The traditional practice of sati, where a woman was expected to throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, was outlawed in the 1920s. Nepal legalised abortion in 2002. In 2005 landmark rulings gave women under the age of 35 the right for the first time to apply for a passport without their husband’s or parent’s permission, and safeguarded their right to inherited property. The rural custom of exiling women to cowsheds for four days during their period was made illegal in 2005. On the death of her husband, a widow is often expected to marry the brother of the deceased and property is turned over to her sons, on whom she is then financially dependant. In the far western hills the traditional system of polyandry (one woman married to two brothers) emerged over centuries in response to limited amounts of land and the annual trading trips that required husbands to leave their families for months at a time. The practice kept population levels down and stopped family land being broken up between brothers. All children born into the family are considered the elder brother’s. In recent years the system has started to break down.
Lonely Planet Publications. Kindle Edition.
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