Women of Nepal

Sumitra Manandhar Gurung

Leading indigenous rights activist

Born in 1954 in Kathmandu

Dr Sumitra Manandhar Gurung is a geographer by profession. She obtained her doctorate from Hawaii University in 1988. After completing her studies, Gurung worked for organizations such as the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Plan International and New Era, holding important responsibilities within each position. That being said, her inclination has always been more towards achieving rights for indigenous, poor, discriminated against and marginalized people.

Outside her professional life, Gurung has been advocating for the rights of indigenous nationalities, Dalits, Madhesis, women, and other marginalized communities for the last ten years. She has a special interest in analyzing the positive and negative impact of programs put in place by national and international organizations intended to provide relief for this target group.

In 2001, a network named the National Coalition Against Racial Discrimination (N-CARD) was formed. The organization is affiliated with ten communities which have been marginalized by the state, including indigenous nationalities, Dalits, Madhesis, Muslims and ex-Gorkhas. Gurung now chairs the coalition. Under her leadership, N-CARD held a program on the Constituent Assembly (CA) election for these marginalized groups. Once the election was over, it published a sample Constitution. Gurung was also a founding member of Women Cooperative Limited, which is now chaired by her.

Manandhars are known for producing oil from traditional mills. Gurung's birthplace lies at Chasan Tol, near Hanumandhoka, Durbar Square. Her family is known to be rich and progressive in the locality. Though uneducated, her grandfather Ashta Narayan had a long-term vision. He left his traditional house, relocated to Ason and planned a new business. He gained his motivation when Rana rulers imported bicycles for themselves around the turn of the 20th century, importing six British-made Hercules bicycles from India which he then sold; thus introducing bicycles to the public for the first time in Nepal.

Gurung's family understood the importance of education. But education for the general public was not easy to come by during the Rana period, particularly for girls as it was socially prohibited. However, Gurung's grandfather wished for the girl children in his family to be educated and began a campaign to start a co-ed school along with a handful of like-minded people. The Ranas discovered Narayan's move and encouraged him to drop his plan. Their attempts proved futile and the group eventually opened Shanti Nikunja Highschool at Bhagwatibari, near Basantapur, in 1945.

Gurung was born the fifth of six children in Kamalachhi, Ason. She first joined a Montessori School at Seto Durbar at the age of five before moving to Balkumari School. She studied at Shanti Nikunja High School from her 4th standard, and passed her School Leaving Certificate in 1970.

Since childhood, Gurung was rebellious and inquisitive in nature. Although her family members wanted girls and women to stay away from the kitchen and prayer room during their monthly periods, she protested against this archaic way of thinking. Gurung grew up in a joint family of 18. All members were expected to pay their respects to their grandfather, father, uncles and brothers, and it was not mandatory for men to do any cooking, cleaning or washing. This was another issue Gurung protested against.

The gender discrimination in Gurung's family was clear as female members were asked to eat on leaf plates as opposed to male members who had metal plates for dinner at her uncle's house. She was only 13 or 14 years old when she made these initial realizations. Her eyes were later opened to other forms of discrimination such as that against low caste, poor, and village people.

Gurung's father made her study Home Sciences at Ratna Rajya Girls College although it was not a subject which interested her and she didn't like having to study in a girl's college. She later shifted to Patan Campus and started studying Geography. There were only two girls in her group at that time, but Gurung easily passed her Intermediate level as it was her favorite subject.

Due to her unfavorable family situation, she was unable to enjoy activities outside her college life. Her grandmother would say women should not laugh out loud and her grandfather did not condone women singing, dancing or acting. To this day she still cannot dance, even among friends.

Gurung rehearsed in English play "The Monkey's Paw" while studying her IA. Her father was infuriated hen he came to know this and she was forced to quit. She was the only girl to major in Geography in Tri Chandra College and her family would not even permit her to go on excursion even though it was a compulsory part of the curriculum.

While studying her Bachelor of Arts, Gurung's family brought a proposal from an educated and wealthy family of Manandhars. She met the groom-to-be in question but his personality did not impress her so Gurung went on to study a Master of Arts (MA) at Kirtipur Campus to avoid the marriage. It was there she met Chandra Gurung from Sikles of Kaski who did impress her so they began seeing each other. Both were students of Dr Harka Gurung.

Gurung had to undertake National Development Service for a year. It was a kind of one-year internship every postgraduate had to offer in a particular village, undertaking tasks such as teaching in the local schools and participating in rural development activities. Gurung was due to be sent to a relatively easy area but preferred Chiti Tilhar village of Lamjung, some eight days walk from Dumre. She was there with seven friends from 1976 to 1977.

Chandra was deputed to Surkhet under the same program and the two corresponded for the duration of their time apart. By the time her year in Lamjung was complete Gurung's family had stopped talking of arranging her marriage. When she finished her MA, she got a job in the National Planning Commission and was sent for a three-month training program in Colorado. She studied landslides after returning from America while Chandra went to Bangkok to complete his Masters in Rural Development at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). Fortunately Gurung was granted with a scholarship to do a Masters on Human Settlement Planning at AIT Bangkok and met Chandra there.

She managed a love marriage with Chandra with the help of Nepali friends. Her family was very upset with the news of her marriage as her husband was from out of the Valley. After three months, Chandra went to Hawaii University to study Medical Geography on scholarship. Gurung completed her course and also left for Hawaii University to do her doctorate, which she finished in 1988. Her thesis "Beyond the Myth of Eco-Crisis" was published in 2007.

Chandra met and married a Japanese woman while in Hawaii, yet Gurung did not divorce him and the two now have a 24-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old son together. Her husband unfortunately died along with other 22 passengers in a horrific helicopter crash in 2006.

After completing her PhD, Gurung began studying gender at ICIMOD at a time the issue of gender was introduced to Nepal. She also worked with Dr Harka Gurung at New Era and spent four years in various districts of Makawanpur, as project director for Plan International. After this she worked as a consultant for various international organizations.

Over the course of time Gurung realized that Nepal's many development programs have been largely unable to bring about any change for indigenous and other marginalized communities. She tried to help international development organizations but few implemented her recommendations.

Gurung had been engaged in the fight against discrimination since childhood and was determined to do something for the benefit of minority groups. In 1993, she worked actively to form Lumanti to work on the problem of settling poor urban people. She also took the initiative to support micro-credit programs in Jumla and Madhesi areas of the Terai through the Self-Dependence Development Centre. She became less involved in geographic studies and focused more on marginalized communities and inclusion issues.

After a life of struggle and vicissitudes, Gurung now sees both good and bad experiences as lessons. Her inclination towards Buddhist philosophy and the practice of Vipassana meditation has helped her deal with life's many ups and downs. She remembers the hard times but also the achievements and considers herself to be lucky, always helping the needy. After a life of hard work it's no surprise she continues to keep herself busy, even now, working 12 to 14 hours a day.

Written by Sangeeta Lama