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analysis storytelling
Evidence about women's livelihoods in Nepal organized, visualized, and analyzed. This page will explore my research questions through a series of visualizations.
my research questions
how does a woman's experience in Nepal vary depending on what specific region she is from?
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why has gender inequality in nepal led women to become more vulnerable to the extreme weather events and effects caused by climate change?
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This project is an effort to advocate why women in countries in the Global South such as Nepal must stand at the forefront of all action to address the global climate crisis. When we analyze root causes, it is clear that climate change disproportionately harms women in Nepal due to climate change instability and gender vulnerability.
To answer my research question, I found that there were three key areas of the data I needed to explore in detail:
Nepal's Three Physiographic Regions
Intersectionality Between Women and Climate Change in Global South
Nepali Patriarchal Structures and Cultural Expectations
In this section, we cover the following topics:
diffeent nepali regios
Different Nepali Regions
With over 100 ethnic groups and 120 different languages, Nepal is an immensely diverse country. This had led Nepalese people’s lived experiences to vary depending on what specific culture and part of Nepal they are from.
The country is split off into three main physiological sections: the Himal, Pahad, and Tarai.
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The Himal mountain region is located in the North of Nepal and consists of natural landforms such as Mount Everest and Kali Gandaki Gorge. A majority of the region's economy is dependent on agriculture and tourism. It consists of approximately 35% of Nepal's land area yet only less than 8% of Nepal's population lives there due to the challenging terrain.
The Pahad region refers to the section in between the Himal and Tarai regions of Nepal which consists of hills and small mountains. Pahad is the Nepali word for hill, which is why this region is also often known as the Hilly region. It is commonly known as the original heartland of Nepal and consists of fertile valleys and cities in Nepal such as the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara, Banepa, and Trisuli.
The Tarai region refers to the lowlands that are located on the southern border of Nepal. It consists of tropical savannahs, small hills, and a majority of the country's agricultural centers. The region consists of a plain terrain and has a climate that is subtropical. It is inhabited by almost 50% of Nepal's population and a majority of the people work in the agricultural field as farmers.
Role of Nepalese Women
Women there are already subjected to limited access of resources ranging from education to healthcare to job opportunities. This violently places women into a poverty trap, confined into a lifestyle consisting of economic hurdles, political barriers, and health hazards.
Girls and young women, burdered by the intense household expectatiosn and societal restrictions, are automatically placed at a high risk of dropping out of school before they even complete their primary education.
Expected to be homemakers and be servile towards their husbands and children, these traditional roles of women are prioritized way over public participation and opportunities in regards to education and careers.
Nepal's social, religious, and cultural patterns foster the intense gender disparities found all over the country. Patriarchal conceptions and strong gender roles enforces the low status of women, leading the women to constantly be placed under male domination.
A study conducted by journalist Marie Dorigny revealed that 99% of the men in Nepal believe that women have to obey them, and over 66% of Nepalese women are victims to phyisical, verbal, and sexual violence.
They are locked into living with these harsh conditions which has resulted in their forced attachment to men. Women are unable to become citizens until her father or husband authorizes it. Once married, often forced to and often a minor, a single woman is not allowed to return to her parents. She has no choice but to obey her husband and stay by his side.
role of nepalese women
sufferings forced on women
Sufferings Forced on Women
Hover me to listen to Laxmi Sunar's story.
Women encounter sufferings caused from climate change with disproprtionate severity due to the denial of their basic rights all across the Global South. These instances of enforced gender inequality suppresses women's rights, forcing them to become more vulnerable to mounting environmental issues.
This violently sets the women to become more likely to live in poverty, have less access to basic human rights, and face systematic violence that is going to severely escalate during periods of instability.
Those who are living in unstable environments prone to climate change are forced into numerous labor-intensive activities such as collecting water, gathering firewood, providing food for animals, and farming. Women also have to deal with numerous demanding responsibilities and societal traditions such as the burden of taking care of families in environments that are dangerously vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Over 60% of women in South Asia participate in jobs in the agriculture field. Since Nepal's economy is dominated by agriculture, most of the jobs in the country engage in farming.
When the specific needs of women are not even met, climate change will inescapably create danger upon the women. in Nepal, there are a lack of state policies that acknowledge how climate adaption has a disproportionate impact on women. Women have a lack of independent source of income,low decision-making power, limited access to timely weather forecast information, limited options of crops, and restrictions on overall livelihood diversification.
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Women there are also unable to fully grasp the technical aspects of climate change due to the systemic inequities in regards to access to education.
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Hover me to listen to Sabitri Sah's Story.
Hover me to listen to Dhanmanti Pradhan's Story.
Inseparably having to deal with gender discrimination, domestic violence, and now climate change is worsening the mental wellbeing of Nepalese women. This is seen from the country's single leading cause of death among women—suicide.
Climate change is a huge contributing factor to the spiraling mental health problems women in Nepal experience. The increase of earthquaes and floods exacerbates the issues of depression and helplessness since women are forced to live in temporary shelters while having to carry the burden of increased poverty.
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