Introducing the Mahabai Women’s Cooperative

"Giving women education and economic freedom - this can change everything. And it is hard to change things here - that is why the work is so important." - Raj Kumari Dura, Women’s Empowerment Manager

Raj Kumari has been working on Oda Foundation's women's empowerment staff for a year now. Her work has required her to wear many hats - from leading health trainings, to educating the community on leadership and cooperative formation, to conducting surveys on agriculture and civic rights. On December 30 of 2019, her work culminated in a meeting where the 54 members of the Mahabai Women's Cooperative were given legal, government-approved ownership of their cooperative.

Below, Sarah Helms, our volunteer Operations Coordinator, spoke with Raj Kumari to give some background on why this cooperative is a fulfillment of much of Oda Foundation's work for the past 7 years.

Raj, hi there. Let's jump in - you've told me empowerment can feel like a vague word - how do you want that defined?

Yes, this really matters to me. Empowerment means free in three respects - economically, with health, and with education. It is only after economic empowerment that a woman can confidently go to the hospital if she has uterine prolapse. If a woman doesn't have the money to take care of health, there is a feeling of inferiority and insecurity. With health and economic freedom, education can come.

And it might be helpful to add, a woman here in Oda wouldn't assume that she would be given money, from her husband, to take care of her health.

Yes, that's right. Sometimes it could be. But there is so much shame with women's bodies - maybe she doesn't want to ask, or maybe she is told no - or maybe money is spent on other things, food or clothes.

Kalikot, where Oda Foundation is based, is one of the most severely impoverished regions in Nepal. Overall, we have highest rates of malnutrition - 1 in 10 children severely malnourished; the highest rates of chaupadi practice - about 83% of women; highest rates of sexual assault and gender discrimination; high rates of poverty and ensuing women's health issues - early marriage, uterine prolapse.

So a Women's Cooperative, giving women education and economic freedom - this can change everything. 

Women's empowerment is your passion in life - you grew up in Kathmandu and then came all the way to Kalikot, which is considered Nepal's hinterland. I try to tell people in the States that this would be like someone growing up in New York City, then deciding to work in a very rural and far part of America. Why come here?  

I have always loved Kalikot! In childhood, when I was watching TV, I heard about Karnali, and then I read about it. I have always been dreaming and thinking how to serve the people there.

My family is just my mother, my sister, and me. Growing up, I saw how people respected my mom, then respected me, because we worked and made money. So, that more women can be economically strong is my lifelong goal.

But also, in my childhood, I experienced harassment and abuse myself. I was always silenced, and my mother had no idea what was happening to her kids. This happened because my family had a poor status and not enough food - we were helpless, even though I grew up in Kathmandu. So since that time I have been reflecting every moment of my life til now. This is why I am enough bold and confident to say women: you should be economically strong, and learn, and teach each other.

I counsel women: you have personal rights. You are free to do what you want to do, and you have to stand against the things which violate your rights. Please, know it is your will and your body, please speak out for your own mind. Violence and assault, early marriage, uterine prolapse, all of these issues ruin girls' bodies and minds.

The bottom line is that women need to be economically empowered. 

That is so powerful. Thank you for sharing. So can you explain all this, in terms of the new women's cooperative?

The Mahabai Women’s Cooperative meets once a month, and collects 50 rupees [~50 cents USD] from each woman. Each meeting has a specific training - women's health, menstruation, civic rights, agriculture. Now that we have government approval, we have a bank account, and we can begin ideas for micro-loans. We have spent the past year having conversations to understand the needs here, in terms of business and agriculture proposals.

Now we are actively finding places in Kathmandu where we can sell goods and agricultural products that women make here. We are investing deeply in agricultural change and learning ways to improve yields. We believe women can begin to grow enough food to have extra to sell.

High-quality trainings need to be part of the cooperative because, during my first months of research in Oda, we realized girls and women - even for all the work Oda Foundation has done - still do not know how periods happen. We still need to educate people.

It takes time. But we have a very good plan, though it still means a lot of work. It is hard to change things here, 

It is amazing. For our readers unfamiliar with Oda, can you share a bit more about women's rights here?

There is the general sense that women are for producing children and have to obey their husbands. When your whole family and community believes this, it is very hard to see past it, especially if you are not economically free to do anything else. If we ask women if they use birth control, they tell us they have to have their husband's permission, otherwise he may accuse her of needing it because she has been with another person, or something like that. 

Can you share some of your experiences with taboos around menstruation, in Oda?

All women here, as far as we know, practice some kind of chhaupadi, where they sleep outside, in a shed or completely outside, during menstruation. It is because of an old belief that menstruation makes a woman untouchable. Next to one house, we saw a log that provided a kind of barrier, and a tin roof, but no door or floor.

We know that sexual abuse happens when women sleep outside during menstruation, but there is a lot of taboo against saying anything - when very young women who are pregnant come to the clinic, or any signs of violence or abuse, people don't like sharing why. They really won't say.

Thank you for explaining all of this, Raj. From my perspective as an American, sharing this story from your perspective is so important, especially since we ask for people to donate to a cause that feels so distant. Maybe to wrap up, can you share the future that you envision for this cooperative, in the coming year?

This year, we will make sure women know they have rights. We can educate women about local government, and that there are women's right laws in place, and a local government budget for women's empowerment. I'm dreaming that women will have justice!

And, we have conducted in-depth surveys on economics, health, civic education, and agriculture. Questions from, what kind of vegetables do you wish you could grow, to do you vote for the person you believe is best, to do you feel you have the right to refuse intercourse with your husband. We will analyze these responses now, then after 1 year for the same questions, we can see what is better or different. We will learn from each year.