Srijana Pun

Srijana Pun is a 39-year-old woman leader, and a strong activist raising the issues of women working in the informal sector in Nepal. She is a member of the national alliance of women human rights defenders representing women from the entertainment sector. 

She coped with discrimination, violence, and economic difficulties during her childhood, and was affected by conflicts in her community. She struggled to survive and came to Kathmandu for a job in 2001. 

After working in the informal sector for nearly six years, Srijana established Women for Women in Nepal (WOFOWON) in 2008, the first non-governmental organisation in Nepal working to ensure the rights of women in the informal and entertainment sectors. With Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) in collaboration with APWLD, WOFOWON has been able to build the capacity of women entertainment workers through the development of their rights, skill in advocacy, and building of their movement in several districts in Nepal. 

Srijana is also a brilliant songwriter and dance choreographer. To address the society’s stigma against women entertainment workers, she led WOFOWON to form a Cultural Campaign Group that aimed to change the negative attitude of the society and organised cultural programmes with rights-based songs, dances, and dramas. It was launched nationwide in front of an audience of more than 2,000 people. 

APWLD interviewed Srijana in January 2021 and below is her story.

Becoming a feminist and women human rights defender

When I was very young, I worked in pubs and bars in Kathmandu and faced discrimination, violence, and economic difficulty. In 2007, I met Dr. Renu Adhikari and she trained me in leadership-building methods and organisational development. It sparked ideas on how to advocate for women’s rights and to combat discrimination.

Dr. Renu Adhikari, also an APWLD member, is one of Nepal’s most inspiring human rights and women’s rights defenders. For a long time, she was associated with WOREC, which had a Chhahari programme aimed at addressing the health needs of women in the entertainment sector. 

Since then, I have been dealing with gender discrimination in the entertainment sector. I began to comprehend how the entertainment sector is perceived in society, how the workers themselves do not accept their work as decent work, and how the families do not accept these workers. 

I also learned about human rights, labour rights, and women’s rights from Dr. Renu Adhikari. She helped me compare all the discrimination that society is doing against women and find a way to advocate for the rights of women in this sector. As a result, WOFOWON was established in 2008.

Growing together with APWLD

WOFOWON was associated with APWLD through Breaking Out of Marginalisation (BOOM) Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) in 2012. As a result of FPAR, we gained a better understanding of the research methods which are very helpful for us, for the organisation, and for understanding feminist issues in a broader sense. It has been an ongoing learning process since then. 

APWLD provided the organisation with the most impressive idea: understanding the movement. Tools like network-building and power-mapping helped us to take our work further from a feminist perspective. Following training with APWLD, we had a better understanding of how we plan things, design our strategic objectives, and build a movement. Through the training, we realised how to connect with our community members and build stronger relationships. FPAR allowed the organisation itself to develop further and to improve staff ability.

In the initial days after WOFOWON separated from WOREC Chhahari, it faced a severe economic crisis. It was APWLD that supported us to overcome this challenge. Through the research programme and the improvement of abilities, we could collect more funds, as well as more economic resources. APWLD not only provided us with training but also a foundation for us to develop further.

As part of the BOOM Programme Organising Committee (POC), I learned how to plan the movement and conduct different activities and advocacy projects. Having access to a trade union is important in making sure labour rights issues are addressed in the entertainment sector. It is difficult to press the entertainment sector issue in Nepal since most unions are politicised, but we managed to set up two women’s trade union committees within the entire trade union we had in Nepal. That was through the learning of being part of the POC.

WOFOWON has been also part of Feminist Rapid Response Research (FRRR) on COVID-19. Together with APWLD, we are supporting women working in the entertainment sector to tackle the pandemic and demand accountability from the government. Our young researcher, Pooja Chaudary, shares what she learned from the collaboration between WOFOWN and APWLD:

In addition to providing me with an insight into entertainment sector issues, WOFOWON and APWLD has also helped me to connect them to a global perspective—the GFMP (Globalisation, Fundamentalism, Militarism and Patriarchy) analysis, which has been immensely helpful in terms of knowledge building. It has also been a pleasure to learn from the wonderful facilitators that WOFOWON hires for the leadership programme. My knowledge and ability of leadership and advocacy have developed over time.

– Pooja Chaudhary, young feminist researcher at WOFOWON

Building the feminist movement in Nepal 

The major victories of WOFOWON can be categorised under different headings. 

The first is about the law. In 2009, the Supreme Court issued a directive to regulate the entertainment industry due to various forms of violence and exploitation of workers. Other than that, there was no law specifically addressing entertainment-related issues during the early days of this organisation. Now, we have Labour Act 2074, which encompasses both formal and informal sectors. As a result, the entertainment sector also falls within the legal framework that provides one ground for us to advocate for women’s rights despite challenges in implementation.

The second outcome is change in social perception. The Nepalese society is somewhat aware of human rights and labour rights, but the entertainment sector is still not perceived as decent work, so changing social perception remains a challenge. However, compared to the earlier stages, we can see that the public is slightly aware of the rights of women workers here.

There are many local governments in different parts of Nepal that we have worked with to advocate and address local issues in the entertainment sector in the last four years, particularly with the federalism concept. Some local governments have committed to creating a hearing desk so that they can address issues. Some other local governments have allocated budgets for the capacity development of women in the sector. It is great for the organisation to see the perception change of local governments, especially after the federalisation of Nepal.

The recognition of the issues of the entertainment sector at different levels is also an outcome. WOFOWON is a member of different national and international networks, including trade unions, government task force committees, and government networks. Of course, we are part of the APWLD, the regional feminist network.

Our movement achieved one of its main outcomes by bringing together more women. In the beginning, this organisation had only eight or nine women who worked in the entertainment sector, but now we have more than 800 members who come not only from Kathmandu but from other districts of Nepal as well. We believe that WOFOWON is not just an organisation but a movement.

Meanwhile, right holders’ leadership abilities have greatly improved. In the beginning, I was scared to speak publicly and to voice my opinion. Now I can talk about all the issues in the entertainment sector. Many other members of the organisation and participants of the training are now able to speak out against the injustices they face. Any time they are given the opportunity to speak out in public, they do so.
I am currently the founding chairperson and executive director of WOFOWON. I am also associated with the WOREC and Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) organisations so that I can lobby on behalf of the entertainment sector, connect it with women’s rights, and increase visibility and recognition for the work we are doing.

Ways moving forward

As far as the global scenario is concerned, particularly in the context of COVID-19, it would be really nice if APWLD could establish more common platforms for all women activists to interact, or to hold discussion forums in which women can express their opinions or concerns. With this kind of platform, participants can develop a common issue and conduct a world campaign like the Women’s Global Strike, in which women activists from all over the world share their thoughts and interact to identify common issues that we can raise internationally.

We always feel motivated when the APWLD takes the lead with this kind of campaign, because it means the presence of an organisation that has been taking the lead in all kinds of activism. We will feel united because of APWLD.

Also, we would like to suggest that community members participate more in APWLD activities. Speaking up about their issues will motivate them and allow them to understand the issues both from a local and global perspective.

APWLD has been working globally on issues of women’s rights. We would really appreciate it if APWLD could provide more assistance to us in taking up global issues and connecting them with local issues so that the movement could go forward.