When returning to Nepal from Saudi Arabia in November 2012, a 21 year-old Nepali woman was robbed and raped by immigration police. Last month, four men were jailed for four months and fined NRS 69.000 (£425) each for the attack. They are expected to appeal.

Interestingly, the pseudonym chosen for the woman in the media was “Sita Rai”. In Nepal, the surname Rai traditionally belongs to an ethnic group, janajati, rather than a caste, in a country that is otherwise fiercely controlled by the Hindu caste hierarchy.

However, the woman behind the pseudonym is Dalit, or “untouchable”, a woman from the lowest caste in Nepali society. Under normal circumstances, her story would not have been reported on because, as the Nepali Times wrote earlier this year: “Traditional media rules define ‘news’ as something that is out of the ordinary, absurd, negative… When rape is an everyday occurrence, then it is not out of the ordinary any more.” For Dalits, unfortunately rape and abuse is an all too frequent occurrence.

Rai’s ordeal was reported in a series of articles in Kathmandu newspapers and was the spark that ignited what is known as the Occupy Baluwatar movement. As the name suggests, the Baluwatar protesters were inspired by the international Occupy movement against economic inequality, as well as the simultaneous demonstrations in Delhi following the gang rape of a student.

In Kathmandu, a steadily growing group of peaceful protesters mobilised via social media and descended upon the prime minister’s residence in the Baluwatar area of the city. Here, for two hours each day, they demanded an end to gender-based violence. They held out for 106 days until mid April 2013, when the secretary of the prime minister’s office, Rajuman Singh Malla, assured the activists that their protest had been “an eye opener for the government”. A committee has since been set up to explore violence against women and the culture of impunity among Nepali police.

With Occupy Baluwatar, for the first time in Nepal, both traditional and social media played an important role in distributing the message and rallying the protesters. “Without media support, it would not have gone for 106 days”, says Dewan Rai, news editor at the Kathmandu Post, one of the papers most vocal in calling for justice for Sita Rai. “Social media also played a vital role in continuing the campaign. Social media users otherwise seldom talk about the Dalit issue as they themselves are mostly from the Hindu high caste elite.”

THE INVISIBLE WOMEN

The Occupy Baluwatar protests magnified the oppression that Dalit women are exposed to in the national media.

The Dalit run Jagaran Media Center (JMC) in Kathmandu works to eliminate caste-based discrimination through media mobilisation. According to JMC’s research, nine national dailies based in Kathmandu run on average 58 news stories every day, of which an average of only two are related to Dalits, and these stories are mainly sensationalised pieces focused on physical assault, Dalit women accused of witchcraft and crimes committed by Dalits.

Dewan Rai explains: “The Dalit issue itself is a non-issue for the Nepali media and Dalit women are doubly discriminated against. They must either be beaten to death, or displaced, or publicly ostracised to make the news. Political, economic and sociocultural issues concerning them are rarely raised.

“The media houses, including editors, lack sensitivity towards Dalit women to such an extent that the Dalits’ issues are subdued”, says Rem Bahadur BK, chairman of JMC. “Issues related to Dalit women, including violence and discrimination, often don’t get adequate media attention. There is a sense of apathy on the issue of Dalit women in the Nepali media.”

However, there is a growing number of critical voices both within the journalism profession and from the hundreds of national and international NGOs that are working for Dalit rights in Nepal. But it is difficult to get it through the editorial keyhole, explains Indira Ghale from the Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO), who herself belongs to the lowest caste.

Lily Tahpa, founder of the NGO Women for Human Rights (WHR), an international organisation working to empower women economically and socially, agrees: “The media here are not very sensitive in terms of Dalit women. Many terminologies used for Dalit women are very inhumane. Even many documentaries, songs and ads are insensitive, they use language that patronises Dalit women.”

Rem BK explains that media houses neither have a policy structure that encourages the participation of Dalit women nor an editorial policy that encourages more coverage of issues relating to them. As it is the case with all Nepali institutions, the media is dominated by the high castes.

JMC is campaigning for the media to address such discriminations through proper policies and guidelines. However, as Rem BK points out, currently, “what we can say is that traditional discrimination is still being practised at a governmental and media level”.

Dewan Rai echoes this view: “Regarding Dalit women in Nepali media, the coverage is disappointing.” He explains the low priority of Dalit news in the national media with the low representation of Dalits in the newsrooms of national dailies. “There are over 8,000 journalists across the country, out of which only 383 are Dalit, and out of them only 37% work as full-time journalists.”

Rem BK adds: “The very few Dalit women who do enter journalism remain marginalised within their organisation, and often have little opportunity to effectively report on Dalit women’s issues.”

One of the main problems remaining is that female Dalit journalists are not provided with adequate training to enhance their knowledge, journalism skills and a broad understanding of various thematic issues relating to their own situation, including knowledge of their own rights, says Rem BK.

Another trend that adds to the marginalisation of Dalit women in the media is the priority given to politics rather than social, cultural and economic issues in general. Political issues often overshadow Dalit issues. Dewan Rai points out that Nepali journalists aspire to become political reporters, which they think is of supreme importance. The focus on the ongoing political unrest and current transitional politics in the country is reflected in media content.

As the Dalits have essentially no representation in the public sphere, their community has had difficulty finding expression or voicing its concerns. And after generations of severe exclusion and abuse, the Dalit women and their community as a whole have been virtually silenced in Nepal.

“In some areas of the country, development has completely stopped”, says Dorte Just, an independent Danish aid worker who has spent a decade in Nepal, trying to break down the social barriers between the castes and empowering Dalit women through education. Achieving equal and non-discriminatory representation for the Dalits both politically and in the media will take a long time, “if not forever”, she adds.

TIME FOR CHANGE?

However, the Occupy Baluwatar movement showed a radically new, uncompromising side to the Nepali public and media. Nepali media coverage of various Occupy demonstrations that happened simultaneously around the world, combined with a growing social and political awareness characterising young Nepali men and women, was vital in mobilising the Occupy Baluwatar protesters. In this case a higher sense of justice, fuelled by the immediacy of social media, far outshone any traditional societal divisions. The surname Rai worked as a perfect metaphor for a new casteless society.

Could this mean new hope for Dalit women in Nepal?

Since Occupy Baluwatar, “the media seem to be serious about issues related to violence against women, be it any caste or ethnic group. The mainstream media are forced to be more responsible due to the advent of online news portals. Online media are quick to break the news and do comprehensive reporting on issues at times”, says Dewan Rai.

However, for Dalit women in particular, the situation is more or less the same as it was two years ago, he says, mentioning the recent story of Kamala Rasaili, a Dalit journalist who works for the state-owned Radio Nepal. Earlier this year, she rented a room in a hotel in Kathmandu and paid in advance, but when the hotel owner found out she was Dalit, he refused her the room. The story appeared in online portals but was ignored by mainstream media.

The protesters in the Occupy Baluwatar movement were mainly young people from a variety of castes, high and low. And it is from this group of educated, politically aware and technologically connected youth that change will come. “In Kathmandu, for example, we see more and more young, lower-caste men and women quietly attending temples they are really not supposed to enter due to their social status. Maybe that is a small opening?” suggests Indira Ghale.

Dewan Rai agrees that change will come through pressure from the people: “The public or readers are now educated and informed through various mediums on different issues. They are fed up with politics and now talk of social justice and equality.”

But, as he also points out: “Empowerment is a slow process and education is a long-term solution. I may sound like Mao but I believe what we need now is a cultural revolution. We have deep-rooted social mores that allow for treating women very badly. The caste system has its roots in religion; the Hindu religion is followed by 80% of the population. We need a complete overhaul of our values.”