The bubble of gender equality in Mao society
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| *Picture: Mao Dance troup with Sir. A Kholi (Pijii) |
“Gender equality is more
than a goal itself”- Kofi Annan
Gender equality is the
equality of men and women in access to right and opportunity. A gender-equal
society doesn’t differentiate its member based on their gender. Kofi Annan
rightly pointed out that gender equality is more than a goal itself, it is the
necessary steps and process for a society to move towards prosperity and
harmony. No society is truly peaceful and harmonious when a section of its
members are discriminated and their needs neglected. Gender equality is thus a Fundamental
Right guaranteed in the Indian Constitution through Article
15 and is to be read along with other fundamental rights and Directive
Principle of State Policy. It is also stated in Preamble in the
form of ‘Equality of Status and Opportunity’. Realizing the importance
of gender equality in making the world a sustainable place, gender equality is
adopted as Goal number 5 of Sustainable Development Goals.
A general perception among people
of Northeast India is that our society is a gender-neutral society different
from the rest of the country. The claim often mentions the absence of sati and
dowry in the region as a factor of gender-neutral society. Aside the
Matrilineal culture among Khasi and Garo’s are
often cited as proof that our society is favourable towards women. However, a
deeper look into the functioning of our society shows a different picture than
what we project our society to be, a gender-neutral society. Mao society is
deeply rooted in the patriarchal system and there lies in the systematic
discrimination of women in various forms.
As society changes and evolved
over the passage of time certain values and ethics of society too evolved. A
major shift in the societal values of Mao society is attributed to the arrival
and acceptance of Christianity among its members. From a warring head-hunter
society, it evolved towards a relatively stable friendly society. The
acceptance of Christianity means the rejection of age-old religious belief and
acceptance of new Christian ethics and moral code of conducts. Mention here may
be made that despite the difference some of the old customary practice continue
to be followed even after the acceptance of Christianity. Our discussion and
comparison are made with the consideration of this shift in Mao society.
Gender inequality comes in
various forms and perpetrators are both individuals and society as a whole. A
majority of gender inequality takes its toils on women and they are forced to
bear the burn of discrimination. A fine example of gender inequality is the
denials of women rights to vote which was recognised lately for the first time
in 1893 in New Zealand, despite the facts that many countries have adopted a
democratic form of governance long time back. Even in Mao society, the
discrimination of women takes its form in various ways such as the denial of
inheritance, the subjugation of wife under husband, the prohibition and
systematic denials of women in decision-making process etc... Some of the
fronts in which women are discriminated in Mao society are further discussed in
details below.
A.
Discrimination of women with respect to
Education:
Being a warring society the role of
men and women in society are very different in the old days. It is expected of
men to protect, defence and at time goes on a war expedition and hence are
taught about warfare, politic and legends of past heroes. Meanwhile, the role
of women was cultivation and running the household’s chores, hence are taught
skills such as weaving, cooking and running the households. The difference in
what is taught is solely based on the different roles each gender carried out
in society. However, with the modernization and globalisation of society, the
different roles of gender in society are been eroded away. Education became a
major tool of empowerment in this present age. Sadly, though in Mao society the
opportunity for education is not equally distributed across its members and
there exists a huge gap between the gender.
Most parents view the investment in
girl’s child education as secondary to the investment in male child education.
Often even when the girl child is faring well in her studies ahead of her male
siblings, parents would stress on the education of her male sibling over hers. The
indifference of parent’s attitudes towards girl child education is rooted in
the notion that someday she will be married off to some other family or clans.
A rather common case of observation is that after certain level of education, a
girl child is often consciously or unconsciously force to stop with her further
education and fends for her siblings through taking up of various jobs such as
working in call-centre, showrooms, teaching jobs etc. which she may not like to
take up as her profession. It is saddening to hear views of those like “I
wanted to continue my studies but what can I do, I have to look after my
sibling since my parents are …………..”.
B.
Discrimination of woman in Choice of Career:
While it is encouraging to see
that some of our women are excelling across the different field, it is unfair
to claim that the opportunity to choose and follow one’s career path is same
for both men and women. As mention above a girl child is often forced to seek
jobs right after her graduation and made to land profession which she may not
like. Most parent often encourages their male child for high jobs such as IAS
or other Gazetted Officer while they are more than happy if their daughters land
up in mid-level entry jobs. Mention may be made here that a male child is more
likely to be allowed by parents to practice his choice of career while most
parents have reservation about certain jobs for the girl child. Often when her
jobs required her to spend considerable times away from home her parents or
in-laws would pressurise her to seek a job closer to homes. A wife choice of
career is often subjugated to the career of her husband and she is often forced
to adapt or seek employment which fit in with her husband works. It may be
pointed out here that parents and society often consider a certain career path as
unsuited for girls and often restrained them from taking up one, one such
career path is Security force or Army. A welcoming recent judgement by
honourable Supreme Courts to allowed women for the permanent commission should
act as an eye-opener and provide women with an equal opportunity to choose
one’s own career path.
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| **Pic: Mao Couples in Traditional Attire |
C.
Economic discrimination of women:
As a patriarchal society
inheritance is solely passed to a male child. House and land ownership are
solely made in the name of male members. Even while both husband and wife are
working partners most properties are often in the name of the husband. A
limited opportunity in choice of career means a higher chance that a woman ends
up with lower incomes than their male’s counterparts. The male based
inheritance is so strong that despite the couples having multiple girl’s children,
would still go on having a child in hopes of a male child. The drive often led
to the failure of family planning and further degradation of family
sustainability. Adoption of relatively close kin male child is often seen in
case the couple fails to get a male child despite the couple having girls child.
True equality lies in the fair distribution of wealth and equal rights to
inheritance. The economic discrimination often leads to the mental torture of
married woman where husband at times of conflict brought issues such as “whose
house is this or who brought all the inheritance?”. A major impact of
economic discrimination is seen in the decision-making powers of men and women.
D.
Inequality in decision making power and
political representation:
Decision-making power varies
greatly across different genders in our society. In most of the household, the
final say in any matter lies in the hand of husband or male members. In case of
conflicting views when women press their views, they are often silenced by the
male counterpart saying “Nitomei me okha solo”. Often than not the
physical dominance of men is used by the male to silence their female
counterpart. The dominance of man in household decision-making process often
has a domino effect on the decision-making process of society. Despite the
providence of reservation of 1/3rd of the seat in local bodies
through 73rd and 74th amendment it has yet to be
implemented in our society. Mention here may be made of a resolution passed in
Nagaland assembly on September 2012 to exclude Nagaland from the provision of
73rd and 74th amendment through the myopic view of
Article 371A is a sad testament to the systematic discrimination and
subjugation of woman.
The representation of women in
the present executive of Mao Student Union (the apex body of students of Mao society)
is a glaring picture. With one woman representative and the vacancy of the post
of two women coordinators in the entire executive clearly points out that women
are mostly left out of the decision-making process in our society. It will be
unsurprising to find a similar composition in subordinates’ units. Often than
not top post or main decision-making organ of various institution and
organisation are mostly held by men which reflect the inequality in decision
making power of different gender. Another glaring picture of gender inequality
is the subjugation of women organisation to male-dominated organisation. An
invisible yet clearly defined list of decision-making structure existed among the
different gender-based organisation, the list is quite synonymous to the
policies making ability of executive councillors and Indian minister in Dyarchy
system introduced through Government of India Act 1919. With the male-dominated
organisation having decision making power of general important issues and
having the power of final say, while woman-based organisation acting as
subsidiary to the former with limited decision-making roles.
Churches and religious
institution are not shielded from this systematic discrimination of women
organisation as its usually the church council or boards of the deacon who
makes the calls on major decision and women organisation left to dealt only
with women issue. The lack of women representation across various vitals
decision making bodies has led to the zero representation of women in states assembly
and parliament. This further increase the gaps of inequality in decision-making
power between different genders. The absence or lack of women representative in
the important decision-making process has led to the disregards for a gender-neutral
justice system.
E.
Discrimination in the Justice system:
The voice and opinion of women
are often attributed as of lower values than those of male counterpart. A fine
example is in any case of land dispute the opinion of wife or mother is silenced
by the opposing party through slang like “Nitomei adei siiwe”. Though
various judicial systems are present according to various acts and laws made by
the parliament, their effectiveness never sees the day and dispute are settled
through customary justice system which systematically left out women
representation as a dispenser of justice. Non-implementation of 73rd
and 74th amendment further means that women are left out of village
council which act as a quasi-judicial body and hence the non-representation of
women in dispensing justice. Mention here may be made of the clan and sub-clan
body which act as the primary arbitrator are devoid of women representation. In
case of any conflict between clans or matter relating to activities of clan
members, it is the clan body which acts as a major arbitrator as well as
function as counsel. Another major discrimination of women occurs in case of
divorce or any marital related issue, though women are litigant to the case the
entire decision related to child rights, inheritance right etc. are issued and
determine by the court of men. The arrival of Christianity did little or no
change in the dispensation of justice towards women, the equally or more potent
form of the patriarchal system of biblical society offer nothing to ease the
discrimination of women in the judicial system. A rather sad observation is
that humanistic principle and modern law are subjugated to customary law. Our
indifference and biases in judicial activities often stem from the superstitious
belief and religious dogma. Our society as a whole has been in deep grabs of
religious dogma.
F.
Religious and ritualistic discrimination of
women:
There are ample of example to
show that pre-Christian religious belief system discriminates women. From the authority
of kings in determining rituals to the lack of women participation in any
ritual (in fact the prohibition of women participation in various ritual) is a
fine example of discrimination of women. The Chiina koso during Chiithuni
Ephre mani explicitly prohibits not only the presence of women but those
who have slept with a woman the previous night and also family members where
marriage is recently held or soon to be held. Also, the chanting during washing
of Ephre mani goes like “Chani chakathe” which has a negative
connotation towards women. The arrival of Christianity does not bring about any
positive change is the ritualistic participation of women, as a matter of fact,
it brought along with it a certain system of discrimination of women. The
prohibition of women to be ordained as a priest, the prohibition of nuns to
celebrate mass (which is central to the Catholic faith) and also the restriction
on women and preference of men to read Gospel on Sunday service are some of few
examples of discrimination of women in the catholic church. Protestant
denomination churches are of no difference to discrimination of women, not so
long-ago women are prohibited from becoming pastor and reverend. Even today
there is a significant preference of male pastor or reverend in village church
over the female pastor. There also existed a significant difference in the numbers
of males and females pastor. The epistle of Timothy, 1 Tim 2:12 and the epistle
of Paul to the Corinthian, 1 Cor 14: 34-35 are often cited to prohibits women
from being ordained as a priest or pastor. Though numerous reformations have
been initiated in Christianity, a major one been that of Martin Luther there is
still stark discrimination of women in Christianity. The role of women has
often been seen as a subsidiary or complementary part to the male counterpart. As
religious belief often determines how a society function, the flaws of religious
belief often manifest itself as flaws in the social order of society.
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| Pic: During 'Pfoki Kapra' of Chithuni Festival-2015 |
G.
Social discrimination:
In the pre-Christianity era,
women are often subjected to as lower rungs of society, this is substantiated
by how celebration revolves across different genders. Take the case of Saleni
during which there is “Ale Ale kocho” which is a celebration
specifically meant for men and until recently Saleni is considered as
the main festival of Mao society. Sadly, there is no such counterpart
celebration specifically meant for women, thus indicating the higher social
status of men over women. It may also be noted here that most activities in
festivals are male-oriented and women are often left as spectators and
sometimes their presence is prohibited (examples Ruho Koho, Osho kochu). Some
of the point mention earlier such as representation and participation of women
in the decision-making process also indicates the status of men and women in
the social structure of Mao society. Further social discrimination can be seen
in often subtle “Chiina chiinoe” such as “netomei chiikhu phe pra
chiinoe, netomei ochii phe pra chiinoe”. Even today women are discriminated
socially and their freedom often curbed. The attitude of men will be men as in
when a boy has multiples opposite sex as friends it is considered perfectly
normal while if a girl has opposite sex as a majority of her friends, she is
often label in various terms such as loose character girl. In the latter case
often than not neighbour, parents, close kin would intervene and ask her to
consider her circle of friends. Another major discrimination is the slut-shaming
of girls if she has been in a physical relationship with multiple partners
while in case of men it is often considered as a medal or an achievement if he
had a physical relationship with multiple partners. The deep social
discrimination of women often starts from the family where parent follows a
subtle preferential treatment of the male child as in matters of education and
choice of career discuss above. The subtle disfavour and demeaning of girl
child during childhood often hardwire into her character and often display in
the form of submissive nature and lack of faith and courage in her own ability.
This subtle mistreatment of girl child often results in the inability of women
to stand up for her own right and the non-representation of women in the political
sphere. The social discrimination of woman often takes the form of
discrimination of women with respect to marriages.
H.
Discrimination in respect to marriages and
remarrying:
The marriage institution is often
linked to inheritance of property and being a patriarchal society there is a
quantum of discrimination of women in respect of marriages. While men are free
to choose and marry whomsoever they choose to marry, often the choice of women
are subjected to the wish and opinion of her near and dear ones. Marriage often
has an element of tribes and villages attached to it in case of women. While
men are at no restriction to marry anyone from any tribes and villages, in case
of women the very element of one’s own tribes and often villages play a major
part in the opinion formation of marriages among her parents and close kin. And
girls are often consciously and unconsciously pressurised to marry her own tribes
or villages members, this is predominantly true in case the woman is highly
educated or a well-known figure in the society.
Another major discrimination of
women is in the opinion of widow remarriages. While it is considered perfectly
okay for a widowed man to remarry, no question asks about how he is widowed
from his previous marriages or neither about his children or his age. In case a
widow woman remarries various question are probe like does she has children
from her previous marriages, how did she get widow and what’s her ages etc.
When a widow woman whose husband has passed away, her remarriages is often
constraint by the presence of a child. And if she does get remarried to another
man often slang like “She left her previous husband house in search of
pleasure”. The irony here is that our society finds it perfectly okay for
widow men to fulfil his sexual pleasure while it is inappropriate for widow woman
to fulfil her sexual desire. The very objection to remarriages of widow women
represent a deep grab of patriarchy on society and ultimately led to gender
inequality within the society. Mention here may be made of Ishwar Chandra
Vidyasagar, a social reformer who actively campaign for widow
remarriages which finally led to passing of Hindu Remarriages Act in 1856.
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| *Pic: Representative of Mao Union Imphal and Mao Naga Women Welfare Association Imphal with Cheif Guest during Mao Youth and Student Organisation Freshers Meet-2016 |
The gender discrimination of
women in Mao community is not limited to the above description but these are
some of the areas where women are discriminated based on their genders. As
bubbles don’t remain for long and can be easily poked through, the bubbles of
gender equality in Mao society can’t stand the test of inquiry and reasoning.
How long will our society project the false narrative and start dealing with
the real issue faced by our women? The issue of gender inequality not only
affects women but has ever reaching impact on the wellbeing of society as a
whole. As stated in the beginning by Kofi Annan gender equality
is the prerequisite for any society to fully develop itself.
It is imperative to say that
women should seek empowerment and ensure gender equality themselves when our
society with its mechanism is pulling its weight on them. The Constitution of
India recognizing the special needs of SC and ST community as they have been
subjugated to generational harassment and oppression provided reservation in
various spheres such as education, jobs and representation in state assemblies
and parliament. We who are beneficiary of such reservation how dare we left it
our women to fend for themselves when they had been discriminated since age. The
irony is we who had been beneficiary of reservation still thwart the
reservation of women in our local bodies. Now the pertinent question lies “how
should we go about to ensure gender equality in our society?”. The burden
lies on us individually and as a society in ensuring gender equality in our
society.
“Family are the compass
that guides us”- Brad Henry
Firstly, gender equality should
begin and be practise at home. We should all ensure that no members of our
family are devoid of equal opportunity. We can start by ensuring that there is an
equal division of household chores among different members and not leaving the
burden on female members alone. This will ensure and instil the importance of
household chores among members and how time-consuming and tiring it can be.
Parents should be very careful while dealing with their children and ensure
equal treatment of all. Preferential treatment, in the long run, is detrimental
not only to those who are devoid of such but also has a larger negative impact
on the receivers. In fact, various discrimination towards women stems from the
family, hence parents and members of the family should be cautious not to let
another member be discriminated. Finally, our family ethics and practice should
act as a moral compass when faced with a crossroad, thus the importance of
basing our family ethic on equality, justice and fraternity.
“When you educate a girl,
you educate a nation”- UNICEF
Secondly, as society and
individuals, we should ensure equal opportunity for growth and development of
each individual. The education of girl child shouldn’t be view through the
prism that someday she will be married off. Yes, the cofounding view is
partially true as mostly when a married woman remains close with her family and
especially when she helps them financially society often judge and shame her.
However, this shouldn’t be a matter if we individuals who made up the society
ensure gender equality in a collective manner. More importantly, why education
of women is vital is because when a girl becomes a mother it is her who mostly
taught and shape her children in their formative years. In this way, the
positive domino effect of educating a girl is felt across society and bring
about positive change and prosperity to society. Also, it may be mention here
that most parent when they can’t afford to send all their children to private
schools usually send their girl child to government-run school. This brings us
to another major issue faced by our society that is the appointment of another
person in place of a qualified person as a teacher in a government institution,
this brings down the already dying quality of education in the government
institution. Here civil society especially the various student organisation
needs to step up its effort in curbing the menace of dummy teachers, which will
further the cause of gender equality in our society.
“Equality begins with
Economic Empowerment”- George H. W. Bush
Thirdly, we should ensure
economic equality among men and women. The very roots of inheritance based on the
patriarchal system needed to be evaluated and its merits and demerits
deliberated to ensure economic empowerment of women in our society. Yes, the constraint
does exist such as preserving our ancestor land within ourselves and also about
preserving our long-held customs. However, despite all the constraint there
arise a pertinent question that is ‘should we continue to follow a
regressive custom which discriminates a section of our society?’. The
logical and unbiased response to such a question would be ‘no, we shouldn’t
continue the practice, instead, we should find a better alternative and make an
amendment to it’. The alternative suggestion involves giving a fair share
of the value of inheritance to women in terms of cash and kind, ensuring that
the land belongs to the respective villages or tribe. Aside women should be provided
with equal opportunity to choose her choice of career so that she remains
financially independent of her husband. Also, the ability to spend and invest
in resource should be equally shared between wife and husband. It is a matter
of fact that often election result in our society are determined by money
power. When more and more women are economically empowered then we can expect
woman standing up for election in our society furthering the improvement of the
social status of women in our society.
“For me, a better democracy
is a democracy where women do not only have the right to vote and to elect but
be elected”- Michele Bachelet
Fourthly, we need to ensure that
women are fairly represented in our society. Not only does a fair
representation of women in different organisations ensure women empowerment but
they bring along with them a different point of view and a well-informed
decision is often the best decision. This will ensure that our society grows
and develop itself into a model society for others to look up to and learn
from. We can begin by taking small steps such as ensuring that female members have
their fair share in the decision-making process in the family. Next, we should
actively support and promotes women who raise their voice and stood up for
their representation in society. We could also ensure a minimum number of posts
reserved for women in the various organisation such as Mao Student Union, Mao
Council and various other social and religious organisation at various levels
of our society. The very patriarchal mindset that men are better than women
should be discarded and we should open up the top leadership role to women.
Through ensuring of fair representation of women in our society we can ensure
the improvement of the justice system and the reduction in case of the indifference
of justice to women.
“Social equality is the
only basis of human happiness”- Nelson Mandela
Fifthly, we must try to ensure
that there is equality in the social structure of our society. We can bring
about social equality through being open to new ideas and by testing our old
practice according to logic and the result so obtained. We should ensure that
our festivals revolve around gender equality and regressive customs should be
discouraged and abolished. Mention may be made here that sati is a practice
among the Hindus devotee as a religious practice and tradition, however various
social reformer and especially Raja Ram Mohan Roy through Brahmo
Samaj actively campaign for its abolition and finally it was abolished in
1829. Likewise, we could initiate and abolish repressive tradition and custom
which discriminate a certain group of society. This can happen if we don’t shy
away from discussion and deliberation of social evils but rather open up and
find ways to end it through public discourse. The onus for this lies with the various
student organisation, especially in their literary programs such as debates
instead of choosing a rather uncommon topic they could take up any social evil
practice and positive and negative side of it be deliberated upon. Further, we
should also respect the rights and freedom of other individuals and stop unnecessary
intervention in someone choice. An important step we could take to ensure
gender equality is actively promoting the widow remarriage of widow women.
Further, the issue of menstruation of women should be normalized and its stigma
be removed through public awareness and making provision for women needs
accessible in public place, this will go a long way in improving the health and
status of woman in society. Society is at peace and harmony when all its member
is treated with due respect and everyone acts in tandem towards the upliftment
of its weaker section. Most social inequality can be eliminated if we put
ourselves into the shoes of those who are been oppressed. Moreover, religious
practice and belief shouldn’t be blindly followed upon but rather be question
and logic behind its practice be scrutinized.
“If you are neutral in a situation
of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor”- Blaise Pascal
Finally, we must all realized
that each and every one of us has a role to play in ensuring gender equality in
our society. Feminism in its true sense must be embrace upon by everyone
irrespective of their gender. A pertinent question “Are you willing to let
go of your male privilege?”, all men must be able to say yes in words and
in practice to ensure fair and equal opportunity for everyone. We must raise
our voice when we see injustice been done to a certain section of our society.
And as the saying goes “where there is a will there is a way” we should
have the will power to let go of regressive tradition and embrace new positive
culture and practice.
We should strive for a society “where
the mind is without fear and head is held high” for every member. We should
all remember that “Life is not a competition between men and women. It is a
collaboration”- David Alejandro. Lastly, the blessing and
instruction of our ancestor:
“Ememei sii kayi sole, kajii sole”.
**Credits: I Love Mao Naga @ https://www.facebook.com/ilovemaonaga
Notes: Though in the post gender is mention as "men and women" it must be noted that I don't consider gender as restricted only to those but rather their usage is for simplication in comparison hereof.
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