Kathmandu, Dec. 19 -- Just as Nepal came out of its first phase of lockdown on 21 June, the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) tabled a revised Citizenship Bill in the Federal Parliament. The bill was met with sharp public outrage for its unequal treatment of women.

The draft bill grants foreign females naturalised citizenship through their Nepali husbands. But there is a catch - they need to have spent a minimum of seven years in Nepal before they become eligible.

Interestingly, the bill has no mention of the provision for foreign men marrying Nepali women, which rules out the possibility of Nepali women extending citizenships to husbands of foreign nationalities.

Nepal is a country with a long discriminatory legacy in its history, an...