"When
we talk about women in business it is about more than sewing, knitting and
household work," Menuka Gurung, 19
By Anna
Leach
 |
| After studying business in Thailand, Menuka Gurung wants to return to Nepal to transform society through social enterprise. Photograph: Ewen Bell |
“My grandmother wanted a grandson from
my father. She was disappointed when I was born because I was the second child
and they expected a son. Though my father was her eldest son, she never showed
love towards us because she expected a grandson. I felt sad about this. However
later I realised that this is not just my story; there are a lot of people who
have faced gender inequality.”
The first challenge a
girl faces is her own family. Nowadays, more people support girls' education in Nepal. However, there are still a lot of uneducated families
who have no idea about education and women's rights.
If we want equality then
we need to involve boys as well as girls in advocacy. The boys should know how girls
feel when they are teased, or when the boys are allowed to go out but girls
have to stay at home after 7pm.
Biggest challenge: Balancing my studies with extra-curricular activities is
one of my biggest challenges. My parents were happy to see how concerned I was
about women's rights and my activities in community, but they always had a fear
that it might affect my studies.
Proudest moment: Organising a flashmob with Hollaback, which
campaigns to end street harassment, was one of my proudest moments. More than
anything, for me being a part of Women Lead, the first and only leadership organisation for
young women in Nepal, makes me proud. As a trainee and as an intern, I was able
to interact with people from different backgrounds and spread the word about
women's empowerment and at the same time learn from their experiences.
Currently,
I am an undergraduate in Webster university in Thailand, majoring in management
and international business. I want to pursue a career in social
entrepreneurship. My dream is to transform Nepalese society through responsible
solution-oriented business.
When
we talk about women in business it is about more than sewing, knitting and household
work. Some people in Nepal feel that women can't go beyond that. I want to
change their misconception about women in business and as a whole.
LOVE AND GENDER, ACCORDING TO THE HINDU EPICS
[There is much that is questionable here. There’s the baffling Supreme Court claim that only a “minuscule fraction” of India is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, and of that fraction, only 200 have ever been prosecuted under Section 377. Therefore, Section 377 cannot be called unconstitutional. (Yes, brows shall furrow: Is the Constitution decided by numbers?).]
Now
that the Supreme Court has restored the
19th-century ban on homosexuality, when all the arguments are done,
when we Indians have heard everything about freedom over our bodies and
homosexuality being a Western import and the right to privacy and more, maybe
it’s time to remember our traditions. Perhaps there are lessons there about
homosexuality too.
Back
in July 2009, the Delhi High Court declared that Section 377 of the Indian
Penal Code, which made illegal homosexuality as well as some kinds of
consensual heterosexual sex, was unconstitutional. The language the court used
then is remarkable, even in its formal legal decorum, for its humanity. These
famous lines moved me then and move me still:
“If
there is one constitutional tenet that can be said to be the underlying theme
of the Indian Constitution, it is that of ‘inclusiveness.’ This court believes
that Indian Constitution reflects this value, deeply ingrained in Indian
society, nurtured over several generations. The inclusiveness that Indian
society traditionally displayed, literally in every aspect of life, is manifest
in recognizing a role in society for everyone. Those perceived by the majority
as ‘deviants’ or ‘different’ are not on that score excluded or ostracized.”
Understandably, that was a euphoric moment for plenty of Indians – plenty of ordinary men and women who had, until that moment, been living lives crammed with daily crimes.
Understandably, that was a euphoric moment for plenty of Indians – plenty of ordinary men and women who had, until that moment, been living lives crammed with daily crimes.
In
contrast, Dec. 11, 2013, has been called a day of mourning by many in India. In
overturning the 2009 ruling, the Supreme Court declared that Section 377 “does
not suffer from the vice of unconstitutionality and the declaration made by the
Division Bench of the High Court is legally unsustainable.”
Because
of these words, plenty of Indian men and women have returned to living lives
crammed with daily crimes.
There
is much that is questionable here. There’s the baffling Supreme Court claim
that only a “minuscule fraction” of India is gay, lesbian, bisexual or
transgender, and of that fraction, only 200 have ever been prosecuted under
Section 377. Therefore, Section 377 cannot be called unconstitutional. (Yes,
brows shall furrow: Is the Constitution decided by numbers?).
There’s
the attempt to divide people into “different classes” based on the kind of
intercourse they indulge in – the “ordinary course” kind or the “against the
order of nature” kind. (Brows shall furrow some more: one more reason to draw
lines.)
There’s
also the court’s “grave doubts about the expediency of transplanting Western
experience in this country.” On this point, it’s worth reminding the Supreme
Court of our very own Indian experience, homegrown stuff never transplanted.
For
example, there’s one of our most famous pilgrimage sites, the temple to
Ayyappan in Sabarimala, Kerala. Some 30 million men travel there for an annual
festival, their austere black and blue clothing familiar to everyone in south
India.
Ayyappan
was the son born of a legendary union between the gods Shiva and Vishnu. Vishnu
was in the form of a woman, Mohini, his only female avatar. Even so, the
essential maleness of the gods is manifest in even Ayyappan’s other name: Hari
Hara Putra, or the son of the male couple Hari (a name for Vishnu) and Hara (a
name for Shiva).
The
gender ambiguity is itself an ancient tradition that says things about how
casually we once viewed these themes. In a Tamil Nadu temple, for example, it
is Shiva who is worshipped as a woman: a mother who comes to help a daughter in
need. In this form, he is called Tayumanavar (“He who became a mother too”).
And
there’s the remarkable story of same-sex love in the god Ram’s ancestry. We owe
one version of the Ramayana, the story of Ram, to a 15th-century
Bengali poet, Krittibas Ojha. His Krittivasi Ramayana is easily the most
popular rendering of the story among Bengalis.
In
her book “Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West,” Ruth Vanita
explains what this version tells us about one of Ram’s ancestors, the King
Dilipa (after whom, for what it’s worth, I am named).
Dilipa
had two wives. Unfortunately, he could not bear children. When he died, he left
his queens devastated and his kingdom heirless. In their grief, the queens
turned to each other in love. Their lovemaking had the gods’ blessings; Shiva
assured them that they would produce a “lovely child.”
The
Krittivasi description of what happened next is moving and tender:
Bhage
bhage sambhog je tathe upagata
Brahmadev
thuilen nam bhagiratha.
“Born
of the mutual enjoyment between two vulvas, the god Brahma named him
Bhagiratha.”
In
other words, the very name of Ram’s ancestor, Bhagiratha, is a reminder of, and
a tribute to, the love – the “mutual enjoyment” – his parents, the two queens,
shared.
Ms.
Vanita underlines the Bhagiratha story with an intriguing analogy: “Like
Leonardo da Vinci imagining the airplane long before it could be constructed,
the Bhagiratha narratives imagine women producing a child together.”
Airplanes,
of course, are now just part of the scenery. Not even my cats pay attention
when one roars overhead. Ms. Vanita suggests that in much the same way, there
will come a time when we Indians pay no attention to women in love. To men in
love. To children born of such love, even. All of it will be just part of the
scenery too, like it once was in India.
Dilip
D’Souza is a writer based in Mumbai. He has written four books, most recently
“The Curious Case of Binayak Sen.” Find him on Twitter at @DeathEndsFun.
