More often than not – in the larger scheme of things, or in the wider context of human aspirations – the voice of reason and sanity has tended to side with that of women. This, without doubt, has given rise to countless versions of why it is so. Long before the previous leadership of the state government decided to bulldoze its way with the elections to urban local bodies in Nagaland, this column had written that it was this distinct ability of women to retain sanity in the midst of (political, social and economic) chaos that classified them as the ‘voice of sanity’.
Since then things have taken a very different and ugly turn. If the words of some Naga women activists are anything to go by, they have been threatened with rape and violence by Naga men opposed to reservation of seats for women in municipal bodies. This is highly condemnable and comes as evidence to the Naga women activists’ assertion that chauvinism is very much a harsh reality in Nagaland. In this very limited context, it is easy to understand the rationale.
But with most things Nagaland, nothing ever is easy. Almost everything comes layered in contexts – one after the other. And so again, it is in this complex context that the statement of Dr Temsula Ao, made during the celebration of International Women’s Day at Kohima on March 8, comes as a voice of astute reasoning – and more importantly, contextual observation.
The venerable writer, who is also the chairperson of Nagaland State Commission for Women, hit the bull’s eye when she said: “It is futile to expect that this age-old Naga system of patriarchy can be changed or altered overnight just because some other societies have done this, or incorporated that on the strength of some Acts or diktats from the centre.” She was simply presenting a local context – complex in its baggage, loaded with political (in terms of identity politics) as well as social ramifications – against a sweeping global narrative of gender revolution.
It has been repeatedly stated in this column that reservation for women is a sure path towards empowerment. But as Dr Temsula had pointed out in her speech, it cannot come through legislation. It is pointless to state that one cannot truly legislate empowerment. The irony, according to Dr Temsula, lies in the fact women empowerment should begin from the ground level. This is the voice of not just Dr Temsula, the distinguished award-winning writer who taught poetry at North-Eastern Hill University but the Naga woman with closer understanding of context. Perhaps, it would not be wrong to assume that our venerable writer was born (and brought up) in a Naga village, as opposed to some of her younger activists.
This is not to suggest that city/town girls are incapable to grasping the Naga context. But then again, not many Naga women comes equipped with the insight to deliver such profound observations as: “In our context, what started out as exclusions with difference to a woman’s inferior physical prowess gradually became the norm for excluding her from jobs which required not physical strength but intellectual power. This may sound simplistic but I do believe that the demarcation for labour also became the bar to keep women out of the governance of the ancient councils of our people. That is why it is important for us to go back to our ancient customary and traditional practices to remove this fallacy from the minds of our men-folk. That will be a bold step and will test our mental strength. Being bold however, should never be equated with being aggressive and confrontational.”
All things said, it is pertinent to remind ourselves that it is not even two centuries since Naga people were introduced to western education –and all that comes with it. Most of our immediate grandfathers were collecting skulls. One the one hand, we still have villages without schools or teachers in Nagaland and at the other extreme end, we are confronted with issues of women empowerment and the like. It is in this collision between two extremes that we must locate our context.
Quite tragically, Dr Temsula has emerged as the only one so far capable of placing this collision of ideas in proper context. Nagaland dearly is in need of sane voices, like that of the venerable professor.
