Communist party politician Sahana Pradhan, an active octogenarian, is a symbol of the struggle for women's education and political rights in Nepal.

Sahana Pradhan (born 1927) is one of Nepal's veteran politicians and social activists. She is a politburo member of the Nepal Communist Party (United Marxist-Leninist), and president of the Women's Security Pressure Group, which lobbies for women's sociopolitical rights nationally. Sahana is a symbol of the struggle for women's education and political rights in Nepal.

Sahana Pradhan's childhood was shaped and disrupted by the experience of living through World War II in Burma-it gave her the rare opportunity to go to school. But when she returned to Nepal in the middle of the war, social conservatism and lack of opportunities made it extremely hard to continue with her education. But Sahana became one of the first women in Nepal to finish secondary school within the country. She and her elder sister came into contact with young Nepali revolutionary fighters, one of them their own younger brother, who started to teach them at home. Their parents, who initially opposed this, later consented, principally because Sahana and her sister rebelled. Both sisters appeared for matriculation privately and passed. Sahana came into contact with the Communist Party of Nepal when she married its founder and joined the party. However, once she had two children to look after, she began to teach at the university, resuming her political career when her children were older, and contributing to the 1990 movement for democracy. She was coordinator of the Bam Morcha (Joint Forum of Communist Parties), one of the groups leading the movement. Today, she is a politburo member of the Nepal Communist Party, and president of the Women's Security Pressure Group, which lobbies for women's sociopolitical rights nationally. It is Sahana's struggle that has made it possible for women to vote and to stand for election.

Women's Security Pressure Group (WSPG)