In Nepal, the journey of women in politics can symbolically be presented as a tug-of-war between progress and resistance. The deeply entrenched patriarchal norms limit the roles of women in political and public life. The Constitution of Nepal promulgated in 1990 brought about a glimmer of hope as Article 114 of the constitution mandated political parties to file five percent women candidates to contest in elections . But this did not guarantee that women would actually make it to parliament. As a result, between 1990-1999 elections, the percentage of women in parliament could not exceed six percent.
Nepal witnessed a surge in the number of female candidates in 2008 elections due to the provision in the 2007 Interim-Constitution ensuring a minimum of 33.33 percent reservations for women in parliament. This demographic representation celebrated an outcome of years of fight for equality, propelled by the decade long civil war 1995-2006. While it brought an increase in the demographic representation of female candidates, did it actually signify effective participation and empowerment, or did it simply mask the underlying systemic barriers that hinder the rise of women’s political power and decision-making?
Today, with the House of Representatives having a base requirement of 92 women (33.45 percent) out of the 275 total parliamentarians, we see how beneath Nepal’s democratic framework lies a troubling gap between promise and practice. The 33.33 percent representation quota for women was meant to be a minimum threshold, a starting point for inclusion. Unfortunately, many political parties treat it as a ceiling, not a base. This representation becomes even scarcer as we ascend the hierarchy ladder. In 2025, out of 22 ministries of the federal government of Nepal only one female is appointed a minister.
The quota system designed with the aim of democratizing opportunities were treated by the political parties as checkboxes they needed to tick. Political parties were responsible for exploiting the country’s constitutional provisions to empower women for their vested interests. By manipulating the loopholes parties are allowing the avoidance of the crucial measures mentioned in the regulations. The issue doesn’t end here women are placed in unelectable constituencies, sidelined from key decision making processes and reduced to symbolic placeholders. This challenge does not end once they enter the parliament. The complex interplay of socio-economic and institutional factors shape these women’s experiences and overall effectiveness in their work in politics.
Women continue to pass through various stages of scrutiny and criticism because patriarchal societal norms question their legitimacy as leaders. These factors not only discourage the women in the field but also the potential women candidates who wish to enter the political arena. Unaddressed challenges have consequences that extend outwards. On the grounds of tokenistic representation, without significance in participation, women may be continually excluded from significant policy formulation and lobbying processes—an antithesis to democratic governance. It also impairs the responsiveness of policies to address the needs of the diverse population. Additionally, gender imbalance representation in hierarchy further solidifies structural inequality and thus inhibits progress toward social justice and equality.
Overcoming these barriers requires systematic reforms and beyond-the-surface solutions. There is a need to wipe out the root sources of social-cultural, economic, and institutional conditions that make gender inequality by implementing such reforms and changing societal mindsets in a way that they eradicate such norms and values that perceive women as more subordinate than men. Only in that way can the future of this nation be remolded with the voices of women shaping its political destiny.
Nepal needs more than women in seats, it needs women in power.
