Nepal's Constitutional 40% Gender Quota in Local Government (2015/2017)

Nepal's 2015 Constitution, adopted after a long Constituent Assembly process, mandated that women hold at least 40% of positions across all state organs, including every tier of local government. The Election Commission of Nepal administers the quota.

To secure a minimum 40% female presence in local government using tiered mechanisms: reserved ward committee seats, a mayor/deputy-mayor pairing rule, and a dedicated Dalit women's ward quota.

Each ward must elect at least two women from five committee seats; each mayoral ticket must pair a candidate of one gender with a deputy of the other, which in practice produced mostly female deputy-mayors; a separate quota reserves ward seats specifically for Dalit women.

The May-September 2017 local elections (the first in 20 years) elected 35,041 representatives across 753 local units, of whom 14,352 (40.96%) were women, meeting the constitutional target. Female deputy-mayors reached 91% in urban units, and Dalit women reached 47% representation in their reserved ward tier. However, only 2% of mayors and rural municipality chiefs were women. The 2022 elections maintained a similar overall female share.

The quota has proven durable across two election cycles but shows a persistent glass ceiling limiting women's access to top executive posts; the Asia Foundation's 2018 assessment also found many newly elected women lacked training, financial resources and mobility support.