Finding your voice and identity for many women in South Asia, including Nepal, is like climbing Mt. Everest the highest peak in the world – not an easy task with deeply embedded patriarchal values and gender norms. Violence against women particularly domestic violence is the biggest deterrent to women’s advancement and development. However, with a vibrant women’s movement and civil society activism scaling this mountainous hurdle can be possible. It is a shared collective vision of inclusive development that is required to make gender equality a reality.
Inclusive empowerment and equality must be at the heart of all efforts to ensure sustainable development. The talk featured valuable examples of bottom-up movement building, breaking the culture of silence, harnessing the potential of the media and enhancing critical and collaborative partnership for transforming the roadmap to inclusive development. It highlighted experiences of linking efforts from local to global and global to local for scaling the hurdles of rising inequalities. The journey continues – to achieving transformative change that is fair and sustainable and building a future where no rights are trampled and no one is left behind.
This lecture was hosted by the University of Luxembourg and Aide à l’Enfance de l’Inde et du Népal (AEIN).
