Code of conduct: Only for women?

It is important for the state to realise that restrictive borders and policing the so-called ‘dignity of Nepali women’ is not the solution to existing problems.

Crossing Nepal’s border alone, either by road or air, as a Nepali woman is often, if not always, an unpleasant experience. Questions asked by border security or immigration officers are downright derogatory, reflecting the patriarchal mindset of the state vested with the power to decide a woman’s mobility. In the name of protecting Nepali women and their ‘bodies’, we often get harassed by the same forces that are meant to safeguard us.