Nepal is known for its natural beauty, rich fauna and flora but also its ancestral heritage and diversity of its people, with 35.80% of the population belonging to indigenous nationalities according to the 2011 census. But this richness hides a more somber reality of poverty and discrimination, with Nepal still on the way to graduate from the status of Least Developed Country and generally acknowledged issues of low representation and limited empowerment affecting many of the people from Indigenous Groups. Of particular concern are indigenous women, who represent more than 18% of the population and who, while playing a key role in providing for their families and communities, suffer a double discrimination of being marginalized as indigenous and disempowered as women in a highly traditional patriarchal society.
At the 61st session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women held in 2017, member states and civil society addressed the issue of women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work, with special focus on indigenous women. The Commission recognized the need to focus on the empowerment of indigenous women to the challenges and hardships that these women face. It acknowledged the importance of economic development for indigenous women, through actions on social inclusion aimed at improving their social, cultural, civil and political engagement for economic independence and to foster more sustainable communities. This would not only improve their status as indigenous women, but also contribute to their better integration into national economies.
The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. Article 22 states that “particular attention should be paid to the rights and special needs of indigenous elders, women, youth, children and persons with disabilities in the implementation of this declaration”. In addition, Nepal is also party to the Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. With more than 35% of the country’s people belonging to the indigenous groups, the government has a duty to ensure these communities are no longer marginalized on socio-economic and political grounds.
In September 2015 Nepal adopted the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals. In doing so, it committed to the principle of Leaving No One Behind and to address the inequalities. It also committed to work against discrimination affecting the indigenous peoples. ]
UNDP Nepal has initiated this research project on the “Economic empowerment of indigenous women in Nepal”, partnering with the
National Indigenous Women’s Federation to find out more about the landscape of indigenous women in Nepal and better understand the challenges and opportunities
of their economic development.
#Empowerment #IndigenousWomen #EmpowermentOfIndigenousWomen
#9382 #11029 #pairing
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Publisher:
NIWF, UNDP
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(2018
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Type / Script:
Publication
in English
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Keywords:
DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC AGREEMENT, ECONOMIC ASPECTS, ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE, WOMEN, GENDER DISCRIMINATION, DISCRIMINATION, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, WOMEN’S, RIGHTS, INDIGENOUS ORGANIZATION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
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Thematic Group:
UNDP
:
Social and Institutional Developoment
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Thesaurus:
02.03.00
- Special Economic Areas
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Reference Link:
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