Women's Political Representation in Nepal: An Experience from the 2008 Constituent Assembly

Abstract

In Nepal, a constituent assembly was elected in 2008 to draft a new constitution for the nation. The assembly worked for four years but was dissolved without completing its task. Nonetheless, it had made decisions on most constitutional provisions apart from the provision of federal structures. Political forces agreed thereafter that the new assembly will create a constitution based on the constitutional provisions decided by the dissolved assembly. Women comprised almost 33 percent of the constituent assembly in 2008. However, to what extent did the presence of a ‘critical mass’ of women in the assembly contribute to progress towards gender equality? This article, reviews existing literature, with a view to query the effects of ‘critical mass,’ arguing that despite the sizeable presence of women in the assembly, they were unable to influence the culture of this male-dominated political institution. The alliance among women for advancing women's interests was far from possible. In this respect, the assembly was not very different from the parliaments of the past, which only had a nominal women's representation. The size of women's presence has no particular relationship with a ‘women-friendly’ policy in Nepal, no more than seen in the studies of western parliaments.

Abstract in Nepali

Keywords:

• Women's representation
• constitution
• constituent assembly (CA)
• critical mass
• Nepal

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