Art and Women’s Empowerment in Nepal
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Posted by: Laura Sullivan
Manjula Devi Maithil Bahun was 13 years old when she got married in her small village in southern Nepal. According to social norms, she was not allowed to leave her home nor talk with her husband in front of others. Now, 27 years later, the beautiful paintings she once only did on her floor and walls for traditional ceremonies, have helped her be the primary earner in her household with her husband supportive of her role.
Manjula is a leader in the Janakpur Development Center, a self-governed NGO that employs 41 women who are part of the Women Empowerment Through Tradition movement. While women continue to paint the floors and walls of their homes for ceremonies, they also make wall paintings on public buildings that speak to social issues. Themes are often related to health, as well as to the “peace building process.” At the Center, women of all castes socialize and share information.
Instability in the Region
Despite its growing success and its help in creating an empowerment movement for Maithili women, the Center has struggled in recent times. It is located in the eastern Terai of Nepal where political instability has adversely affected the county in general and the Terai of Nepal in particular. This violence has had a negative impact on tourism of the region and sales at the Center have suffered significantly-- with women not receiving salary for several months.
Folk Art Market
This year, thanks to the support of our donors, the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market was able to sponsor Manjula and Bimal Poudel, a social worker involved with helping the Center, to come to the United States to participate in the International Folk Art Market. While here, they not only got to exchange ideas with artists from other cultures, but they were able to earn $10,242 for the Center and women in Nepal.
According to Bimal Poudel the opportunity to participate in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market was the most significant experience of the Center in its 20 years of existence in Nepal.
Our experience with the Market has been well acknowledged and so valued that we gained courage to struggle further with the ‘women empowerment through tradition’ movement.
Response
The trip to the Folk Art Market substantially raised hope and opportunity for the women at the Center to continue their work and show their long term commitment for the women’s empowerment movement in the region. The Center raised enough for ten months’ salary for the co-op artists to pay for education, food and medical expenses, as well as a fresh water pump for the community.
According to Manjula:
We should not neglect/ignore our culture and tradition, my skill of art is so important that I have realized after participating in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. It can pay our living and support to pay for our children to go to school and pay for medical expenses of the family.
Give the Gift of Opportunity
Manjula and the Center’s story have inspired all of us working at the Santa Fe Folk International Folk Art Market. But, it is important to thank the many donors that make this work possible. Thanks to the support of our donors, thousands of communities and lives have been changed over the years. Please consider making a donation to support other artists, like Manjula, to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Donate now.
Comments
this is nice to see this ladies are working such nice way. looks like Madubani paintings, we do here in varanasi same way under our non profit org, enjoyed looking all this support by folk art international, i got this news frm face book keep on posting such interesting object, yogesh banaras art gallery varanasi india
Often, the skill of Mithila Art is learned by the Mithila women during their childhood from their grandmother. The wonderful art making is a part of their culture, is a prerequisite either to mark the festival or to celebrate the occasions such as Chaith, wedding, name giving or other Pujas. Thus, Mithila art can be said as a ‘legacy of Mithila women’.
Child marriage is still rampant among the mithila culture, girls still get early marriage. The another big problem associated with the marriage in Terai is dowry system. Birth of a girl in a family, thus, does not bring happiness but is taken as a burden on parent for managing the dowry.
The Janakpur Women’s Development Center, initiated in 1989 provided a convenient forum for the women to be organized in a way that not only gave them an opportunity to earn a livelihood, most importantly it also offered a platform to critically discuss their social norms (some of them superstitions)and move forward for a change and progress. This resulted in artists’ daughter getting married after the age of 18 and their daughters also going to school as their sons. The women artists are the only member, and proven to be the role model first to their family and moved toward neighborhood, community and region.
The uncertain instability and growing violent activities of Nepal in general and Terai (where the center is located) in particular has not only affected the social and political life, economic life of people is vividly threatened. And the Center was badly affected. The center being non-governmental organization and led by traditional women (almost all of them uneducated)and adhering fair trade values (the center is a founding member of Fair Trade Group Nepal)was struggling to compete with unfair trade on Mithila art and the art based crafts and thus was struggling to survive.
On the mentioned situation, Santa Fe International Folk Art Market (SFIFAM) became the Center’s life line to survive. This has raised hope for such a model organization to continue with tremendous appreciation received during the participation in the market. The Center has met and made such a wonderful friends in Santa Fe city, the volunteers who volunteered our booth, are in continuous touch with the center in these days. They are eagerly waiting to see us again in next summer. Some of them plan to visit our Center in coming days. The opportunity importantly provided financial gain that inspired the Center to continue with greater confidence with its mission “empowerment through tradition”.
The center has now focused its management to ensure its sustainability. The assessment has discovered that international participation and marketing is a reliable strategy to ensure the center run for long.
As a result of participation, Manjula’s confidence for leadership has incredibly grown up. It is amazing to see her starting to communicate in English- like saying ‘thank you’ as she understood the word ‘beautiful paintings’ said by most visitors at the booth in the Market.
i am so happy to read ths story .thank you a lot .
I hope this program will be a stepping stone for future women,s empowerment program.
You have been awesome, just keep going like this, will keep coming back to your blog.
English- like saying ‘thank you’ as she understood the word ‘beautiful paintings’ said by most visitors at the booth in the Market. küçük sırlar dizisi
küçük sırlar dizisi son bölüm izle
reply,hi
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Manjula is a leader in the Janakpur Development Center, a self-governed NGO that employs 41 women who are part of the Women Empowerment Through Tradition movement..
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