Gendered Citizenship: Feminist Perspective on Democratization in Nepal

• In Event: Women-ing Movements: Understanding Gendered Mobilisation in Social Movements

Abstract

This paper focuses on the prominence of contests over gender within constitutional politics and their implications for democratization, focusing on the definition, practice, and experience of citizenship. It is based on research in Nepal, a South Asian country undergoing democratic transformation. The broader research project examines gendered constitutional changes and their implementation in Nepal since 1990 at the central and local levels. Since 1990, major constitutional conflicts have been inseparable from gendered politics: from the liberalizing movements in the 1990s to the Maoist anti-monarchical insurgency, and the profound constitutional resettlement of 2015, which restructured Nepal into a democratic federal republic. In each aspect of this period, constitutional change has been deeply related to gendered politics, including women's movements to redefine citizenship, establish a quota-based electoral system, and redistribute family property rights. Broadly, the project asks three interconnected questions: (i) are constitutional changes an effective tool for creating a more inclusive and participatory public space? (ii) how do women navigate the political space, grasp opportunities for political agency, and confront ongoing exclusions? (iii) Does the experience of gendered politics in Nepal contribute to assessing the democratizing potential of constitutional politics? In this paper, I will apply the concept of 'gendered citizenship' to recent constitutional politics in Nepal to help understand the pivotal roles and experiences of women participating in democratic transformation in a patriarchal society, as well as the limitations of such agency. A focus on the contested concepts and everyday practice of gendered citizenship, this work also seeks to contribute to the emerging field of 'feminist constitutionalism,' asking whether democratization itself is hindered if state-making and constitutional change are not conceived and implemented through a more thoroughly feminist approach

Author

• Dhana Hamal, Johns Hopkins University