Women, children and well-being in the mountains of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region

There are few data on the situation of mountain women, or gender relations in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. To address this gap, during 1996-97, 16 female researchers from 8 countries in the HKH region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan) collected information on the status of women in mountain areas of these countries. National and state/district/provincial policies and programmes relevant to mountain women were reviewed in the capital cities and in 13 mountain villages, and community based gender analyses were conducted to gain detailed information from rural women themselves on the constraints, needs and priorities for development. The country reports are now being published as an ICIMOD document, but this article summarizes overall findings. Aspects of the research are discussed under six headings: the situation of mountain women (the diversity of gender relations, common features between countries, patriarchy, low self-image and esteem, patrilocal residence, inequitable inheritance rights); environmental management (indigenous knowledge, decreased access to forest and water resources, heavy workloads, absent men, malnutrition); changing values (monetization, influx of new values), invisibility of women, links between the status of women and children, and hopes for the future (educational opportunities, political participation, taking the lead).