Unexpected consequences of everyday life during the Maoist insurgency in Nepal

Abstract

This article examines gendered aspects of women’s lives in a hill village in central Nepal during the decade-long civil war (1996-2006). The predominantly middle aged and elderly women discussed in the paper were not directly influenced by Maoist equality agendas, nor have they been – as yet - significantly empowered by the recent post-conflict gender reservations. Rather, the paper argues that it was via the unintended consequences of the conflict - their unexpected leadership of a village development project – that these women forged an alternative path towards gender transformation.