The report released on Thursday by the Inter-party Women’s Alliance (IPWA) says single women faced the most hardship while getting access to relief.

“We found women in general and single women in particular faced more hardship in comparison to men while receiving relief,” said Sashi Shrestha, president of the alliance. The situation had resulted due to lack of women representation in disaster management committee, the study has found.

It further states that violence against women has increased post earthquake as well as cases of rape on minors, citing some of the incidents. But it does not provide the exact number of sexual abuse and trafficking that has taken place since the April earthquake. “We also found women who were raped by their own husbands, but we decided to hold details of sexual abuse at the requests of the victims,” explained IPWA member Kalyani Rana.

The research was carried between June 27- July 25 in Dolakha, Sindhupalchok, Kavre, Ramechhap, Sindhuli, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha, Lamjung, Tanahun, Chitwan and Makwanpur. The IPWA said that they could not reach Rasuwa due to lack of transportation.   

The report also suggests distributing relief on the basis of households has not been effective and that it be replaced by counting the number of family members.

During the presentation, the IPWA also demanded that the state provide shelter, education and health service to those severely injured in the earthquakes and ensure 33 percent representation of women in the reconstruction projects.