Meena Chaudhary, Nepal's first female Mahout (Photograph by: PRAKASH MATHEMA, Getty Images)

We’ve written about these most charismatic of animals on this site before, as well as the typical scenario of those charged with their care in this part of the world, but this new “gender barrier” shift is too noteworthy to pass over.

The Nepalese government’s recent program to get more women into public sector jobs has extended even into the most masculine of bastions, the mahout.  The traditional practice has been for a boy to be introduced to “his” elephant in childhood and they grow up together. But this conservative, primarily Hindu country is making an official effort to give women a literal leg up. Continue reading →