On women leadership

Wrote this a few months ago.

The sun is shining finally after a cloudy morning. People are gathering in the school premise. There is a chautari in the middle and chairs lined up right next to it. There is a big table and some sturdier chairs behind them. At the front, like a temporary amphitheater audience space, lie benches. It’s the day of the selection of the School

Management Committee (SMC) members.

In the benches, men and women segregate in four columns. Women in two and men in two. They are the parents of our school children, here to witness the selection of parent representatives of the SMC. Immediately I am reminded of how this resembles the girls and boy’s seating behavior is class. In the podium space, I see men gathering. In the audience, I wonder which parents to approach first. More so I am confused as to whether to approach women or men. Women seem like a safer bet and I go talk to them. 

After trying hard to find a way to ask in the politest way possible, I come up with general ice breakers: “Namaste. Kata dekhi aunubhayo? tapai kasko abhibhawak ho? Tapaiko naani ko ho?” (Where do you live? Whose parent are you?)

“When does this start Miss? I was on time but I have been here for two hours and I am still waiting.” A woman asks me. I tell her that we need more attendants so we are waiting. We talk about her children and their performance in class. I walk about and repeat the routine with more parents. I try to identify whether I teach their children or not. There are some confused faces. Some happy and excited faces. 

Another woman tells me, “It is hard for a single parent like me to be a member of the SMC. I have a shop. I have to work both at home and in the shop for my kids and I cannot get involved outside of that.”

I dare not approach men for a while and sit with the women. But eventually I talk with two friendly looking men. One of them was a tenth grader’s father. We had a nice chitchat. Someone yelled to him, “Aren’t you going to join in as an SMC candidate?” He laughed it off. He later shared that he was going to compete in an SMC of a school much closer to his house where his other child studied.

I meet more parents. Two women turn out to have their girls in my class. I tell them how they have improved. It was a jolly conversation and I led them to the benches. I found out later that they were also candidates. I was happy and hopeful that their leadership interest would trickle down to their daughters.

There are speeches, rules, selection procedure...Three hours and some chiya guff with my colleagues later, there's some conclusion. They have selected women candidates for the SMC. These women share that some were coerced into giving up by other largely male leaders. They caved in because they thought they couldn't commit to all the meetings as they have all the household chores on their plates. Then they pride themselves for being quicker than men. Then they talk about how the men lead their selection process. Then it’s about how they should choose two more women because the men candidates are not being able to make a decision. They pride themselves again for not fighting and coming to an understanding. They also talk about how the SMC president should be a woman, just like the country's.  

Current President of Nepal was appointed amid the cries over the dissatisfaction with the citizenship rights provision for women. Some sources reported that the President herself said that Nepal is not ready for such rights. Seeing women feel empowered about the appointment of the woman president here firsthand was some sort of a relief. In the local level, since elections have not been held, there is not much record of the impact of local government officials who are women. In the lack of local activism and elections, the SMC seemed to have provided a stage for competition between parties. It was good to see the presence of women in such stage. As the day turned to night, most of the women were gone. Because I was ill, I had to leave too. But I heard that the men agreed on their candidate after a few more hours.

I am thankful that the day gave me an exclusive glimpse into how women candidates were selected for an important local committee position. I saw women being 'assisted' by men when they are trying to make a decision for themselves. I also saw some strong women who held their ground. I am yet to see what change they will bring. But for schools all over Nepal, could the appointment of women SMC members help move a step closer to reducing the gender gap?