Jeannette was one of the panelist during the Mountain Women session chaired by the Hon’ble Saloni Singh, Member, National Planning Commission on 24th March 2022. She highlighted the following:
- ‘feminization of agriculture’ is not new; Mt. women have historically played dominant roles in ag and NRM ; migration of mt. men has always been a strategy for survial in mt. HHs, women have always held HHs and communities together
- Based on their roles, Women are primary holders of knowledge on ag, forest and water and livestock management through new skills are often available to men
- Workloads for mt. women are higher than for men in each case, for fuelwood and water collection and ag and hh chores
- Self image of women often low, due to low levels of education and exposure despite their strength and status of bedrock of HHs and communities – affects their abilities to negotiate for resources
- Women have had more freedom and higher status than lowland women, but this endangered by more contact with lowland and ‘mainstream’ communities
UN General Assembly has designated the year 2022 as the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development (IYM2022). The resolution was endorsed by 94 governments including Nepal. In this connection, Government of Nepal is celebrating the year with a number of activities and events throughout the year. The regional policy dialogue was be the first event as the opening of the IYM2022 in Nepal.
There were five thematic areas for the Regional Policy Dialogue—Theme:1- Mountain Economy, Theme:2- Mountain Biodiversity and Ecosystems, Theme:3 -Mountain Cultures, Theme:4- Mountain Women and Theme:5-Mountain-Lowland Connections.