Meet Vishakha Maskey
our own AAUW International Fellow

Vishakha was enrolled at the University of Maine, Orono, Maine on a one year AAUW International Fellowship in a 4 semester Master's program in Ecology and Environmental Sciences.  Her Department has granted her an Assistantship for September 2000-May 2001 which will cover tuition and room and board. 

Vishakha's research topic: "The Impact of Community Forestry Policy on the People of Nepal and on Women in Particular" requires her to return to Nepal for three months next summer to gather the necessary data.   

"I belong to a middle class family from a hill town, Dharan in Eastern Nepal.   My father works in a private organization and my mother is a teacher.  I have two brothers.  I did by Bachelor of Science in Biology and then my Master's of Science in Botany with an Ecology major at Tribhuwan University, Nepal.

"I worked in an international organization ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) in the Mountain Farming Systems Division as a research assistant from May 1998 to July 1999.  The organization is dedicated to poverty alleviation and environmental conservation in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan Region.  Its objective if to promote the ecologically and economically sound mountain development for improvement of the livelihoods of mountain people.  I worked as a team which was studying livestock/natural resource interaction in hill areas where the population of livestock is high.

"Before joining this organization, I was involved in The Center for Women and Development, a local NGO, where I assisted with community based income-generating programs for rural women.  It was through this organization that I gained formal exposure to the problems/challenges faced by women in Nepal.  This instilled in me a desire to commit myself to the cause of women and link my academic career to it. 

"The field of interest for me, building on my background in Botany and Ecology is Natural Resources management.  Today there is genuine concern that despite all the development programs, there is less water, less land, less forest, less soil and less genetic wealth for the people in a mountainous country like mine.  And this loss is not only for the mountain communities but of the larger global community. 

"Women in Nepal contribute the majority of labor in household work, farming and the procurement of water, fuelwood and fodder for livestock, yet have lower self-esteem and consider themselves inferior to men, as most of the institutions favor men.  I believe women are valuable reservoirs of knowledge and that future research should recognize and build on this knowledge.  I wish to have a career devoted to the betterment of my countrywomen.

"As there are few women professionals available to assist women of rural areas, I feel they need some empowerment, assistance in decision making and proper use of resources.  I would like to pursue a career in Women in Development related to Natural Resources Management.  After completing my studies abroad, I wish to serve my fellow countrywomen in a significant way."