Kalpana Sharma - In politics and property ownership, there’s no space for Nagaland's women
While the recent
Assembly elections have been the subject of endless chatter in the media, in
Nagaland, the question that hangs in the air is: when will we see women
governing the state? Nagaland attained statehood in 1963, but since then, it
has not elected a single woman to its Assembly. It has also only ever sent one woman to Parliament – Rano M Shazia, who was
elected to the Lok Sabha back in 1977.
This reality pervades
through all levels of governance in the state. Traditional village councils,
formalised through the passage of the Nagaland Village Councils Act 1978, have
hardly any female representation. And though laws have been enacted providing
for 33% reservation of women in municipal and town councils, their
implementation has been halted, as a result of which there is not a single
woman in these bodies.
Twin battles: What does this say about the status of Naga women? At first glance, Naga
women do not appear oppressed. You meet strong, articulate women, well-known
writers, poets, academics and activists. You also see women doing backbreaking
work in the fields, carrying heavy loads of firewood, cooking, cleaning, weaving
or selling vegetables and fruits in markets and by the roadside.
Yet, a Naga woman
cannot call the field in which she works her own, or lay claim to house she
manages or even her kitchen garden. If it is ancestral property, she is not
entitled to inherit it. The only exception is acquired property – parents can
gift their daughters land. But after her death, that land will not go to her
heirs; it will be returned to her clan.
For the women in
Nagaland, then, the battle is two-pronged – for representation in institutions
of governance and for the right to inheritance. In many ways, the fight for
representation in self-governing bodies is symptomatic of the larger battle of
Naga women against their society's inherently patriarchal traditional
structures.
A drop in the ocean:
Anungla Aier, principal of the
Kohima Science College, said that within the traditional definitions of who is
entitled to be on the village council, "there is no space for women, in
the social or political realm.” "When you have a state Assembly of 60 men,
how can we expect any of them to take steps to bring women into the picture?”
she said.
The village councils
predominantly consist of men who are selected by villagers. They have powers to
govern many aspects of village development, including the use of development
funds. In that regard, they’re quite similar to panchayats. The big difference,
though, is that they are not elected bodies (in the way that panchayats are)
and they have hardly any women.
Additionally, all
villages have Village Development Boards (VDB) and a state law in 1980
stipulated that a quarter of their members should be women. Though this
provision has been implemented, the resistance to women entering village
councils continues. In the last few of years, a few village councils, mostly in
Dimapur and in Phek district in eastern Nagaland have taken a few women on
board. Tokheli Kikon, Chairperson of the Naharbari Village Council, is the
first and only woman so far to head a village council. But these are the
exceptions, not yet the norm.
For those have found a
place in the village councils, there is the expectation that they can make a
difference, even if there are only two women in a council of 30 or more men. One
such woman is 38-year-old Konie-u from Enhulumi village in Phek district. A
village with around 250 houses, Enhulumi is perched precariously over the state
highway running from Kohima to the eastern part of Nagaland via Chizami. If you
go there early in the morning, you will only find men. The women have already
left for the fields.
Every morning, Konie-u
weaves for some time, then leaves for the fields. That morning, she waited, as
did her mother, Khwetsozu-u, who offered us sticky rice and then left for her
paddy fields. Konie-u, from the Chakasang tribe, said that three years back,
the women's society in the village pushed for women to be in the village
council. They finally succeeded last year. They nominated Konie-u, who has
studied up to Class 9, along with another woman. "In the beginning, when
we got into the council, we explained to the men that we are not just here to
make and serve tea but that we want to participate in the meetings", said
Konie-u. They told the men that if they want tea, they should tell them early
so that it can be made. Even if they wanted lunch, the women would arrange it.
But during the meetings, they wanted to be there. "Already, within a year,
men in the council are starting to acknowledge and listen to us and are telling
us that our opinion matters," she said.
Can women really make
a difference, I ask? In Konie-u's opinion, they can. She said that if men eat
up 75% of the funds, and leave only 25% for the community, women will ensure
that at least 75% of the funds are available for the village. Would she be
prepared to stand for the Assembly? Konie-u dismissed the suggestion saying
that she is not qualified, and doesn't have the money. But, she said, “I
believe that we will have a woman legislator from our constituency. I will
campaign and push for her.”
Opposition to laws:
This is but a small breach in
a male fortress. The larger struggle for representation in municipal councils,
which revolves around implementing a law and not on the munificence of some
men, is proving far tougher. The Nagaland Assembly passed the Nagaland
Municipal (First Amendment) Act in 2006. This provided for 33% reservation of
seats for women. But till today, this cannot be implemented because men have
argued that this runs counter to customary law. And according to Article 371A
of the Constitution, Nagaland is exempt from any law that does not conform to
customary laws. For the last six years, elections to the municipal bodies have not been held, as a result of the ongoing stand-off on the
reservation.
A writ petition
challenging the state government's refusal to hold municipal elections was
filed before the Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court on June 26, 2011. The
petitioners, Rosemary Dzuvichu, an academic, and Abeiu Meru of the Naga
Mothers' Association argued that as the law guaranteeing representation to
women was applicable to Nagaland and did not violate traditional practices, it
ought to be implemented. The government, however, put forward various arguments
and also claimed that implementing such a law would upset the peace in
Nagaland.
In October 2011, the
court, presided by a single judge, upheld the petition and directed the
government to hold the elections to municipal councils and town councils on or
before January 20, 2012. But before that could happen, the state government
filed an appeal before a division bench of the Gauhati High Court. The previous
ruling was stayed. The petitioners then moved a Special Leave Petition in the
Supreme Court in September 2012 and finally got a ruling on April 20 this year.
The Supreme Court upheld the single-judge ruling of the Gauhati High Court of
October 2011. As a result, the state government and the state election
commission must begin the process of holding elections to the urban local
bodies. But to date, nothing has happened.
In the absence of
municipal elections over the last few years, funds cannot be released for
essential urban services, the consequences of which are evident in the sorry
state of Nagaland's towns... Read more:
http://scroll.in/article/808787/in-politics-and-property-ownership-theres-no-space-for-nagalands-women