People attend a campaign rally in Western Angami Assemly Constituency, which has a women candidate in the fray. Despite 4 women candidates for the Nagaland polls, questions remain as to how serious Naga society and polity is when it comes to women empowerment and representation. (Photo Courtesy: Twitter)
Morung Express News
Kohima | February 13
Gender equity and women empowerment have become the ‘catchphrase’ of many conversations among public leaders and citizens. Ahead of the Nagaland Election, the manifestos of almost all politicians, regardless of political parties, include gender equity and women empowerment as a major focus. The question is, if this is only in the context of conversations or to be seriously addressed in a broader policy context.
Recently, a candidate from the 8th Western Angami AC released his manifesto with gender equity and women empowerment as key priorities, assuring to work towards promoting women’s rights, gender equality and empower women.
Ironically, a video from one of his campaign programmes, which leaked on social media, told a different story. In the video, one of his agents addressing the crowd was heard as saying “we cannot say what will happen in the future, but right now letting a woman to be our head/leader, where is our pride/ego? We need to ponder on this?”
Against the backdrop of four women contenders this election—one each from 8th Western Angami AC, 3-Dimapur-III AC, 6th Tenning AC and 32-Atoizu AC, such utterances put to question the will to enable women empowerment.
When contacted, Keneizhakho Nakhro, Independent candidate said that the speech in the video has been misinterpreted and blown out of proportion. “Gender equity and women empowerment as enshrined in the manifesto refers to welfare oriented measures and rendering logistic support for equal growth and cannot be equated to an election campaign,” said Nakhro.
He further stated that the culture and traditional ethos varies in degree adding that “some myopic, media savvy (people) with ulterior motive are trying to misinterpret the issue, and blowing it out of proportion without understanding the good intention of the manifesto.”
Double standards not acceptable
Speaking to The Morung Express, a citizen present during the campaign programme, who wished to remain anonymous, commented: “at first when I heard him speak, I thought this kind of talk happens in politics, but when I went through the candidate’s manifesto, it didn’t go down well with me.”
“As responsible citizen, we are liable to go, listen and hear to whichever candidate comes to our village, but this kind of double standard mentality is unbecoming, that too, from a matured politician,” he said.
While noting the tendency to stereotype gender roles in Naga society, he however maintained that “at this time and age, people’s notion that women shouldn’t or mustn’t be made a leader is unacceptable.”
No gender card
Kevitho Kera, an activist, observed that even though the status of women in Nagaland is comparatively better to mainland India, he opined that “it is not enough and there are still gender biases.”
While noting that enough spaces have not been given to Naga women to show their leadership capability, Kera pointed out that “leadership sees no gender and the gender card should not be played when electing a leader.”
“To change the mindset of the people cannot happen overnight, but it has to be a process that moves in that direction, and it needs to start from the grassroots to tell Nagas that women can lead too,” he stated.
Kera also affirmed that giving women a bigger role in society should not be with the mindset of “dis-reputing or disparaging” the other gender; but “it should come from a place of recognising and respecting the abilities of each gender.”
A faculty member from Nagaland University, when asked to comment, said that “representation of women in politics in Nagaland can be seen through a pessimistic perspective that the glass is half empty.”
"The fact that there has never been a woman elected in the NLA speaks volumes of the social ideology that undermines the capabilities of women proven through the ballot," she stated.
With another election round the corner, she opined that much is yet to be seen of the rhetoric on the gender equality agenda by political parties to be translated into meaningful reality or not.
Emphasising on the need to have women in the State Assembly, Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio had recently tweeted “it’s about time we have women representation in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly....We can make our democracy more vibrant by acknowledging the fact that women not only have the right to vote and to elect but also to be elected.”
Earlier, the Naga Mothers’ Association had also appealed to political parties to prove their manifestos of gender equality and women empowerment, adding “there cannot be a better time to give Naga women the opportunity to contest and represent us in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly.”
