A global feminist conference in Kathmandu has come under fire from a leading Nepali Dalit activist and scholar, Sarita Pariyar, who has accused the organizers and dominant caste participants of a "troubling erasure" of the issue of caste, particularly the voices of Dalit women in the host country.
Pariyar, Founding Chairperson of the Just Futures Pahal (JFP), had planned to deliver a talk titled "Reimagining Feminism Through the Prism of Caste Globally" at the CREA conference held in Kathmandu on December 8-10, 2025. However, she respectfully declined a speaking slot after repeated and early requests for a plenary spot were allegedly ignored, a decision she attributes to "self-privileging caste feminists."
Pariyar, a PhD student at Cornell University, expressed her dismay that despite the conference being held in a country "profoundly shaped by the concept and practices of caste," the most marginalized voices were systematically relegated to the margins. She noted that a panel with a grand title dedicated to resistance concluded 14 minutes early, without a Nepali on the panel.
"If we are serious about feminism, we must stop avoiding the question of Caste," Pariyar stated in her prepared, undelivered remarks. She stressed that centering Dalit women's experiences is critical to transforming global feminism.
The activist criticized the persistent failure of privileged, highly educated, and powerful dominant caste women to acknowledge the experiences and aspirations of Dalit women, relegating them to peripheral discussions (i.e., "footnotes or side-panel events") instead of central, "plenary" settings.
"To deliberately ignore such a critical issue in the host country is not merely an oversight; it reflects a pattern of troubling erasure enabled by self-privileging caste feminists," reads the Pariyar's statement.
She concluded her message with a call for urgent action, "This requires deep introspection on why we ignore or feel uncomfortable with caste, and, most importantly, a commitment to act in a sustained manner." Her organization, JFP, focuses on centering Dalit women as "knowledge producers and creative thinkers" to produce a new "epistemology" on the politics of knowledge and power.
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