When you meet a lady who dances in a restaurant, what do you feel about her at first? We are sure that either one will ignore her or may be some will misjudge her because of her profession. Generally, everyone had the same feeling about them before but the fact that everyone should realize now is that we all were wrong. We had a conversation with few girls who dance in a restaurant. This article is about the same conversation.

Everyone in this earth has the right to live and for living, one has to earn money. To earn, one has to work. The work they do depends on the capabilities they possess. If a person is highly qualified then s/he might get a nice job but the question arises when s/he is illiterate. A greater question arises if an illiterate woman comes from a male dominated country like Nepal. Let’s talk about dancers in restaurants. They have chosen the profession not because of their own interest but mostly due to the poor financial status and the need to earn for the survival. One of the options for a less educated girl for earning can be dancing in restaurants, which is one easy way to make money.

But they face a lot of problems socially and legally. It has been noticed that some of the customers of the dance restaurants behave disrespectfully with the dancers and ask for the rate for a night without knowing the difference between a dancer and a prostitute. The misconception of the customers of the dance restaurant has really disappointed the girls who dance in restaurants. But it’s the duty of the girls to respect their customers as it’s a part of their profession. Because of the responsibilities of their family, they can’t just quit their jobs. According to Charu (one of the dancer in the restaurant and her name has been changed to maintain the privacy), she is the only member to earn in her family. In her family, there are altogether six members including her father who is suffering from paralysis, mother, two little brothers and a sister. They are living in a rented house in the Kathmandu valley. Even knowing that dancing in the restaurant is not a respected job, she is forced to choose this job where earning money is much easier for an uneducated girl like her.

Furthermore, she says that girls like her are being black mailed; harassed and tortured by the police when they’re returning home from the duty even when they have the identity card. Sometimes the police arrest them and lock them in jail. According to the statement of Charu, armies do not harass them. The dancers have positive thinking about the manager of the restaurants. But Shilpa (name changed) has a complaint about the manager of the restaurant she works in. She has not been given her salary for the last seven months. Some managers are really great exploiters.

We would like to stress that political crisis of the country also has forced some of them to choose this profession. Due to the Maoists problem in the remote area, the families have migrated to the city. And it’s not so easy to survive for them in a big city without having any base. So, a girl chooses profession as a dancer in restaurants to earn money for the family. In general, their salary depends upon their looks and dancing capabilities which ranges from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 5000 per month plus they earn tips from the customers which is Rs. 100 to Rs. 500 daily. The customers who visit the dance restaurant are of age from 16 to 65.

The society misjudges them just on the basis of their profession. People just assume things about them just because they dance in restaurants. But dancing to earn money is just like any other profession. We have to create awareness in our society that dancing in restaurant is not a bad profession .The misconception created by the people of our society have really made their life difficult and sometimes miserable. Being a responsible person of the society we should always respect a decent profession which does no harm.