This report was posted by Barsat Karki in Anand Nepal’s YouTube channel in the following video:
Stats from the 25 Miss Nepal competitions
Newar Winners – 13/25
Khas Winners – 7/25
2 Limbu Winners, 1 Gurung, 1 Tamang and 1 Marwadi Winner
Shrestha Winners within Newar Winners – 6/13
(5 winners were from the last 10 years)
Newar Winners who were from Kathmandu Valley (KTM,LAT,BKT) – 9/13
Khas Winners who were from Kathmandu Valley (KTM,LAT,BKT) – 6/7
Other Winners who were from Kathmandu Valley (KTM,LAT,BKT) – 1/7
Total Winners who were from Kathmandu Valley (KTM,LAT,BKT) – 16/25
SAD TRUTH
It is obvious that Newar and Khas Women dominate Miss Nepal as winner with 20/25 wins in total. It is also the case that Women from Kathmandu Valley are more likely to be Miss Nepal. Luckily this fact is changing quickly because in the last 10 years only half of the winners were from Kathmandu Valley compared to the previous decade than this where 8/10 where from Kathmandu Valley. Also Educated Women are more likely to be Miss Nepal as well because 20/25 Winners had completed their Bachelors Degree. In my opinion Miss Nepal mirrors how ethnicities other than Newar and Khas are deprived from resources that would enable them to participate and qualify in these pageants .
A NEW TREND
It is also noteworthy that Newar Women dominate the competition more than any other women. In the past 10 years there have been 7 Newar winners out of 10. Out of those 7 winners 5 were Shrestha. This is a weird situation because we should be seeing more women from other ethnicities win as well. If Miss Nepal were expanding outside of Kathmandu Valley shouldn’t women other than Newar and Khas be winning too? Nikita Chandak became the first Marwadi Winner in 2017, Subin Limbu became the second Limbu while Shrinkhala Khatiwada was the only Khas winner in the last 10 years. I’m still searching for sound reasons to why there are so many Newar and especially Shrestha winners. There is a speculation of Newar Favoritism among the fans and viewers of this pageant but why always Shrestha? If Newar Favoritism was the only case then other Newars would win too why only Shrestha? I have no evidence to claim that there is Newar Favoritism or Shrestha Favoritism but its very unusual that this would merely be a coincidence.
FUTURE
Miss Nepal is suppose to empower women from all background but it is clear that it only favors privileged women in the country. Although Requirements are there to set standards I don’t see how they will ever address the issues of women from a handful of community dominating the platform. I’m willing to conclude the sad truth that Miss Nepal is nothing more than show business and it does fuck all to empower women. Like any other business they are here for profits and all the B.S. about how their organisation is about feminism is nothing more than enhanced marketing crap. Just look at their parent company The Hidden Treasure (THT) who proudly stand for feminism and empowering women and please have a look at their board of directors, there isn’t a single woman on the board. You can check it here : http://missnepal.com.np/AboutUs It’s just a show that people like us shouldn’t be caring about but who can deny that they don’t enjoy seeing Nepali women in International stage representing Nepal. I would love to see Miss Nepal being more that just a pageant and I want them to look deeper at underlying issues with their organisation and their competition.
