Kurtis and Women's Rights

Kurtis and Women’s Rights

Waking up for the second day here in Patan was amazing.
The mornings are so lively with people out and
about conducting their prayers or walking to the early
morning market to purchase groceries for the day.
Like most of Kathmandu, the neighbourhood we are staying
in has a beautiful mix of both Buddhist and
Hindu temples and places of worship.

Purchasing cloth for our kurtis was the main goal of the day.
The traditional tunic dress worn by Nepali women is called the
Kurta. It is worn with matching pants that are either tight, or
loose (punjabi style). A scarf is usually matched to complete the
gorgeous, usually colourful outfit. Each year Cathy helps the
midwifery students to get Kurtis made to be worn as uniforms in
the hospital. Wearing the local clothing, especially when working
in the hospital helps to nurture our relationship with the local women
and the other health care providers. The community driver,
Tony picked us up and drove us to his favourite cloth shop, where
he purchases cloth for his wife, Bina, a seamstress to use in their shop.
We were lucky enough to choose between dozens of gorgeous patterns of cotton fabric.

After Bina took our measurements and we made a plan for our uniform kurtis,
we left to meet up with a local nurse and researcher who Cathy has worked very
closely with. We met at a coffee shop that caters to tourists. We really like it there
as it has a gorgeous patio decorated with flowers in terra cotta pots and
serves great coffee. Bimala brought her two year old daughter, Nina who
happily ate spoon fulls of ice cream in between telling her Aama (mother) to stop talking.
She discussed the current issues that are facing women in the country today,
primarily focusing on childbirth. Her passion and dedication to women’s rights really
shined through. She was kind enough to share with us her own childbirth
experience as an example of the many barriers and problems that face women
during their childbearing years.

Some of the important facts she shared with us include:

• 80% of people in Nepal live in rural communities.
• 20% of people live in urban communities
• Cesarean section rates are very high in urban areas. Some hospitals have a near 100% cesarean section rate. 
• Women have little power over their bodies. For example when a women has a cesarean delivery it is a family member such as her husband or mother in law who signs the consent form. And when it is time for her to leave the hospital, she cannot leave without a family member signing her out. 

 Stay tuned for pictures of us in our new kurtis!