To All the Women and Girls: Right, Equality, and Empowerment

Nepalese women and girls have made notable progress in recent years, yet significant challenges persist. As of February 2024, women held 33.1% of parliamentary seats, reflecting strides in political representation. In the economic sphere, female labor force participation increased from 23.6% in 2010 to 28.6% in 2022, with women comprising 29.6% of managerial positions as of 2021. 

However, 34.9% of women aged 20–24 were married before 18, and only 61.9% of women aged 15–49 had their family planning needs met with modern methods as of 2019. Additionally, the adolescent birth rate remains high, and significant gaps persist in areas such as unpaid care work and access to assets. As we approach International Women's Day 2025, it is imperative to address these challenges through collective action. This day serves as a call to break barriers, uphold women's rights, and promote gender equality through practical steps. By fostering an environment where every woman and girl in Nepal can thrive, lead, and live with dignity, we can turn the promise of equality into reality.

Step by Step: Side by Side

We dream of a world where voices rise,
where hope unites, where justice flies.
Not yours, not mine—but ours to share,
a space for all, a future fair.

Hand in hand, we claim our place,
no walls to break, no lines to trace.
Opportunities, not just a few,
but open doors for me and you.

We march today, not just for rights,
but for a world where kindness lights.
To walk as one, to shape, to drive,
to build, to lift, to dream, to thrive.

With every step, with every stand,
we write the future, hand in hand.

In the hold of Stillness

Silent he sits, where all worlds begin,
Eyes shut tight, yet awake within.
Moonlight rests on matted crown,

Ganga cascades in silver gown.

He is calm of dusk, the storm of night,

Fire that burns with healing light.

In Tandava's beat, the cosmos sways

Birth and ruin in endless plays.

With Parvati's touch, the fierce grows mild,
Half ascetic, half love's child.
He drinks the dark for life to stay,
Lord of time, who gives and takes away.

Almost Free

She left...
not because she stopped loving,
but because he stopped staying.

Now, hearts knock gently,
but her door stays closed.

Not ready.
Not yet.

Somewhere between leaving him
and loving again,
she lingers;
almost free...

Still Holding on

She lingers in the echoes of yesterday,

where his laughter still curls in the corners of her mind,

soft and deceiving.

She runs her fingers through memories,

like brushing pages of a story

she’s too afraid to finish.

He left; but the scent of him lingers in the air of her quiet nights.
His touch, a ghost on her skin
she cannot wash away.
She tells the world she’s fine,
smiles stitched like fragile silk across her lips.

But love? No! Love is a language she’s afraid how to speak.

How do you trust touch

when his hands once promised forever 

and let go?

How do you believe in hearts

when his pulse once matched hers

but walked away without a sound?

Others come close,

but her heart... afraid to bloom only to wither again.

She laughs at their words,

but her soul stays quiet,

locked in the room where his goodbye still echoes.

He took more than himself when he left:

he took the part of her

that believed love was safe.

Now, she keeps the memories,

even the broken ones

because letting them go

would mean admitting he never stayed,

never truly loved.

And maybe,
a small, fragile part of her
still waits...
for the impossible return, for a love
that won’t come back.

Until then, she’ll walk, half-alive,
wrapped in the softness of what was,
too tender, too torn
to begin again.

Bound by Silence

I’ve stopped holding expectations,

But they weigh heavy with their demands.

I’m overlooked for what I am,

Exhausted, drained by empty hands.

They want me to bend, to shift,

To wear their choices as my own.

Disgust swells as I drift,

In silence, my voice overthrown.

A democracy, they say it’s mine,

Yet I’m forbidden to speak my mind.

A system of freedom, locked in line,

Where my choices are lost, undefined.

Caught in this web, I wonder still:

Are we free, or just bound by will?