In 1963, when the White Church leaders asked the Blacks to stop their Civil Movement protests in public places, and instead advising negotiations and litigations (read, endless red tapism), Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr, wrote from prison, “For years now I have heard the word ‘wait’. …This ‘wait’ has almost always meant ‘never’. …Justice too long delayed is justice denied” (Letter from Birmingham Jail). Women of Nagaland have waited for too long (60 years since statehood) till two representatives were elected to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) this year (2023). The first and last woman (till now) elected to represent the State in the Lok Sabha was in 1977. The first Rajya Sabha representative is a woman; elected without contest in 2022. Consider the percentage, and women’s presence in governance is abysmal. Coming to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), election itself is pending since 2008! The gender ratio in political leadership is nowhere close to speaking of equality between Naga women and men.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDGs) 5 is focused on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls by 2030. Its target number 5 is to “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all level of decision making in political, economic, and public life”. The rationale for this is simply that “gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world”. Simply put, a community cannot progress without women being included in political institutions – whether in Legislature or urban management. Also, Nagaland people may be seen as primitive in the global stage if we deliberately continued to refuse women’s equal participation in public life.
Much has been said and believed that the Nagaland Municipal Act 2001 (Amended in 2006&2016)is detrimental to the customary practices and traditions of the Nagas, and that reservation of seats for women infringes on the constitutional protection accorded by Art. 371 (A). The initial clubbing of the opposition against the NMA 2001 along with lands and buildings tax generated widespread support. Omitting the said section in 2016 Amendment (3.ii)obviously did nothing to pacify the opposers. It is gradually confirmed that the reservation of seats for women was the major bone of contention all along.Current Legislators also seem to have decided to appease the (men-centric) tribe and civil bodies. The unceremonious repealing of the Act by the 14th NLA in its first session has reduced the NMA 2001 into a museum piece!
Why must reservation for women in the ULBs generate so much resistance from the men-centric tribe and civil-social organisations, even before it is tried and tested? There has been a list of unfounded fears and propaganda surrounding the negative reactions. Is quota system truly that damaging to our cultural fabric? Let us remember that all Naga women, then and now, occupying political seats are there by some sort of reservation – particularly through ruling-party ticket or an alliance with the Central power. It is unimaginable for an independent woman candidate to make her way to the NLA, no matter how capable. Equally impossible is the way to the Parliament without party nomination and follow-up support. This does not mean that the ‘elected’ women are not competent. I believe they have merited the seats in one or the other way. But the intentional action to put women in the decision-making places starts from the support of the partymen, if not the party patriarch.
Hypothetically speaking, if seats were technically unreserved for women in the ULBs, how many ticketswould political parties issue to women? Could they go all the way to 33%? In the last state election, the NDPP-BJP alliance fielded 3 women; a meagre 5% of the total Assembly strength. Changing the word from ‘reserved’ to ‘nominated’ will not change the core process of attaining political leadership by women in Nagaland. It may, of course, satisfy the ego of misogynistsand self-proclaimed custodians of Article 371(A). After all, they have succeeded inoverthrowing the legitimate right of women to occupy placeswith the potential of prospering our towns and cities. Sadly, after the initial high of a few, our common lives are back to civic status quo: no regular supply of water and electricity; streets littered with plastic, human, and animal wastes; dilapidated roads, schools, and healthcare centers; unregulated taxation; pricey transport charges; overflowing drains and sewage; lack of recreational spots; negligible generation of revenue; inefficient emergency services; deprivation of jobopenings; and no apparent enhancement of aesthetic value. Could a minimum of 33% women councilorshave changed that for the better if given a chance? I have confidence they will.
When society speaks of women, there is a tendency to think about women as creatures out there. We forget that they our own female relations – mothers, wives, girlfriends, daughters, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, and nieces. Our common identity as Christians reminds us of our interdependent origin (1 Corinthians 11: 12) and our equal standing in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3: 28). Seeing women as our own flesh and bloodand members of our own household must engender a more positive attitude towards women’spublic engagement. What can go so wrong with Naga tradition in according opportunity for empowerment to our own female kith and kin? Surely, nothing. The literacy rate of girls in Nagaland is 76.11%, which is comparatively higher than the national rate of 65.46% (2011). Certainly, parents in general, and fathers in particular, are not educating their daughters to be without a career. I am certain that they have hopes and aspirations for them to occupy seats of prominence in whatever field, including political.
Perhaps, a day will come in the distant future when women (and men) can independently contest in elections and win them fair and square. But as now, reservation is the step forward tocorrect the long-standing exclusion of women from political leadership and to enable women to become role-models for the female-generations to follow and the men to take positive pride in. Absence of the will should not be shrouded in language such as ‘need more consultation’. That would be the local version of saying ‘wait’ which could mean ‘never’! Michelle F Warren is right in saying that “Injustice does not just happen, and it does not repair itself”.
Dr Eyingbeni Humtsoe-Nienu
Baptist Theological College
Pfutsero, Phek, Nagaland
