Photo Essays
3 MIN READ
A glimpse into the history of women's education
The tyrants of our past treated the culture of literacy and learning, reading and writing, as dangerous. For women, too, participating in progress and democracy meant in the first place being literate, having opinions, and becoming part of the world of letters.
Women’s education is an important part of feminist history, perhaps even the most important for the quiet and dramatic ways in which it transformed everyday life. To pursue education, Nepali women had to go against the common wisdom that saw girls’ education as an aberration, a waste, or even a threat to social order.
Feminist pioneers in Nepal all emphasized education as the key to overcoming women’s subjugated position in society. From the middle of the twentieth century, circumstances began to change and women started attending schools and colleges in ever-growing numbers. Teaching in schools also became the most significant route for women to begin their professional lives. This series brings together some glimpses of the past that capture the outward surge of girls and women through the life of study and learning. It also shows how schools uniquely fomented a collective experience for women.
[Feature Image: Kathmandu | 1972
Sulochana Manandhar and Astalaxmi Shakya among other students of Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Girls’ College. Started in 1961, RR Campus offered classes in the Humanities and Social Sciences only in the morning shift to accommodate women with busy domestic and professional schedules.
Sulochana Manandhar Dhital Collection/Nepal Picture Library]
These images are part of the ongoing Feminist Memory Project, which were under exhibition during Photo Kathmandu.
:::
We welcome your comments. Please write to us at [email protected]
Nepal Picture Library Nepal Picture Library is a digital photo archive run by photo.circle that strives to create a broad and inclusive visual archive of Nepali social and cultural history, and has collected over 70,000 photos from various sources across Nepal.
Photo Essays
4 min read
Kathmandu, our eternally bustling capital, has been lulled into sleep by the forbidding coronavirus
Features
4 min read
The coronavirus is fast becoming a financial crisis that is set to have a disastrous impact on the wellbeing of the already marginalised
Recommended
Perspectives
7 min read
Rupa Sunar’s act of resistance not only sparked the predictable rage of Bahuns and Chhetris but also unmasked many Janajatis who see themselves as crusaders of justice for the marginalized.
Photo Essays
7 min read
How the Rais of Bhojpur use alcohol to soften life’s blows
COVID19
News
3 min read
A daily summary of Covid19 related developments that matter
Perspectives
6 min read
The sporadic global events keep reminding us that the fate of these workers is prone to fragility the same as the country’s sources of foreign revenues.
Perspectives
7 min read
Bringing attention to the everyday abuse faced by women
Features
9 min read
In a case eerily reminiscent of Nirmala Pant, 17-year-old Bhagrathi is believed to have been raped and murdered in Baitadi.