ABSTRACT
Nepal is a country of diverse geographical landscape and great cultural diversity. Geographically the country may be divided into three east–west parallel regions: the mountains, the hilly tract and the tarai plains. Almost 19,000,000 people of different ethnic origins and cultural orientation inhabit this country. The overwhelming majority of them live in the hills and tarai. Despite the great cultural diversity, in terms of their attitudes towards women and their participation in the economy, the people of Nepal may be classified into Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan groups. This distinction is not entirely clear cut, because some Tibeto-Burman communities have been significantly Hinduised, while Indo-Aryan communities living in the hills have been influenced considerably by Tibeto-Burman cultures. These limitations not withstanding, the variations can be usefully subsumed under these two cultural types.
