Research Article Review: A Qualitative Study on Gender Inequality and Gender-based

Violence in Nepal

In the article “a qualitative study on gender inequality and gender-based violence in Nepal”, the
author Dahal, Joshi and Swahnberg investigate some of the causes and factors which led to
Nepal of women to face gender discrimination and violence. One of the main factor found during
the investigation that led to gender inequality to Nepal women is due to low positioning of
women and power differences in the society. This research aims to explore and understand the
participant’s experiences to identify the status of inequality for women and how violence
emerges due to gender discrimination.

Through the use of qualitative methods and participant, the researchers were able to explore
the gender inequalities and violence mainly root from traditional beliefs, economic, and religions.
( Dahal, Joshi & Swahnberg, 2015 ).The traditional beliefs which give superiority to men over
women in society and positioned women in a lower status which give rise to inequality in
Nepalese community. This belief had made women property of men as women are expected to
serve their husband and look after the households. However, if women failed to fulfill their
duties, men had the right to use violence as an act of superiority and to control their wives.
Another factors found during the research by authors was economic led to inequality as
Nepalese women were expected to stay at house and men as the breadwinner of the family.
This norms did not allowed women to find jobs and stand equal footing to men’s in terms of
economic which led to gender inequality in the households.
The research problem in this qualitative research revolves around understanding root cause
and manifestation of gender inequality and violence in Nepal. The researchers also conduct
qualitative research in order to gain in-depth insights into the participant lived experiences.
Through this qualitative research, researcher aims to promote gender equality, reduce violence
against women and increase awareness of sex trafficking in the society.
The methods used in qualitative study on gender inequality and gender-based violence in
Nepal researched article is qualitative based methods where participants were chosen. This
study used forum theatre intervention to promote awareness on gender inequality and gender-
based violence in Nepal community with the help of participants. A total of six focus groups,
three each with male and female groups were conducted over twelve months. A total of thirty-six
participants consisting of sixteen males and twenty females were chosen in the research. The
majority of the participants were from Tharu community and age range from 20-29 years old.
The researchers used pre-formulated discussions guide with open-ended questions based on
discrimination, violence, and patriarchy.
The finding during the research found by the authors showed that due to violence originating
from socio-cultural system that is widely recognized and accepted by the society, there was no
established means to control the gender inequality and violence in the community. The finding
also show that only few victim women get help from consultation and rely on law to prevent
violence in the households. The author critique on the research discussion shows that the
research was able to produce good results but not on a big level because the gender based
inequality and violence in Nepal root from traditional beliefs and it is considered taboo to
interfere in personal households issues. Thus, most of the violence are not reported until it
become a serious issues to consider. The authors also comment on role of power play as main
factors that give men the upper hand than women and suggested to further explore gender
relations, injustice and patriarchy to identify multiple factors that led to power inequality and
result in inequality and violence in Nepalese community.
In conclusion, this research focused on factors and root cause that led to gender-based
violence and inequality in Nepalese community and understand the victims’ experiences to gain
deep insight regarding gender inequality and violence.
Research Article Review: The Impact of Pleasure Reading on Academic Success

The research article “The impact of pleasure reading on academic success”, by Whitten, Labby,
and Sullivan conducted in the year 2015 examine on comparing academic performances of a
readers (independent readers) and non- readers based on measurable data. The authors
mainly focused on the academic performances of eleventh grade students at rural southeast
Texas high school. Although there had been previous research it only focused on the impact of
readers on their overall academic performances without any measurable data. However, the
authors of this research aims to determine if pleasure readers had increases in their grade
averages of main subjects or if pleasure reading had no impacts on students overall
performances in their academics.
The authors used both quantitative and qualitative data to gain deep insight on students’
academic performances in order to compare the academic performances of pleasure readers
and non- readers. The authors mostly used quantitative survey to get measurable data of
student’s academic performances in English, mathematics, science, and history. The
participants of this research were eleventh grade English III students whose age range from
fifteen to seventeen years old. A total of sixty-five students were selected and divided into two
groups. In the end of the research authors found out that those who read had averaged higher
grades in all the subject than who do not read. The average grade of readers and non-readers
were 88.63% and 78.63 showing only a minimal advantage over non-readers in English. In
mathematics, pleasure readers and non- readers averaged grades was 93.64% and 87.53%. In
term of history, again pleasure reader had advantage over non-reader with average combined
grade of 84.45% and 82.75%. The authors concluded that pleasure reader had better
performances in English, Mathematics, Science, and history with minimal advantage of .11% in
English and 1.71% in science and 4.43% in mathematics and 2.05 in history.
The research problem of this article revolves around to analyze if readers have overall
advantage from non- readers in terms of academics performances. Through this research the
authors aim to promote reading habits in school for students to learn different knowledge and
increase their performances in school. The finding in the research showed that students who
read are declining as students are preoccupied with technology and social media. While others
are busy with overworking and some are not very interested in readings. The authors also
comment that reading is on decline among teenage aged fifteen to seventeen as teens are busy
with school works and does not get enough time to read in leisure time. The authors also state
for further research in order to determine if the results of this study is applicable in larger scale
and continued research will help to indicate if pleasure readers experienced additional academic
performances in schools.
In conclusion, the authors conducted this research in order to gain deep insight if pleasure
readers have overall high academics performances than non-readers in order to improve
reading habits among students. Through their data, they aims to compare and contrast between
readers and non-readers students in schools.
 References
Dahal, P., & Joshi, S.K., & Swahnberg, K. (2022). A Qualitative Study on Gender Inequality
And Gender-based Violence in Nepal. BMC Public Health. Retrieved from
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-14389-x

Whitten, C., & Labby, S., & Sullivan, S.L. (2016). The impact of pleasure reading on academic
success. The Journal of Multidisciplinary Graduate Research. Retrieved from
https://www.shsu.edu/academics/education/journal-of-multidisciplinary-graduate-research/
documents/2016/WhittenJournalFinal.pdf