Women's groups in Nepal celebrated a major victory when the nation's Lower House of Parliament passed the Country Code (Eleventh Amendment) Bill on 13 March 2002. This bill contains provisions which reverse several existing laws that discriminate against women, including that related to inheritance rights.

Some of the reforms incorporated in the Bill are:

• Acceptance of daughters as heirs: The Bill accepts the concept that by birth, daughters as well as sons are entitled to inheritance rights to the ancestral property. Previously only an unmarried daughter above the age of 35 had this right.
• Full rights of widows to inheritance: This removes the provision that a widow has to reach 30 years of age before she can claim a share of the property. A widow is also now entitled to use her share as she wishes even if she gets remarried. Previously she had to return the property to her late husband's family if she remarried.
• Right of wife to husband's property: The Bill removes the condition that a woman must attain the age of 35 years and complete 15 years of marriage before she can obtain her share of property from her husband and live separately from him.

Significantly, several members of Parliament later stated that the National Event for Gender Equality organised by the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) had been an eye-opener and the reason why many of them had voted in favour of the Bill. This public education activity was based on research undertaken by FWLD in an IWRAW Asia Pacific project entitled "Facilitating the Fulfillment of State Obligation to Women's Equality". For more information, please contact FWLD in Nepal <fwld@wlink.com.np>.

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This page was last updated on June 15, 2003

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