Changing lives around the Mahakali: Women living along the transboundary river have found their own leaders who empower them to demand their basic rights

Originally published February 12, 2020, by Dialogue Earth.

Running their homes while their menfolk migrate in search of work, women living along the Mahakali River that marks Nepal’s western border with India are especially vulnerable to water-related disasters – erosion, landslides, flash floods and polluted water.

This has worsened due to climate change, and has come on top of centuries of discrimination due to patriarchy. The average woman who runs the house and the farm has no title to either. Only some of them are educated.