Challenges and opportunities of gender equality litigation in Nepal

Abstract

The constitutionalization of an enforceable right to equality opens novel avenues to pursue gender equality claims and presents a new set of challenges for feminist activists. This article analyzes Nepal’s constitutional litigation for alleged breaches of the right to equality with respect to gender from the re-democratization of 1990 until the promulgation of the current constitution in September 2015. It makes one central argument: Nepal’s Supreme Court has played a pivotal role in advancing the rights of Nepali women by crafting — in an incremental way — a nuanced, contextually sensitive, constitutional meaning of gender equality. In this respect, gender equality jurisprudence has been central to the judicial construction of Nepal’s constitutional identity. Nepal’s extensive experience of gender equality litigation offers key comparative lessons — especially for deeply divided societies — on the accommodation of demands for social inclusion and the construction of social identities by constitutional means.