Writ on Equal Wages For Women

Demanding that women labourers be paid daily wages on a par with men, the District Women Advocacy Forum, Kailali, on Thursday filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court.
"Though women labourers work as hard as men, they are paid less," said Saraswati Chaudhary, a labourer from Kailali.

Despite the legal provision of equal wages for men and women, women labourers are paid Rs 20 to Rs 65 less than men. As women labourers are considered less capable than men, they are being discriminated at work, Chaudhary said.

"We have been advocating for equal wages at village development committees and municipalities for four years, but nobody has taken our demand seriously.

We have come to the capital to make our voice heard in the implementing and policy-making level," said Goma Acharya of the DWAF, Kailali.

Meanwhile, women labourers from Kailali, Bardia, Surkhet, Kapilbastu and Chitwan staged a protest rally and 10-minute chakka jam at Maiti Ghar in the afternoon.