A Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, MARCH 8
Two contrasting school of thoughts on the subject of 33% reservation for women were played out during the celebration of International Women’s Day organized jointly by Miqlat Ministry and Sisterhood Network here at Elim Hall, Dimapur Ao Baptist Arogo.
At one corner was the former bureaucrat (retired as the first woman Chief Secretary), Banuo Z Jamir and at the other end of the subject was the president of Naga Women Hoho Dimapur, Hukheli Wotsa. This is not to suggest that the two were, in any manner, engaged in an argument.
But the two, while speaking at the celebration, presented two widely contrasting views on the subject. According to Banuo, she is not in support of the 33% reservation for women “because it perpetuates dependency.”
She asserted that women have always made a difference and will continue to do so “but this is dependent on the willingness of women to break ground” in order to achieve the difference. “And are we as women truly and sincerely honest when we say that we want women legislators, lawmakers and policymakers – if so, are we willing to make sacrifices to realize this?”
While pointing out that men have broken into professions which were generally regarded female bastions, she wondered why there was so much resistance to women breaking into the one bastion still regarded as a male domain – “politics, not just politics but elections.”
Banuo said that the primary reason stopping women from participating in elections was because public office has been the preserve of men all these years. “And it is practical reality that money is required to contest any elections – the expenditure involved is not for purchasing votes but for logistics in organizing workload for conducting campaigns, women do not have the access to such kind of resources.”
If it is only the absence of resources that are not accessible to individual women which is deterring women to contest in lection, are we ready to pool in our resources to support these possible representatives and above everything, can we set aside our tendency (as women) to be critical of each other and join hands to support women candidates, she shared.
Banuo also reminded the audience that the first step to empowerment “as women is to respect ourselves.” And empowerment, she said, does not mean an aggressive encroachment into male preserve.
“But we can, through our conduct and achievements, prove that we do not mean to threaten the position of men – our objective is to complement the men, to be partners not opponents and rivals, that together we can make our society stronger and more vibrant.”
As one of the seven panelists, Hukheli Wotsa shared that “reservation is a must for those who doesn’t have money.” Without reservation, she suggested, it was nigh impossible for women to take on men and their “crores of money, and muscle.”
She added that reservation doesn’t mean a permanent arrangement of that nature. “It is for a specific period of time,” she said while suggesting that those who are against reservation for women most tend to be “those with all the facilities.”
According to Hukheli, women need economic empowerment in order to participate in decision making processes. “No money means, no women in the (legislative) assembly,” she said.
Fellow panelist, Dr Asangba Tzudir, the editor of Heritage Publishing House, reminded that throughout history the idea of women has been constructed in male centric discourses both oral and written, which privilege male as essential, adequate and complete while women are considered inessential, inadequate and incomplete as compared to men.
“…the coming of western education to our land became a ‘heroic’ project under the ‘white man’s burden’ of saving the brown women from the brown men. Mary Mead Clark opening an ‘informal school’ for girls is one parameter. What then followed was that ‘spaces’ belonging to women through which women can assert their status and identity were ‘hijacked’. Thereby the point of reference shifts from cultural assertion to western education,” he shared.
The challenges confronting gender parity today, according to him, is to interrogate and dismantle the phallocentric or male centric discourses legitimated by our oral traditions that have institutionalized patriarchy. “Only when there is liberation of the women selves, our society will see progress.”
The other panelists were Visasieu Dolie, NBCC women secretary, Mayang Lima, District and Sessions Judge at Mon, Dr Sanjoy Barbora, Associate Professor at TATA Institue of Social Sciences at Guwahati, Shikuto Zalipu, general secretary of GB Federation Nagaland and Edward N Bass, a teacher in Dimapur.
In Kohima, the State Resource Centre for Women (SRCW) in collaboration with the Nagaland State Social Welfare Board (NSSWB), the Department of Women Resource Development (DWRD) and Japfü Christian College (JCC) marked the day in line with the 2016 international campaign theme ‘Pledge for Parity’ at the JCC campus in Kigwema.
“The status of our Naga women is always referred as better than women and girls of other states, which is good… Its good from far but when you come near, its far from good,” says Daisy Mezhür, SRCW mission director.
Delivering the keynote address at the event, she said a lot have been said and harped for women empowerment on many platforms but empowerment of women and gender equality will not take place without the support of the men. The official observes that most people could be thinking that women are now empowered and girls are doing very well in their academic careers and therefore the gender gap is not there, or that there is total equality. But, she pointed out, in reality almost all the system in place is literally anti-women in many areas of the Naga society.
Touching upon the theme of the occasion, Mezhür said pledging for parity here meant not just of empowerment but equality in all forms starting from family to community to the state to national levels. She talked about the necessity of drawing a line where men and women do not look at eachother as higher or lower beings, and underscored the need to live as equivalent and complementary partners.
The official also highlighted that at the national level, the central government has initiated various programmes to promote women and empower women and girls in India and to bring about their overall development such as the National Mission for Empowerment of Women, and the recently launched ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’. She stated that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, taking a step further on the matter, has recently called for women-led development instead of women development.
She asserted that concerted efforts are needed to end the challenge of gender disparity and further called upon all to start building supportive environments and forge forward towards eliminating conscious and unconscious biases around them.
The SRCW official also led the audience in reading out a pledge stating to help women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender balanced leadership, to value women and men’s contributions equally and to create inclusive, flexible cultures between among men and women.
DWRD additional director, R Khrienuo Tachu spoke on the topic ‘Achieving Parity through Livelihood Intervention’ and highlighted the initiative, schemes and programmes that the department has taken up to help women particularly those from the rural areas to achieve livelihood.
JCC principal, Dr. Visakhonü Hibo and JCC Sexual Harassment/Women Cell convener, Purchila Jamir also delivered short speeches.
