Valley
Artistes rock to rock patriarchy
Nineteen-year-old Inju Khadka was swaying to the tune of ‘Nachyo maichang nachyo’, a rock performance from the band Abhaya and the Steam Injuns.Weena Pun
Khadka was visibly entertained, because as she put it, it was ‘her’ day—the 364 other days belonged to men. The dust rising from the ground as the audience jumped and danced around was a perfect metaphor for the society’s reaction to women enjoying themselves.
“We can’t wear pretty clothes in public without inviting catcalls. Even at home, we don’t feel free. Society here is oppressive to women,” said Khadka.
Watching and listening to 21 female artistes performing on stage did, however, make Khadka feel better. As Abhaya asked the audience if it was having fun and then questioned the notion of fun when gender-based violence and discrimination against women was still a harsh reality, Khadka felt relieved, as if she had a partner-in-crime on stage. “It’s nice to have someone speak out about the discrimination we feel every day,” said Khadka.
Although the performers wished women did not have to wait until March 8 to rock in freedom, they hoped that the musical event helped spread the message against gender-based violence, especially since men comprised 80 percent of the audience.
“It’s both a good and a bad thing that there are significantly more men here than women,” said Abhaya Subba Weise of the Abhaya and the Steam Injuns. “On one hand, this could mean that women are still forbidden from having fun in public. On the other, hopefully at least five men here learned about the pervasiveness of violence against women and are determined to change the way things are. If each of these five men teaches at least ten men what they learned today, that would be enough for me for now,” said Subba.
UN Women deputy representative for the country, Gitanjali Singh, hoped the same. “Of course, we wanted more women to come and enjoy, but we do need boys and men to support this fight against violence and discrimination,” said Singh.
The message was not entirely lost on men. Fifteen-year-old Dipak Nepali is familiar with violence that women bear at the hand of their counterparts. He has seen drunken husbands beat women to pulp and seen fathers forcing their daughters to work instead of sending them to school. “I had always wondered how I, as a young man, could help solve this problem. I think women need to stand against discrimination and men should stand by them,” said Nepali.
Enthused by the crowd’s enjoying despite the dust in the air, the organisers plan to take the concert nationwide. “Nothing has been fixed yet, but we want to take the message through music to rural areas as well. Gender-based violence, like cancer, does not distinguish between the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural,” said Rupa Joshi, communication manager at Unicef.
According to the 2011 National Demographic and Health Survey, 1 in 5 women in Nepal are likely to experience physical violence in their lifetime while 1 in 10 are likely to experience sexual violence.