Nepal: Widespread gender discrimination has triggered sexual and reproductive rights crisis

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http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/nepal-widespread-gender-discrimination-has-triggered-sexual-and-reproductive-rights-crisis
Amnesty International
Feb. 19. 2014
Nepal: Widespread gender discrimination has triggered sexual and reproductive rights crisis

Widespread and systemic gender discrimination in Nepal has led to hundreds of thousands of women suffering from a reproductive health condition that leaves them in great pain, unable to carry out daily tasks and often ostracized from their families and communities, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

Uterine prolapse – a debilitating condition where the uterus descends from its normal position into the vagina - is rooted in discrimination that has severely limited the ability of women and girls to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives. Harsh working environments, early marriages and having too many children all contribute to the condition.

“This is an urgent human rights issue. Widespread uterine prolapse in Nepal goes back to the ingrained discrimination against women and girls that successive governments have failed to tackle adequately,” said Madhu Malhotra, Director of Amnesty International’s Gender, sexuality and Identity Programme.

“Hundreds of thousands of women are suffering needlessly in Nepal today. Governments have only taken token steps to address the condition, and not followed up with concrete action to reduce risk factors for women and girls.”... MORE