by Anamika Sharma Paudel
Dear Nepali Woman,
We need to protect ourselves.
If being a woman isn’t difficult enough, being a woman from a so-called “third-world” country places us at the bottom of the barrel in terms of privilege. Yesterday, it was Mamta and Muna; today, it is Prakriti. Time and again, we are reminded that we cannot always rely on our government, our society, or even our families.
Do you think if Prakriti had been a white European international student at KIIT University in India, her complaints of harassment would have been ignored? I don’t think so. I believe she would still be alive today. As much as we want to believe justice is blind, the harsh truth is that nationality, GDP, currency, diplomacy, and power dictate whose voices matter.
Yes, our government should do better. But if it had, many of us wouldn’t have had to leave Nepal in search of better opportunities. That, however, is a conversation for another day. Right now, as we build our lives in foreign lands, we must accept an uncomfortable reality: no one is coming to save us.
We must protect ourselves. We must be highly educated, financially independent, and experts in our fields. We must claim our place at decision-making tables, advocate for our rights, and possess ten times the audacity of the average man. If someone tries to drag us down, they must know we will not go quietly.
It is time we unlearn the cultural conditioning that tells us to be the “good woman”—the one who sacrifices, always says yes, endures in silence, and puts everyone else first. That version of womanhood has cost us too much.
The next generation of Nepali girls is watching. It is on us to pave the way for them. We are not to be discounted because of where we come from. We are just as capable—if not more so—than anyone else. Nepali women deserve to be heard, to lead, to make decisions, and most importantly, to put themselves first.
About the Author:
Anamika Sharma Paudel is a 2022 graduate of the Master of Science in Health Informatics from Cornell University, where she received the Academic Excellence Award. She currently works as a Healthcare Data Analyst at Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York.
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