“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” This quote by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, makes a lot of sense in contemporary Nepal, as the night of September 12, 2025 was marked as a landmark day in Nepal’s political history, most significantly for the country having a woman prime minister for the first time. Though we already had a woman president, Bidya Devi Bhandari, her role was mostly limited to being a ceremonial head, with hardly any decision-making authority. Bhandari was also considered President, in many ways, not for her political prowess but more of a ‘soft corner’ being the widow of the ‘People’s Leader’ Madan Bhandari, the deceased popular communist leader. This time, the former Chief Justice Sushila Karki, known for her bold stances in anti-corruption initiatives, as the new Prime Minister appointee, now has both the responsibility and the authority to decide the country’s future in this critical juncture, leading the interim government, after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.
Nepal had long-waited for a woman Prime Minister, but the appointment of Sushila Karki as the first woman Prime Minister came with a hefty price to pay. A peaceful protest by GenZ, which was undermined throughout its announcement, turned out to be the most dreadful event in the event, shaking the entire country, leading to over 70 deaths and scores injured. The incident also left behind the country’s governance system with chaos and havoc throughout as the violent acts also resulted in burning down administrative buildings, houses of the leaders and politicians, business houses filled Kathmandu valley with fumes and smog. A bitter scenery was a burning Singhadurbar, a palace symbolizing national administration from the last 117 years, the Parliament, a center witnessing the democratic constitutionalism and the Supreme court, a place with the hope for justice burned down one-by-one that further burned down the hearts and hopes of average Nepalis.
Amidst this dark incident, there lies hope with the executive head, aloof from political affiliation and the zeal to support the new generation in their campaign for good governance and ending the musical chair of rotating leadership, mostly captured by elite male ‘high-caste’ trio of KP Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Sher Bahadur Deuba. The fumes of the houses of the politicians including these leaders and the videos of them fleeing alongside the Deuba couple getting beaten, remained major highlights of this havoc. This was a clear sign of the end of selected powership, characterized by rotating premiership, amongst the so-called big leaders. With the police stations burning into flames, and thousands of criminals fleeing in the streets, created tensions in the national security. Yet amidst the flames and fumes leading to the critical state of the country and leader-less state for almost a week, a hope for change, a positive transformation remained, which was later accomplished only on September 12, 2025, with the appointment of the new government under the first woman Prime Minister, also somehow transforming the gendered political leadership.
Despite the constitutional provisions for women’s participation in national politics with the rights of representation to 33% in parliament, actual women participation in the forefront of national politics remained limited. Over the last 67 years of achieving democracy, it was evident that only 661 women became the members of parliaments across different levels. Also, it was only after 66 years after witnessing the first woman parliamentarian and minister of the country, Dwarika Devi Thakurani, the country saw its first woman Prime Minister, albeit interim. In the recent election held in 2022, it was witnessed that only 92 women were elected as the members of house of representatives out of 275 total members comprising merely 33.5% of the total representatives, which is slightly above the threshold. This is also slightly higher than the earlier figure of 90 elected women in the House of representatives comprising 32.7% of the total representatives. Despite witnessing the emergence of women in leadership in the political process with some composition in the cabinets, their emergence as premier positions in national political parties is almost non-existent. This limited participation of women in politics is attributed to the systemic barrier often existent in forms of patriarchal dominance in socio-economic and cultural structures, barring women taking the lead with existing gender-based violence, limited educational opportunities, harmful traditions and insufficient ownership and control over property. Furthermore, these patriarchal norms reinforce the lower acceptance of women as political leaders, leading to caste-based vulnerabilities, issues in campaigning, violence and harassment and limiting women to the four walls of the kitchen.
Evidently, there remain some noteworthy contributions by some women trailblazers who have entered premiere leadership positions. Sumana Shrestha, an accidental politician who later became the Education Minister of Nepal, remained efficient in evidence-based policy making and caused reforms in the education sector in a short term of merely 5 months. Her actions on higher education reforms, educational institutions free of politics, improving scientific and technical skills base in education, educational governance and reforms on structure of the ministry remained key highlights. With over 110 listed priorities on educational reforms across different headings, she made an attempt to reform education based on evidence-based policy making and action-oriented reform recommendations. Alongside, on local level, the emergence of Sunita Dangol as the Deputy Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, which remains the nation’s largest and center metropolis, remained a highlight for the introduction of progressive stance and policies. Her bold actions on urging the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority to probe corruption in Kathmandu and promotion of local products, skills and traditions expanding on “One Ward, One Enterprise” and “Book Free Friday” remain the key highlights.
The current Prime Minister, Hon. Sushila Karki, who was also the first woman Chief Justice of the country almost a decade back is known for her bold and impartial decision making. Her landmark cases such as Prithivi Bahadur Pandey v. Kathmandu District Court, which dealt with printing of polymer bank notes in Australia, and the Om Bhakta Rana v. CIAA/Government of Nepal, tackling corruption during Nepal’s peacekeeping missions and overturning the appointment of Lokman Singh Karki as the chief of CIAA, remained the key highlights of her jurist career. Her bold nature and decision making also led to an impeachment motion by the then government, which was overturned sometime in 2017 after public pressure and interim Supreme Court decisions. She is still seen as a bold leader fighting against the political corruption spiraling in the country.
This impression led to the consideration of Prime Minister Karki as a guardian by the Gen-Z protestors, igniting hope amongst the citizens to handle this complex situation, and mammoth task of holding elections, within the next 6 months and bringing the country to a point of stability, paving the way for good governance and corruption-free society. The time is also opportune for women leaders like Sushila to be inspired and take centre stage, and create an enabling environment for gender equality in a meaningful sense. In short, seizing this moment could lead in marking September 12, 2025, not only as the flames engulfing Kathmandu but as a day leading Nepal towards the path of integrity, inclusion and accountable leadership.
