Nepal Hosts South Asian Women’s Conference

August 8, 2017

With an objective to encourage women participation in local governance across governments of South Asian countries, the All Nepal Women’s Association organized a two-day South Asian Women’s Conference that began in Kathmandu on Sunday.

The conference intends to bring out issues concerning women participation in local governance and express support to women politicians and right activists fighting for political rights of women in South Asia.

The event witnessed a participation of around 70 members, including lawmakers, civil society representatives and women rights activists from various South Asian countries, such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

In his augural address at the event, CPN-UML Chair Oli said Nepal did a commendable job in protecting and strengthening women rights.

A report, titled Women in Politics, launched by Inter Parliamentary Union and UN Women in July 2017, identified Nepal as the leading South Asian country in terms of women participation in governance.

Nepal with 29.6 per cent women representatives in Parliament stood top of SAARC nations, followed by Afghanistan (27.7 percent), Pakistan (20.6 percent), Bangladesh (20.3 percent), India (11.8 percent), Bhutan (8.5 percent) and Maldives (5.9 percent).