First Saudi woman climbs Mt Everest =

   Kathmandu (dpa)- A 25–year-old university graduate has become the first woman from Saudi Arabia to climb Mt Everest, authorities in Nepal confirmed on Saturday.

   Raha Moharrak arrived at the world's highest peak at around eight in the morning, said Tilak Pandey, an official at the Nepal Mountaineering Department.

   Saudi Arabia, which is ruled by a conservative Sunni Muslim monarchy, strictly restricts the rights of women.

   Moharrak was part of a group that included the first Qatari man and first Palestinian man to attempt to reach the summit.

   The "Arabs with Attitude" group posted a message on its Twitter account congratulating Moharrak.

   "The first ever Saudi woman to attempt Everest has reached the top!! Bravo Raha Moharrak. We salute you," the message read.

   Moharrak also became the youngest Arab to reach the summit.

   Altogether, 35 foreigners and 29 Nepalis scaled the mountain on Saturday.

   The month of May is a busy time on Mt Everest, as it is the best time of the year to climb.

   More than 3,000 people have climbed Mt Everest since it opened to the world in 1953. Hundreds have lost their lives attempting to climb it.
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Woman kept in isolation for menstruating dies in Nepal

   Kathmandu (dpa) – A woman who was confined to a cowshed because she was menstruating, in keeping with a long-held Hindu practice, died Tuesday in the far-western region of Nepal, Kantipur Television reported.

   Munadevi Shahi, 28, died in the cowshed that she had been living in for the past five days, the report said.

   According to the police, she died because of the extreme cold, as temperatures have dipped steadily in Nepal in the past two weeks with heavy snow and rainfall across the country.

   The tradition of chaupadi is widespread in the impoverished far-western regions of the country, and women are considered impure during their menstruation cycle.

   During this time, they are made to stay in a separate hut or cattle shed and cannot take part in many daily household activities. They are forbidden from entering houses, kitchens and temples.

   They cannot touch other people, cattle, green vegetables and plants, or fruits. They also cannot milk cattle, and have limited access to taps and wells.

   The conditions of deprivation that these women and girls live in take a toll on their health, with increasing cases of dehydration, diarrohea, pneumonia and respiratory diseases, the United Nations said. Many die of exposure, although exact statistics are not available.

   Apart from exposure, many women die of bites from snakes or scorpions, or even animal attacks in the isolated sheds.

   In May 2005, Nepal's Supreme Court outlawed chaupadi and ordered the government to formulate laws eliminating the practice. Three years later, the Ministry of Women, Child and Social Welfare drew up guidelines to eradicate the practice, but these are rarely followed.
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Domestic violence claims lives of 22 women in three months in Nepal

   Kathmandu (dpa) - Twenty-two women have been killed in the last three months in Nepal as a result of domestic violence, local media reported Thursday.

   A report made public by the Women's Rehabilition Centre (WOREC) said 22 women had been killed in different parts of the country in domestic violence since May, the Kathmandu Post daily reported. The figure was up from 17 in the same period last year.

   The background to the slayings was given as inadequate dowry, accusations of witchcraft, rape and domestic and sexual violence.

    Most of the cases were reported from the country's southern plains of the Terai, where incidents of dowry-related violence are comparatively high.

   "The scenario portrayed is one in which women are most vulnerable to violence by their own family members and neighbourhood," police officer Depti Karki said.

   Rights activists say lack of effective law enforcement by local bodies has contributed to the rise in the number of incidents of violence against women.

   The fragile political situation in the Himalayan nation is blamed for a rise in killings and abductions.
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Author: Pratibha Tuladhar

Nepal hailed as regional example for women‘s rights

Kathmandu (dpa) - Nepal‘s legislation on domestic violence and gender equality in employment are a positive example for South Asia, a United Nations report said.

The report titled Progress of the World‘s Women: In Pursuit of Justice, listed Nepal and Bhutan as the only countries in the five-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to explicitly criminalize marital rape.

Nepal was also one of three countries that list domestic violence as a category of crime, it said.

"Fundamental to women‘s access to justice is a legal and constitutional framework that guarantees women‘s rights," said the report, released Thursday in New Delhi. "As the example of Nepal shows, laws have the power to shape society by creating new norms and by bringing about social change."

The report also commended Nepal‘s legal provision that guarantees women 33 per cent representation in the public sector.

It compared this ratio with India‘s national Parliament, which is 11 per cent female.

The countries in the South Asia association are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
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Author: Biswas Baral