History of women lawmakers

To ensure women’s rights, their presence is necessary in Parliament and the law-making process.

Nepali women were deprived of their political, social and economic rights till the 1950s. In an effort to make women politically and socially conscious, several activists got together and established an organisation named Adarsh Mahila Samaj in 1946. In 1947, the Nepal Women Federation was formed in Kathmandu under the chairmanship of Mangala Devi Singh to fight injustice, exploitation and inequality and undesirable social practices child marriage and polygamy. The federation also championed voting rights for women. Led by Singh, members of the federation including Sahana Pradhan, Sadhana Pradhan Adhikari, Kanaklata Shrestha, Snehalata Shrestha and other women marched in procession to the then prime minister Mohan Shamsher Rana and presented a memorandum demanding that women be allowed to participate in the municipal election proposed to be held in 1951. Subsequently, Nepal held its first municipal election in 1953, and Adhikari was elected a member of Kathmandu Municipality.