Binita Kakati
The theme for the International Women’s Day this year is gender parity with the slogan “Pledge For Parity”. The reason cited for this theme is that in 2014 the World Economic Forum report on gender predicted that it would take until 2095 to close the gender gap. A year later it estimated that due to a slowdown in the already ‘glacial’ rate of progress, the goal would not be achieved until 2133. The report measures gaps between men and women in four key aspects: health, education, economy and politics. As we hope for an equitable society, it perhaps becomes pertinent to look at our own backyard, to see where women stand in the northeast where they are considered to be privileged compared to the rest. We will attempt to look at the peculiar position occupied by women in this region, particularly under the customary laws. It is peculiar because women here are considered to be more emancipated than those in the rest of India. But the same customary laws deny them equality in three key fields namely justice, legal mechanism and political representation.
Let us now look at the arguments which problematise the field of customary laws. When women are not seen as fully functioning members of a polity and are denied access to what is considered a basic human right, by implication it denies them access to any of the parameters mentioned above. But first we need to open the conversation on the elusive ‘superior’ position held by women here. The key argument put forward by many regarding the higher status of women in the northeast is based on relativity. Women are relatively better off here than in the rest of the country.
An answer to this is provided by a feminist when she writes “you know how first world feminists get told that they don't need feminism…that they should be glad they’re not “really oppressed” like the women in third world countries, that things could always be worse. You know what my mother tells me ? She says I don't need feminism because I should be glad I’m born in an urban city of Pakistan… not in a rural area where girls are married off to men twice their age... And our house maid Shabana, who was married to her uncle at 15, at 18, has 2 children, she doesn't even know what feminism is. She was told by her father that she should be glad her husband doesn't beat her and hasn't thrown tehzaab (acid) at her. Am I the only one seeing a very disturbing pattern here?”
The problem is made worse when women in the northeast are told that they have a higher status compared to the rest. But while women in the rest of the country have access to a Constitution which guarantees equality to justice and political representation, it is not guaranteed to women under many of the customary laws of their tribes. Women in most cases cannot be members of the village councils, or village heads, so they are not always guaranteed fair verdicts in the customary courts. Most tribes deny them inheritance of clan land. In Meghalaya lineage is matrilineal but most decisions concerning land are taken by men. For example the village of Smit is headed by the eldest daughter of the Syiem family but only in religious capacity. However administrative and political power is monopolized by men. The Dorbar (village council) is all male. Women are currently fighting for representation in it. In Nagaland women are not represented in the village council. Except for a Rajya Sabha member in the 1970s the state has not had a single female elected representative in the state legislature or parliament. In the name of customary laws, men are opposing their election to the municipal councils, though the Constitution demands that a third of their members should be women. The customary laws provide an affordable and accessible system of justice, but unfortunately it has no representation from half the population over whom it adjudicates. Women are by and large not represented and they have no option but to approach these bodies though they feel that they may not get a fair verdict. The alternative to this effective forum for conflict resolution is an expensive trial far away from home which they can’t afford.
All of the above paints a grim picture of the status of women in the northeast. These glaring flaws are put out not to tarnish the pristine image, but to help us to stop celebrating our false glory and accept our own inadequacies and make way for much needed change. We need to accept that in the social, economic and political fields women are not treated as equal under our customary laws. It is only when we acknowledge these failures that we can have a meaningful conversation about how to bring about the required changes. Its first step is creating a level field where women can contest for their own rights. The dismal numbers of women contesting and winning elections in the states suggest that change has to start from the bottom. This can be done by socially and politically involving women into the fold of power. Men have monopolised the fields of culture, politics and decision making while women have been relegated to the duties of the home, child bearing and rearing. They can’t be expected to start contesting elections immediately.
The level field needs to be created by involving women in decision making. The first step lies in men conceding a share in power in the village councils and accepting women as equal partners. The second wave must come in the form of social progress. We have not had the privilege to boast of a young woman heading any of the villages. Unfortunately it is not the dearth of interested women. There are many enterprising women who want to see a change in the functioning of the system. Some have resorted even to measures such as ‘Nari Adalat’. The answer does not lie in constituting such bodies with no legal sanction. The question has to be addressed where it belongs, by conceding power to allow women a share in decision making.
Lastly, progress cannot be seen overnight. We have spent years in creating mindsets and institutions which perpetuate inequality. Now women have started raising their voice to claim rights which were earlier denied to them. It becomes mandatory to listen to these voices and modify existing structures even if it were to involve changing traditional ways of thought or customary laws. Let us not deny rights under the garb of tradition. Let us learn to make way and give people their due. It is time we began to think of living in more democratic systems where spaces are given to others.
Binita Kakati is a research associate with the North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati.
