It is amazing that Nepal has changed quite a lot since last few decades. In major cities, everyone looks well dressed and busy hustling on with their lives. And in context of women, it seems more evident then ever before. Women going to work in the morning office hours with their trademark purses aren’t a sight that you can miss often if you have strolled out in the morning office hours.

More Nepalese women are educated than ever before and the trend is gradually rising if not speeding at the moment. But still there’s a lot of ground to cover yet. Huge ground to say the least, even in Kathmandu city, the percentage of literate women would not perhaps exceed that of the illiterate women. Then again there’s the problem of fewer women finishing their post-graduate studies, which might be a cost of concern down the road. Most of the women finish their graduate or higher studies and get married to a slightly older man having some money or western citizenship or in foreign army, which in the eye of their parents seems quite an accomplishment and future well decided. Talking about marriage, in our society, we have a more of “she got married to Him or That Man” thing going on than “he got married to her or That Woman”.

Now, to be more precise and talking more about Nepal as a whole, “modern” in Modern Nepalese Women would be quite far-fetched. Of course we don’t have to have an explanation when we begin to think of all the women in the places out of the city out there. Also right here in Kathmandu, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that 80% or 75% Nepalese women aren’t still well educated and so on.

Therefore, to bring the epithet modern into Nepalese women, education would be the only weapon of choice. Of course, an educated mother would greatly help to manage the house and her family in a positive way. Not to mention, the wife of politicians would be a great in-house adviser (which is badly needed and I am not saying they aren’t educated but would help if they were highly qualified). It is the mother who runs the house and again an educated woman would be able to help her man run the country well.

Right now and generalizing, the most of the well educated women are hot on heels of the reception, public relations, marketing officer or similar posts which needs pleasant personalities and communication skills and rightly so they have dominated that sector in the market of which men are of no serious competition. But it would be great if in future, women gained higher education and fight for the posts that are currently in the man’s zone like chief officer this and that. Then, only then would the coining of modern Nepalese women be meaningful or realized. There is a long way but it is there. So, go women go!