part of literacy education. This task requires thorough analysis of the cultural
values from hermeneutic perspective and reshaping of the values to make them fairer.
• Since literacy is a personal, social and national issue, its providers should maintain balance
between these ends through curricular and pedagogical measures. This task demands rethinking
of the contents and pedagogical measures of different forms of literacy trends to ensure rooms for
achieving gender justice.

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References
Acharya, M. (2004). Gender mainstreaming strategy for MOES (unpublished draft). Kathmandu:
SAHAVAGI.

Acharya, S. (1999). Empowerment, literacy and community organization: A case study of self-help
women’s groups in Nepal. (Ed.D. Dissertation) Center for International Education, University of
Massachusetts: Amherst.

Acharya, M. ( ) Unpublished paper prepared for the purpose of ADB. Kathmandu.

Adhikari, P. S. (2059). Anaupacharik Sikshya Kehi Abadharana Kehi Abhyas (In Nepali, NFE
concepts and practices). Kathmandu: IFCD.

Bhattachan, K. B. (2002). Social and Economic conditions of Dalit women. In Prabodh M. Devkota
(Ed.) Dalits of Nepal: Issues and challenges. (p. 65-89). Kathmandu: FEDO.

Bhattachan, K. B. (1997). People/Community-based development strategy in Nepal. In Krishna B.

Bhattachan and Chaitanya Mishra (Eds.), Development practices in Nepal (pp. 100-148).
Kathmandu: Central Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Tribhuvan University in
cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, Germany.

CEDAW Monitoring Committee, Nepal (2003). Shadow Report on the second and third periodic
report of government of Nepal on CEDAW Convention Kathmandu: Author.

Communication with Mr. Mahendra Kant Mainali, Advocate, Kathmandu.

Communication with Mr. Uttam Upadhyaya, from NACRMLP

Deyo, L. ( ). Unpublished paper on women's empowerment.

Gautam, R., and Thapa-Magar, A. K. (1994) Tribal Ethnography of Nepal (Vol. I and Vol. II)
Kathmandu.

Gurung, H. (2003). Social Demography of Nepal: Census 2001 Kathmandu: Himal Books.

HMG, Ministry of Law, Justice and parliamentary Affairs (1992). The Constitution of The Kingdom
of Nepal 2047 (1990) Kathmandu: Author.

Sharma, G. (2059). Nepalka Sikshya Ayogharuka Pratibedanharu (In Nepali A compilation of the
reports o f the Education commission of Nepal). Kathmandu: Makalu Books.

Upreti, B. R. (2004). The price of neglect: From resource conflict to Maoist insurgency in the
Himalayan kingdom. Kathmandu: Bhrikuti Academic Publications.

UIE (1997) Democracy and peace Hamburg: Author.

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Annex I
Table 1
Female literacy rate and educational attainment levels by caste/ethnicity,
(1991 and 2001)

Caste/Ethnic Groups Literacy Rate % increase in literacy

rate
1991 2001 2001-1991
Upper Caste 36.7 55.9 19.2
Hill Upper Caste 36.1 55.4 19.3
Terai Upper Caste 44.6 63.8 19.2
Terai Middle Caste 13.1 26.3 13.2
Dalits 12.0 24.2 12.2
Hill Dalits 14.7 31.8 17.1
Terai Dalits 4.0 11.5 7.5
Janajatis (ethnics) 25.7 43.1 17.4
Hill Janajatis 29.2 46.4 17.2
Newar\Thakali 48.1 62.6 14.5
Other Hill Janajatis 24.2 42.3 18.1
Terai Janajatis 12.8 31.5 18.7
Religious Minorities 11.5 22.7 11.2
Others 13.2 38.3 25.1
Total 25.6 42.5 16.9
Source: Acharya, 2004
Table 2
Literacy rates and male/ female differences (1991- 2001)
1991 2001
Indicators
Male Female Male-Female Male Female Male-Female
For 6 years and above
Urban 80.0 51.2 23.2 80.9 61.6 19.3
Rural 54.2 20.4 29.9 62.2 59.3 22.9
Nepal 54.2 24.7 29.5 65.1 42.5 22.6
15 years + 38.0 13.0 25.0 62.2 34.6 27. 6
Source: Acharya, 2004

Annex II
Examples of cultural values and practices that inform gender relation of
different caste/ethnic groups

Hill groups (Athapariya Plain groups Dalits Brahmin/Chettri

Rai, Bote, Chepang,
Danwar Darai, Gurung,
Thakali, Limbu)

Tharu Satar, Rajbanshi,

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______
Hill groups (Athapariya Plain groups Dalits Brahmin/Chettri
Rai, Bote, Chepang,
Danwar Darai, Gurung,
Thakali, Limbu)

Yadav
Women of the family play Divorce, Esp. among Child marriage and Divorce is a taboo
important social role widow Satar love and Tilak (esp. among Widow marriage is
marriage arrange marriage Taraian Dalits) prohibited
Esp. among Athapariya and exist with the Widower is rather
Rai the oldest member of liverate practice of
Arrange marriage encouraged to remarry
the household is the head marriage purchasing the Widows are placed
of the house irrespective of are girl, uxorilocal Triply exploited as many restrictions and
gender. common, residence and a an untouchable, as are viewed as bad luck
girl entering a a woman and as a so not allowed in
Widow is given choice to High social house of a man untouchable auspicious occasions.
marry her brother in-law mobility whom she is woman.
or remain unmarried. She attracted to with Male head of the house
can also marry outsider but a gift of liquor. High social has absolute authority,
upon condition. mobility due to women as they grow
compulsion to earn older gain power but
Different kinds of Premarital for family are still considered and
marriage exist such as uxorilocal livelihood. act as dependent to
elopement, abduction, residence and male figures (husband
marrying another man's widow marriage or sons or brothers)
legal wife by paying exist esp. among
penalty. Rajbanshi Restricted social
mobility due to the fact
Esp. among the Gurungs that dignity is attached
boys and girls have to women's sexuality.
freedom to mingle with
each other and choose
their partners, marriage is
not forced, divorce is an
institution and is prevalent,
divorcees and widows can
remarry according to their
wishes, and women take
care of business in public
as well.

In Thakalis divorce is
practiced but whoever
seeks divorce initially
should pay alimony to the
other. Yet sons alone are

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Hill groups (Athapariya Plain groups Dalits Brahmin/Chettri
Rai, Bote, Chepang,
Danwar Darai, Gurung,
Thakali, Limbu)

entitled to ancestral
property. Women are
involved in trades and
business

Values, practice common to all:

• Marriage is a social and cultural obligation and thus a compulsion
• Child bearing is the most important part of a married woman's life is thus a compulsion. Child bearing
linked to a woman's security, respect and family dignity as the sons give continuity the family lineage.
• Sons alone are entitled to ancestral property

Annex III

Revised Women's literacy Curriculum*

SN Reproductive rights Legal rights Gender mainstreaming
perspective perspectives
1. Adolescent’s Health Democracy ( revised) Family Life
Physiological changes - What is democracy? Gender roles (picture and text)
during adolescent (New)
Menstruation Process, - Importance of
Menstrual Hygiene, democracy
problems and
management (New)
Sexual Abuse in
adolescent girls (New)
Appropriate age of
marriage (New)
2. Birth Spacing Women Rights Power relation
Why birth spacing is (major revision)
needed (New)
Methods of birth spacing ( Based on the
(New) convention)
Permanent sterilization
(New)
3. Safe Motherhood Child rights ( new) Women Development
Signs and symptoms of - Meaning of child Access and control over resources
pregnancy (New)
Care during pregnancy rights
(New) - Rights of the child
Preparation of delivery - Punishment
(New)
4. Abortion Citizenship (new) Women Development
Causes of abortion - Bases to acquire Political participation of women
(Miscarriage) (New)
Care of women after citizenship
abortion (New) - Why is citizenship
Adverse effect of unsafe important?
abortion (New) - How to acquire
Availability of safe

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______
SN Reproductive rights
perspective
abortion service (New)
5. Family Relation
Role of male in family life
(New)
Respect of women’s
reproductive right (New)
Care during pregnancy and
delivery (New)
Care of mother and child
(new)
Legal rights Gender mainstreaming
perspectives
citizenship?
- Process to acquire
citizenship?
Vital Event Family Life
Registration (new) Importance of children and son
- Why events has to be preference
registered (birth, Power relation between men and
death, marriage, women and family members
divorce and migration) Patriarchy
- Why it is important
to register?
- Place to register the
events
- Time limit to register
the events
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