How online abuse and patriarchy hold back women in the Nepal election

3 hours ago

In Nepal’s 2026 general election, only a tenth of candidates for direct election are women, and online abuse combined with patriarchy skews the political field against them

The narrative of Nepal’s 2026 election has centred on three political personalities – Balendra Shah, Gagan Thapa and K P Sharma Oli (left to right) – but that framing oversimplifies the stakes. The bigger question is institutional: can Nepal reconcile urgency with restraint?

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