We are hunched on low wicker stools, drinking chai, at the edge of the road. The afternoon sun is hitting me face on, I am squinting, and it is a second or two before I realised Tulsi is crying. “He opened his shoes to buy vegetables.” She demonstrates by putting her feet on top of her sandals. This is a reference to the custom of untouchables taking off their shoes in front of a person from a higher caste.
Tulsi Pariyar, local government representative in Lalitpur
Tulsi Pariyar is a local government representative in Ward 10 of Lalitpur, the neighbouring city to Kathmandu. She is also of the Pariyar caste group, a former untouchable, or Dalit, and a vegetable seller in the afternoons. She had been describing her work for local government when the conversation moved to discrimination. The tears came while recounting a recent incident of a higher-caste person coming to her stall to buy vegetables. “I felt very, very upset… we are all humans.” What would you like this achieve in politics I ask her. “Abolishing caste”, she replies.
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by a hereditary basis of membership, endogamy and a hierarchical structure. Dating back to at least 2nd millennium BCE, the system has divided Indian and Nepali societies into rigid groups. With roots deeply embedded in religion, ancient Hindu scriptures stipulated how priests, or Brahmins, sit at the top of the hierarchy, followed by kings and warriors (Kshatriyas), artisans and tradesmen (Vaishyas) with labourers (Sudras) at the bottom. This is called the varna framework and those left outside this model are referred to as the casteless or untouchables.
In reality, thousands of jati (meaning birth), or social groups, exist. Each jati is usually associated with a particular occupation, and a deemed level of purity which determines their position in the caste hierarchy. This purity level is roughly congruous with the level of pollution involved in their traditional occupation, with the street-sweepers and the scavengers at the bottom of the pyramid. ‘Pollution’ can be transferred between individuals by touching food, sharing drinking water, bodily contact and sexual contact. Over centuries, fear of ‘contamination’ by lower castes has controlled societal interactions and has led to severe discrimination against the Dalits.
Dalits have traditionally been excluded from all spaces; social, political, economic and religious. Access was restricted to temples, crematory grounds and communal water sources; they were denied rented rooms and well-paid jobs; served with different plates and cups in restaurants; and never allowed into higher-caste homes. Despite being made illegal in Nepal in 2011, punishable with a prison sentence and/or fine, caste-discrimination has entangled its roots deep into all layers of society and such discrimination persists widely. Even today inter-caste marriages often end in violence and exclusion, and occasionally death.
Laxmi Pariyar, a local government representative in Nawalparasi
UNDP’s 2014 Human Development Report highlights persisting inequalities between the Nepali Dalits and the rest of the population. Generally, landless and trapped in low-paying, menial jobs, they are the poorest in society. Where poverty is measured as only having the capacity to earn less than $1.25 a day, the UNDP report estimates the incidence of poverty across Nepal to be 25%, in contrast to a staggering 42% for the Dalit population. Extreme poverty and a general unawareness of the importance of education, forces school-age children to be sent to work, resulting in most Dalits starting adult life with a large educational deficit. Non-Dalits are around 3 times more likely to complete the School Leaving Certificate than Dalits, and 6 times more likely obtain a bachelor’s degree.
Nepal’s 25 Dalit castes make up 13.2% of the population and until very recently, were almost completely unrepresented in all levels of politics. Following a decade of civil war between Maoist rebels and state military forces, which ended in 2006, political quotas were introduced at national level, exponentially increasing the number of Dalits in parliament. Today, through Nepal’s proportional representation system, 13.8% of seats in Parliament are reserved for Dalits.
The new Constitution, adopted in 2015, started to address the political inequalities at local government level. It stipulated that in each ward, two members out of five must be women, and one of these a Dalit woman. In the local elections in 2017, the first to be held in almost 20 years, these quotas propelled over 6000 Dalit women into positions on local governments. Now constituting just under 20% of local government members, Dalit women have the opportunity to impact the political decisions in their areas and tackle some of the caste-based issues faced by their communities.
The Center for Dalit Women Nepal, a Kathmandu-based NGO, is currently providing training to over 300 elected Dalit women representatives in an effort to equip them for their new positions. In the training centres I visited in the Terai districts of Nawalparasi and Kapilvastu, there was an atmosphere of optimism; most of the women were happy to be selected for local government but also aware that they are in the learning phase. Several expressed ambitions to be elected to higher positions, such as Ward Chair, in the next round of elections, so they could have more power in the decision-making process.
Women at a training session in Kapilbastu
A lady takes notes in Nawalparasi
A few discussed specific project ideas for developing their areas that they viewed as “backward and poor”: paved roads, the erection of flood defences (the Terai is highly proned to flooding during the monsoon months), accessible health clinics, decent government schools. Laxmi Pariyar, a softly-spoken but firm woman from Nawaparasi district, discussed allocating part of the district’s budget to solar panel projects, so the area could reduce its dependence on the Hill districts for electricity.
However, a presence in local government will only translate to meaningful representation for Dalit communities if these women, the majority of whom lack backgrounds in politics or social work, can develop the appropriate skills and capabilities needed to operate effectively in their new roles. In Nawaparasi, only 5 out of around 30 trainees could read and write. Political terms and processes, such as budgets and proposals, were completely new concepts, and levels of confidence among the groups varied widely. The importance of trainings such as these quickly became very apparent.
Shanti Sada, a member of the Musher Dalit community. From a young age she became involved in Dalit activism through her work for children's groups. She is now on the board of the Center for Dalit Women Nepal. She is also a professional singer.
The variations in current levels of capabilities and confidence roughly depended on whether the woman’s caste group originated from a Hill or Mountain area, or the Terai. Dalit women of the Terai, the flat, agricultural lowlands bordering India, are mostly illterate and many do not even speak Nepali. The Musahar, the second largest Terai Dalit group whose name is derived from their practice of catching and eating mice, have a female literacy rate of only 17% for females, compared to 45% for the female Dalit population overall. In contrast, the Hill Dalit women’s dialogue and vocabulary indicated significantly higher educational levels.
The Terai Dalit castes, whose cultures and traditions share more with the neighbouring Indian states than with the Hill regions of Nepal, also endure entrenched patriarchal traditions. Levels of violence against females and amount of control they have over their marriage and reproductive decisions are the worst in the country. The Center for Dalit Women Nepal has encountered several instances of husbands not allowing their wives to leave the house to attend local government or trainings. In some cases, these persisted even after NGO staff conducted dialogue events aimed at informing the husbands on their wives‘ new responsibilities.
Establishing their presence and influence in this new political sphere will be a key challenge for Dalit women from both the Hills and the Terai, according to Tejendra Lama, the Center for Dalit Women’s Executive Director. “Ensuring that their ideas and opinions are heard by their upper-caste local government colleagues will not be easy. They will also need to fight to control the budget spending in their wards, which is currently controlled by the heads of the larger municipality areas.” Adding the complication of having to adhere to the policies of their chosen political parties, the working committees of which are dominated by upper caste groups, it is clear there are lots of obstacles ahead.
Ram Esad Vasunpar, at a training session in Kapilbastu
In Lalitpur, Tulsi Pariyar explained how in her ward, all the other members are from another, more affluent, ethnic group, and conduct meetings in their own language which she cannot speak or understand. When I ask if she expresses her ideas, she says yes, but that she has been labelled as the low caste person, and they have no interest in what she saying. “Most of the time, I get given meeting papers to sign and don’t know what they are about.”
Bringing substantive changes to the lives of Dalits in Nepal, is a complex, long-term process. In these traditional power structures, Dalit women are facing dual prejudices; as women and as Dalits. Quotas may bring the disadvantaged into political institutions, but this is only the first step. Continual cross-caste interaction needs to be promoted between all contributors: from the household to the governments, from the political parties to the media. This, along with a sustained focus on the education of Dalits, will gradually break down these invisible walls that impact lives so deeply.
Gayatri Darji, a local government representative in Nawalparasi
A lady listens in a training session in Nawalparasi