Nepal has just become one of a select few countries who have a female head of state.
Bidya Devi Bhandari was elected as President with 327 votes, against Kul Bahadur Gurung’s 214 votes
54 year old Bhandari has been a long time campaigner for women’s rights in Nepal and has promised to be a champion for women and girls in her new role.
Bhandari has been lobbying for their newly adopted constitution, which required either the President or the Vice President, and at least one third of all the countries law makers be women. It also requires that all government committees include women.
The Nepali times describes Bhandari’s life as something that is both familiar and extraordinary to western women:
Born in a lower middle class Brahmin family in Guranse village of Bhojpur district in 1961, Bhandari began her political career by joining a student movement in 1979. She then acquired membership of CPN (ML), went underground and fought against the party-less Panchayat system from Morang district.
While living an underground life, she fell in love with Nepal’s most iconic communist leader Madan Bhandari. They tied the knot in 1982 and gave birth to two daughters. That was then she took her husband’s surname. She was born as a Pandey.
After the end of Panchayat system and restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990, CPN (ML) became CPN (UML) after unification with CPN (Marxist) and her husband became General Secretary of the unified party.
As wife of an extremely busy political leader and mother of two little daughters, she could not manage time for her public life. She then decided to sacrifice her political career and help her husband from behind as a dutiful wife.
But Madan Bhandari’s mysterious death in 1993 led to her second inning in politics. The UML pitted her against veteran NC leader and former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. Riding a sympathy wave, she defeated Bhattarai from her late husband’s constituency in Kathmandu.
In 2009, Bhandari became Nepal’s first Defense Minister at a time when the Maoists, not a third largest party and disintegrated like now, were going all out against the army. She stood by the army, inviting wrath from the Maoists. That same year, she became the party’s Vice Chair – a post that she retained even after the party’s latest general convention.
Bhandari is known as a close confidante of the powerful UML Chair and Prime Minister KP Oli. Many believe that she would not have been able to fearlessly face off with the Maoists if not backed by Oli. Not surprisingly, Oli proposed her name when the UML standing committee met early this week to pick a presidential candidate.
Some feminists believe that Bhandari is not a feminist despite being a woman and leading the party’s woman cell for more than a decade. They refer to a print article in which she reportedly attacked Nepal’s feminist movement for being influenced by western values and justified discrimination perpetuated by the patriarchal society. They also criticise her for defending the UML on citizenship provisions, which they believe are discriminatory.
But the reinstated parliament in 2006 had reserved 33 per cent seats for women by voting on a proposal submitted by none other than Bhandari. NC leader Kamala Panta says: “Whether we like it or not, the credit for 33 per cent seats for women goes to her.”
The change may be a shock to the traditionally male dominated politics of Nepal, but given the support Bhandari has, both from her parliamentary colleagues and the general populace, the change is likely to be good for Nepalese women and girls.
And maybe Australia could learn something from the benefits of requiring women’s participation in public life.