Rationale and Objective of the Study

Women have played a significant role in every movement of historical importance in Nepal. They have duly fulfilled their civic duties and responsibilities. But the role and contribution of women find a little mention in the written history of the movements. So happens with the case of the contribution of women to the trade union movement. Their courageous deeds have been unnoticed and their sacrifices have not been recorded. The objective of this study is to highlight those contributions made by Nepali women, which have so far fallen into oblivion. To put in specific terms, the study aims to gather live information about the activities of the living personalities who are legend in their own lifetime thereby ending the tradition of neglecting the contribution of women to the history of the working class movement, as it is seen in other socio-political sectors.

Existing gender discrimination in our society is an obstacle to the recognition of contribution made by women. Labour movement of Nepal has also been affected by this trend. General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is committed to eliminating this tendency. The study is an effort to that end- an utmost effort to honour the role of women in the Nepali working class movement, an effort to salute the courageous women and regard them as a source of education and inspiration to the future generation. This study is therefore to challenge the patriarchal attitude that women are good grihalaxmis (housewives) and that the house is their world. The report of historical events that built along with women, and which have a strong bearing on the present-day Nepali society, do clarify that there is nothing women have not done, and nothing they cannot do.

The study report has been divided into nine main parts: Introduction of the study, the state of women's participation in the labour sector, women's participation in democratic movement, women's participation in labour movement, women in present trade union movement, problems of women workers, gender policy of labour organisations and conclusion. Some materials supplementing the study have been included in the annex.

The Scope of the Study and Research Methodology

The study, in the beginning, was supposed to give brief information on the entire women movement, and then to concentrate on manufacturing and industrial sectors. However, on the basis of various discussions held and recommendations received at the initial stage of the research, the scope of the study had to be expanded further. As a result, it was decided to include the history of the peasants' movement as a part of the study.

The work began with interviews with the leaders of the Nepali Labour Movement of 1947, who are the senior most personalities of the entire Trade Union Movement, late Man Mohan Adhikari and Nepali Congress President Mr. Girija Prasad Koirala. On the basis of information received through interviews and visit of Biratnagar Mills Area, a numbers of facts could be dug-out. Discussions were held with the activists of the Labour Movement. Interviews were held with such activists as Anasanni Bajei, who staged a 27-day hunger strike in 1950, and Hadtaliki Ma, who gave birth to a child while taking part in the strike. Many other activists both women and men supplied a numbers of information in this regard. In an effort to collect further information, Balram Giri, one of the leaders of the movement, was also interviewed.

"We never thought that people would come some day to enquire about these women. Therefore, no effort was made to safeguard the information," said Balram Giri, whose words reflect the attitude towards women in our society.

Information received through meetings with the courageous women activists, who participated in the jute mill struggle in Biratnagar Mills Area in 1951, and other leaders and cadres, inspired and enriched the research work. Information was also collected from leaders and activists of several movements in Balaju, Hetauda, Pokhara and other industrial districts and cities.

The research concentrated in areas like education, civil service, and public enterprises including banks. It was also an effort to collect at a time the information about the role of women in agriculture, production and service sector movements.

In the final phase of the study, women activists involved in democratic movement of the country were interviewed. These women activists uncovered much information shadowed over times. Besides personal meeting and discussion with former leaders and workers of the manufacturing, agriculture and service sectors, group discussions were organized on a regional basis as the other method of the research. Articles from various newspapers and publications, conversation with various trade union leaders, information from their offices and publication, and information from national and international trade union organisations have also been the sources of this study.

Limitation of the Study

Very little literature is available on the Peasants' Movement although it is a pioneering movement, which produced a large number of political activists and leaders. It is a real challenge to locate them out, however. As a result of various obstructions, the study has not been able to collect information on incidents as much as it had to in this sector. The study has, however, reached to a conclusion that there is quite a lot to be searched and identified.

The study had to be completed a year ago. However, it was not possible due to various reasons. The study raises an honest question as to how the information based on limited resources, and collected from the personalities linked up with the historical events of agriculture, manufacturing and service sector would represent courageous movements in the remaining sectors.

It also needs to be mentioned that no effort was made to incorporate the movement of the working women in domestic, rural, informal and self-employed sectors.

As a large number of women involved in the movement are illiterate, it was their memories to furnish information. It is, therefore, obvious that many important facts about many incidents have gone missing as the memory power declines, as one gets older and older.