Only less than one percent of the visually impaired women in the country are employed. According to the data provided by Nepal Blind Association, there are 100,000 visually impaired women in the country, out of which only 134 (0.134 percent) are employed.

 

Lack of education opportunity, the global phenomenon of gender disparity in regards to employment and blanket approach in women reservation are some of the reasons why visually impaired women are not getting job opportunities.

 

“Regular source of income would change the dependency on others by leaps and help lighten the lives of these women who live in the dark, but the problem is lack of trust among employers in our ability and our failure to explain our ability to carry out the designated work,” said Sarita Lamichhane, president of Prayathna Nepal, an organisation working for visually impaired women.

 

Lamichhane added that the affirmative reservation policy which has set aside 33 percent for women in all sectors has not specified quotas for women with disabilities.

 

Teaching is the sector where visually impaired people are engaged the most. There are 382 visually impaired teachers in the country, out of which 102 are women. There is a huge gender disparity within visually impaired community.

 

There are 13 visually impaired people serving as civil servants, among them only three are women. The country has only one visually impaired female professor in comparison to five male professors.

 

Visually impaired women have excelled as massage therapists and telephone operators as well with six of them working as telephone operators and six as massage therapist. There is a single female entrepreneur while five make their living as musicians and four are involved in industrial sectors.  

 

Nepal hasn’t made enough progress when it comes to giving women more opportunities in the labour sector.