Women’s Lives

The lives of women in Humla are characterised by tough, physical toil.

Women are responsible for all heavy physical work, including farming and food production, which is done by hand. There is no mechanised equipment, such as tractors. Women carry heavy loads up and down mountain paths on their backs. It is common to see women felling trees with an axe, carrying heavy loads of stones for house building, carrying water long distances, and collecting food in the forest for their livestock and carrying it back to where the animals are tethered (animals are generally not free to graze as land is too precious and is almost entirely given over to crop production). For much of these jobs, women are pregnant, breastfeeding a baby, or both, and many give birth to ten or more children due to the lack of contraception. Women particularly suffer from high malnutrition, as they are generally not allowed eat with the family – when their husband and children are finished eating, they only then eat what is left over.

Lack of Opportunity

Women are generally prohibited from taking a job or having access to cash. Men do any cash-generating jobs, and often migrate to China (Tibet) and India for several months of the year in search of unskilled labouring work. Land is owned by men, and women have few legal rights and depend on their husbands for income. Divorce is unavailable, and domestic violence is commonplace. There is no law against domestic violence in Nepal. Women must remain at home and get their husband’s permission to go to the shop, health post, market etc. Women are generally seen as beasts of burden, and the producers of children. Male children are usually more valued than female children, who are seen as somewhat of a liability, partly due to the dowry system. Boys are much more likely to be sent to school, while a high proportion of girls never begin school, or are taken out of school after a year or two, to help their mothers with the physical labour and to look after younger siblings. As a result, only 8.87% of women in Humla are literate^[1].

Family Relations

As a Hindu society, a dowry system operates in Nepal. When a girl is of marriageable age, usually 16-21, her parents arrange a marriage for her, usually in a village that is some days away from her own. Once married, she leaves behind all the people she knows and loves, and might only see her family once a year. She joins her husband, who she has never met, and lives with his extended family. Her life is entirely controlled by them. The husband that she can attract will depend on how big a dowry her family can afford to pay. If her parents are poor, and if they have many female children, her dowry will be small. Dowries place a huge financial burden on poor families. Once married, her job is to cook, clean, farm the land to produce food for the household, and raise the children.

During menstruation, women are generally deemed to be untouchable, and many must sleep in the cowshed. They are not allowed touch men, or touch food or water for the household during this time (but they may continue their farming work). Childbirth is also considered dirty, and in remote rural areas many women give birth in very unsanitary conditions such as a cowshed.

The Poverty Cycle

Many women work more than 16 hours per day, most of this back-breaking physical work.  Despite this, no matter how hard they work, many only produce enough food for three-five months of the year. The men in a household often migrate to India or China (Tibet) for a number of months each year and any cash they return home with is used to buy food. Families find that they cannot lift themselves and their children out of extreme poverty because they never have any surplus left for investment in better seeds, fertiliser, medicine or education. Poor healthcare, low educational attainment and malnutrition/lack of household income are mutually reinforcing, which creates an inescapable poverty trap. This is where Foundation Nepal’s holistic programmes that focus on food production, micro-finance, micro-business, education and healthcare are playing an important role in helping people towards a brighter future.

Low Caste People’s Lives in Nepal – Read More >

1 District Development Plan 2008, District Information and Documentation Centre, District Development Committee, Humla