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Social and Human Development of Women in Nepal

Nepal (/nəˈpɔːl/ (listen); Nepali: नेपाल 'Nepāl' [neˈpal]), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal (Nepali: सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल Saṅghīya Lokatāntrik Gaṇatantra Nepāl), is a landlocked country in South Asia. In the 2011 census, Nepal's population was approximately 26 million people with a population growth rate of 1.35% and a median age of 21.6 years. In 2016, the female median age was approximately 25 years old and the male median age was approximately 22 years old.

In the past century, there has been a drastic positive change in the role and status of women in Nepal, thinning the barrier to gender inequality. While the 1990 Constitution guaranteed fundamental rights to all citizens without discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, caste, religion, or sex, modernizing society along with reach of education to the general population itself has played an important role to promote gender equality. The roles of women have changed in various ways in the modern Nepalese society. Despite the difficult post-conflict transitional context, today, Nepal is not only rapidly progressing towards economic development, it is also achieving targets for poverty and hunger, universal primary education, child mortality, maternal health and gender equality and women’s empowerment. Women’s representation in the Constituent Assembly has dramatically increased to 29% in the November 2013 elections from 2.9% in 1991 (in the then parliament). Women are now taking leadership roles and participating in decision making at all levels. There has been increased government involvement to increase accountability and monitoring of gender equality commitments and to establish and strengthen linkages between the normative and operational aspects of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Today, Nepalese women are defying cultural traditions, and are becoming community leaders, environmentalists politicians and business owners. In October 2015, Nepal Elected its first female president, Bidhya Devi Bhandari. Other famous Nepali women include CNN Hero of the Year winners Anuradha Koirala, Pushpa Basnet, first female to climb Mt. Everest Pasang Lamu Sherpa,international award winning athletes Mira Rai, Phupu Lhamu Khatri,and first female chief justice Sushila Karki.

Literacy

Nepal has made tremendous progress in education, moving from a country where education was associated with the social elite to a country where,  97.2% of children now enrol (with a Gender Parity Index of 1.0 in the Net Enrolment Rate) in primary education (Draft Flash I Report 2017/18, Department of Education). Literacy rates in the wider population have also increased in line with the growth of general education. The literacy rate of the population which is 15 years and above is reported to be 64% (Male: 75.3%, Female: 54.2%) as per the Annual Household Survey 2015/16 by the Central Bureau of Statistics. According to the census fro 1971-2011 the female lieracy rate in nepal incresed by 53.5% in the past four decades.