Vishu Rita Krocha
Dimapur | September 18
The subject of contention that women are treated at par with men in Naga society has been a farfetched concept in many aspects. Girls had to seek permission not only from their parents but also the concerned village youth society if they were to journey to another town.
Boys however were exempted from doing so. This was rigidly imposed in a couple of villages for several years until it was revoked in recent times and replaced with a rule that equally applies to both genders.
The functioning of several organizations is also reflective of the role that women are given to play. Pointing to the post of “women coordinator” or “girls’ welfare secretary” that many organisations have, Entrepreneur Rekha Rose Dukru, while speaking to The Morung Express, said these posts are just for the sake of accommodating women.
“When you are appointed to this post, you are expected to look after the presentation during programmes, take care of the decorations, refreshments etc. but you are not part of the decision making”, she lamented.
With the society unfamiliar with women in decision making roles over the last many years, Hekani Jakhalu, one of the founders of YouthNet asserted that “it is important that we start seeing women in position, and tomorrow, after 5-10 years, our younger generation (our younger men) will accept it because they have grown up seeing women in decision making bodies.”
Director of YouthNet, Lezo Putsure is of the firm belief that women should be represented because “when there is no voice in decision making, the whole reason of existence is not there.” “I think women are important because they bring diversity to the table,” he said while indicating that over the last fifty years, we have been talking about bad roads and electricity whereas for a guy who is disabled, the bad road is not a concern but the need for access to at least move around.
He reiterated that women bring issues which men don’t talk about such as drinking water, toilets, etc while stressing that these are voices that need to be heard across society. In this regard, he opined that ‘in the last fifty years, the conversations have been based on the same pattern with legislators talking about the same issues, same ideas and same strategies. “And look where we have come,” he added. Further stating that “women bring a new aspect to look at things differently”, he emphasized that “we need to evolve and adapt and redesign the way we progress in society. We need a new thinking process and we need perspectives from voices that have never been heard. We need to talk about larger issues that affect the whole generation.”
Reiterating the importance of the 33% reservation for women, he however said: “what I fear is reservation can also be tokenism. I just hope that the system is not exploited when women get in because what also happens is a lot of men lose out. A lot of capable man who might have stronger voices but not as much as power because women have the power, men might also lose out. So, these are issues that we have to be careful about.”
But clearly advocating the need for diversity on the table, he maintained that when there is a woman who understands issues related to women for instance, she would be representing a lot of women and would, as well change the total aspect. “We tend to justify saying that we treat our women equal, but equality comes from having the power to decide”, he emphasized.
