Every morning after she finishes her housework, Ashmaya Ghak carries her daughter to school. But she doesn't leave when the class starts. Instead, she rocks her child to sleep as the teacher commences the lesson.

Ashmaya is a student at the \'women's school\' in Arughat, set up two years ago by Sushila Khanal. The students are women who were deprived of proper education as a child. Like students of usual school age, they study according to the government curriculum, and take the same exams.

In Gorkha, there are many examples, big and small, of enterprises that have been set up by women to improve their social and economic standing, and fill gaps where provision for them is missing. Their activities include education, finance and community work.

According to the Women Development Office of Gorkha, in 2007 there were 47 women-only cooperatives in the district. Almost 10 per cent of the women above 22 years old (the youngest recorded member) have savings in one of these cooperatives.

Rachana Basnet, mother of three, borrowed Rs 20,000 from her cooperative (Protsahit Women's Saving and Credit) four years ago to set up a grocery shop. She paid off the loan within six months and has shifted her business to a larger premise she recently built. Rachana now heads her household, earning 50 percent of the total income, while her husband is working in Macau.

But the women's exploration of new roles comes at a price, as they struggle to keep up with their traditional duties. Ashmaya is forced to bring her young daughter to school because there is no one to babysit for her. Her classmate, Budhimaya Gurung has to work as a porter to pay her school fees (Rs 25 per month), leaving her less time at home to do the chores. "My husband is against it, so he doesn't pay for me," she says.

But the students are prepared to face these difficulties for, as Mina Shrestha, at 52 the oldest student puts it: "Having no education is as good as being blind."

There are also a number of groups working for the wider community. Also in Arughat, a "mothers' group" has been formed to carry out community services.They clean up rubbish, repair damage to village property such as taps and fences, and promote the traditional culture they think is losing influence over the younger generation.

It seems that the reason that spurred local women to form these groups was frustration with the lack of provisions from the government, NGOs and private sector. The tedious bureaucracy of local banks, the absence of any authority to keep their community clean, the social barriers for women to get an education. The list goes on.

And the reason that the cooperatives are exclusively female? Indira Aryal, vice chairman of Ganesh Patan Saving and Credit Cooperative, explains: "Only women understand women's problems."

Sheere NG in Gorkha