A Call Upon the UN Women Agency from the Most Politically Unstable Country

Dear Michelle Bachelet,
UN Women Executive Director

I am writing this email to you all the way from Nepal to congratulate you for your new post as an Executive Director of UN Women. I am also writing this with a hope that you will take an action in order to diminish various form of inequalities from every corner of the world and upholds the rights and needs of women.

It is my honored and privileged to call upon the UN Women agency to include girls' education, women empowernment and income generation prominently in your agenda.

I am Sunita Basnet, a daughter, a sister of four younger sisters, an activist, a student, a freelance journalist and a wife. I grew up in a small village of 500 people where girls and women were asked to be silent and get maried with unknown men once they are sixteen years old. From my childhood, I saw that women are often treated as “Commodities.”

As well, women lag far behind men in access to property, credit, and modern avenues of education, skills development, technology and knowledge. The social attitude towards women, backed by their low socioeconomic status in general, has also led to many cases of gender-based violence, both in the domestic as well as in the public arena. World Health Organization has reported that in 2001, about 91% of the total populations are living in the rural Nepal, where 60% are women (ICRC 2001). However, in rural areas of Nepal, women are ignored, discriminated and oppressed because of patriarchal society. There are various reasons behind the lack of women’s participation, patriarchal social systems, social and cultural prejudices, financial dependence of women, and limited training opportunities for women are someof the major factors.

On the other hand, sometimes women are killed in the name of witches, sometimes they are killed for giving birth to a daughter or born as a daughter. Sometimes they are raped and killed for raising their voice and fighting for their rights. There are many cases that has highlighted in the media and still some remains unreported in my country.

Furthermore, I don’t believe that just passing the agendas regarding gender based discrimination is enough because we do have many laws to bring the equality in the country. The constitution of 1990 guaranteed the fundamental rights to all citizens without discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, caste, religion, or sex, including property inheritance. However, the implementation and law enforcement has been very weak and pathetic.

Therefore, I believe that education must be easily available, accessible and affordable in every country. Education is only a way to make us aware and stronger. I am lucky to be educated and know about my rights but still there are thousands and thousands sisters waiting to know about their rights. The law that they heard and knew from others are translated differently. They know once a girl gets married the first law to fulfil is to satisfy her husband and then her family. She even doesn’t have rights in her own body.

I urge you to be our voice and support us to achieve equal rights. We are fighting for the equal right please support us in our journey and include our issues in your agenda.

Best wishes
Sunita Basnet
Mrigauliya Morang, Nepal

As the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women officially begins its work this month, World Pulse is asking women worldwide: What is YOUR vision and recommendation for UN Women? We invite you to raise your voice by writing a letter to UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet outlining your recommendation for how this new UN agency can truly affect change on the ground to promote gender equality and uphold the rights and needs of women both on a local and global scale.
Learn more: http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire/programs/international-violence-agai...