Khesheli Chishi
Today as we gather here to celebrate the International Women’s day along with the rest of the world with the theme “Gender Agenda, Getting Momentum”, I am reminded of the reason for celebrating this day, which is to officially recognise and to acknowledge the tremendous contributions women have made towards the welfare of the society. It is also a day to celebrate the economic, political and religious and social achievements of women, past, present and future. The recent growing realization and recognition all over the world is that women’s empowerment is absolutely essential for national and global development. The issue of women being at par with men in all spheres of life is gaining momentum indeed. sEven from a biblical stand, there are no two human beings. The book of Genesis 1:27 say; “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”.
This passage transmits a basic truth, i.e., human being is the high point of the whole order of creation and that men and women are the crown of creation. It means both men and women are human beings to an equal degree created in the image of God. So also in the eyes of law, there is no difference between a man and a woman. Both are equal and therefore even the Constitution of India under Article 14 provides for equal protection and equal treatment. However, in most cases women are nurtured to believe in male supremacy and their ultimate power over women. Inspite of the growing realization, the conditions of women still present a mixed picture. There is some good and some bad, more girls are in school, more women are working, more women are also into business, more women are today able to break barriers and are full of confidence. However, the bad thing is that the potential and opportunities become fewer down the economic ladder particularly in the rural areas and more threat to women’s safety in the urban areas. The few women seated in the decision making bodies feel that although the condition of women is getting better, they feel that true gender equality will be achieved only when the social mindset changes. Some years back we talked about women’s empowerment and we still do, yet it will be realized only when the women are given proper education on their rights and privileges. According to the UN, the majority of the world’s 1.3 billion absolute poor are women. There is great need to find out the various categories of their poverty in order to relieve their needs through various ways. There will be many avenues with the Government but only few avail the opportunities (for reasons best known to the concerned departments). It is high time that women are informed and engage themselves in different programmes which they feel will suit them best to earn for their survival. (Soil conservation, forestry, live stock farming like poultry, dairy, fisheries, food processing, floriculture, handloom, etc). As mentioned earlier, its only the few who are benefitted, so in order to let the women at the grass root level avail the opportunity, the NGOs or the women organization working for the welfare of our community have to take the trouble in finding out ways and means and work out modalities to the masses that are in the dark of their rights.
Today as we look at our situation, everything appears peaceful and calm, yet almost every week we hear of crime being committed and about the kinds of violence and discrimination that is meted out to women. Even minor girls are not spared. According to Naga culture, violence against women was abhorred. This culture of respecting women should be upheld and encouraged so that good values and respect for women is inculcated into the lives of the younger generation of young men. We do have customary practices that are discriminatory to women, which I feel should be done away by all self respecting men.
Sensing the urgency to protect women from all kinds of violence, on 25th February 2008, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, launched his campaign “Unite to end violence against women” covering the period 2008-2015 with the overall objective to raise public awareness and increase the political will and resources for prevention and responding to all forms of violence against women and girls in all parts of the world. The Secretary General called on Government, civil societies, women’s organizations, young people, the private sector, artists, the media, the entire United Nation’s system and individual women and men to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of violence against women and girls.
Living in a conflict zone for more than 6 decades, the Naga women have also witnessed a lot of horrors that occurred in almost every house made us realize that being a mere spectator and suffering silently will not help solve our problem, prompt us to come to the fore, voicing out that all kind of violence should end and let peace prevail. Sensing the urgent need of women’s role in peace building and also to give space to women to be a part of decision making and policy framing , the UN also adopted a resolution known as UNSCR 1325 (United Nation Security Council Resolution) . UNSCR 1325 is the first International policy instrument of its kind that explicitly recognizes the gendered nature of both war and peace processes. It includes recommendations for the protection of women in conflict situations and their participations in peace negotiations, post conflict reconstruction as well as conflict prevention. Having said all this I want to emphasize once again that we Naga women need not condition our minds to remain static but stand up on our feet and change at least the things we can. Much progress has been made to protect and promote women’s right in recent times. It is our life and our future that we are concerned about. So why wait when the window of opportunity is open to us? Let us join hands and share the responsibility of transforming not only ourselves but our whole community.
Khesheli Chishi, Convenor, Indigenous Women Forum of North East India (IWFNEI) presented this paper at the NEN Resource Centre, Chizami , Phek, Nagaland on March 8
