Kathmandu, July 6 -- "Why are adults sexist?" my ten-year-old nephew, Paartha, asks in response to a scene where the parents threaten to marry off Asha Karki, if she fails her exams. I've been reading to him from an illustrated young adult fiction series by Anbika Giri.

In the story, Asha, like many girls in Nepal, has to juggle between household chores and schoolwork. By the time she is done at night, she is too tired to study. In the mornings, she is always late for the school assembly because of chores. And as if the burden of household work wasn't enough, there is constant threat from her parents to "marry her off" if she fails-- the idea of marriage, dangling like a dagger over her head the entire time.

Asha is compliant to the dai...