PM Deuba calls for concerted efforts for women empowerment

The 112th International Women’s Day has been observed across Nepal with the slogan of ‘Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow’.

Prime Minister Sher Bhadur Deuba has insisted on collective efforts for realizing the rights and empowerment of women.

Addressing a function held to mark the 112th International Women’s Day organised in Kathamndu on Tuesday, Prime Minister Deuba urged all to proactively campaign to fight all kinds of discrimination and violence against women and girls.

Terming women’s empowerment as the common concern of all, the Prime Minister sought dedication from all concerned bodies to ensure the socio-economic and political rights of women.

Prime Minister Deuba added that women’s representation and participation in political and administrative spheres had improved as a result of policy-level, legal, structural and procedural reforms.

Also speaking on the occasion, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Uma Regmi said women’s representation in political, economic and social sectors was gradually increasing.

The Minister added that Nepal had achieved a significant fall in maternal mortality rate, a rise in women’s literacy rate, and positive economic empowerment indicators.

She stressed the need to do away with violence and discrimination against women within the household sphere first to find a path towards socio-economic development.

Likewise, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal stressed the need for women to take initiatives to claim and realize their rights with their competence and efficiency.

Similarly, Minister for Urban Development Ram Kumari Jhakri underscored the need for realizing women’s rights to equality along with social justice, their proportional participation in every state organ and implementing their fundamental rights as ensured by the constitution in practice.

National Women Commission Chairperson Kamala Kumari Parajuli viewed that women’s role and access should be increased and made more effective although their representation in the upper body of the state was a positive step.