Written by: Rushina Tamang - 26008, Grade VIII
Posted on: 30 November, 2021
There are many issues in Nepali society. Even though Nepal is one of the most developing countries in the world. It still lives in the past. The thinking style in Nepali Society is very old. People still live from past thoughts. There is gender discrimination, body shaming, caste discrimination, social profile discrimination, etc. even though we don’t mean it, we still say these things without acknowledgment. It’s a sad thing to say but shaming people and discriminating them has become our habit because of our societie’s influence. It starts from our own home. If a son is born he can relax in the house and doesn’t have to do any household chores. But if a daughter is born she is expected to do every household work. Our own parents expect us to do every household or just because we’re a girl. And they always nag us with the phrase, ‘being a GIRL’. They think that cooking can only be done by girls. But in reality household chores don't have a gender, nor does cooking. Anyone can do this work. These words are required to be known by any human. Someone will have to do this work one day or another. You cannot live life without knowing how to do any household chores.
Next is color discrimination. Right from when we are born we are just upon our skin color. Everyone reminds us if we are black and compliments us if we are white. Especially our own religious justice on our color. They say phrases like, ‘Oh! You look black’. And it’s very wrong to comment on somebody’s skin color. It’s just their skin. It’s because of our genetics. There are words being used like ‘Kalay’ or ‘Madhisay, ' people used to tease dark colored skin people. Our society thinks that having dark skin is bad and white skin is good. Every skin color is beautiful.
Now let’s talk about body shaming. Right, especially when we hit our teenage years, our bodies start to change. Some Of us gain weight and some of us are very skinny. Some of us get tall and others remain short. But no matter what it’s our own body and no one has the right to judge our body. No matter what our body shape is, we should not get shamed for it. Our relatives should never shame us or comment on our body. Nepali society is famous for passing comments on whether we look fat or even skinny. They even shame us for being short or tall. And these are the main reasons why people have insecurities, because their body type cannot fit the ideal body image the society has. And it hurts our feelings if someone comments on our body.
Another overlooked issue is caste discrimination. Caste discrimination is the biggest problem in Nepal. Since past times people have been categorized into lower and higher castes and have been discriminated against. Especially the castes that were placed into untouchables or the dalits they were the most discriminated against. They couldn’t enter temples, they were forbidden to touch others. They were only allowed to work looping jobs and had to face other discriminations. They still have to go through this today. Shouldn’t we start having discussions and discourses on this issue already?
Next is social profile discrimination. In Nepali society everyone is expected to be a doctor or an engineer. How to have a high-paying job. Kids are expected to have high scores in their studies. If these people don’t meet these expectations they are noted as lazy or unsuccessful. If someone works in a factory or a house building job, they are immediately seen as poor people. If someone doesn't have high scores in their studies, they get compared with others and get called different names that say lazy or someone who doesn't do hard work. But in reality every job is equal. And no one should get compared to anyone. Because every human is different and everyone has their own speciality. We can do any job we want as long as it makes us happy.
This is our Nepali society. There are more things we are discriminated against but these are the regular things that have corrupted our blood and minds. These have to be removed from our society and moral action has to be taken against anyone who treats people indifferently. However, the first step we can do to change this is to start talking about these issues and make people realize that we are still living with the 17th century mindset.
