Why women entering politics ‘hurt the pride of men’ in Nagaland

In Nagaland, the election agent of an independent candidate was heard in a leaked video telling a crowd that time is not yet ripe to let a woman be “our leader”.

“… Where is our pride/ego? We need to ponder on this,” thundered the agent of Keneizhakho Nakhro, the independent candidate from the state’s Western Angami assembly constituency.

The agent’s barb stood in sharp contrast to what Nakhro has promised in his election manifesto, which talks about how gender equity and women’s empowerment would be priority and how women’s rights will be promoted if he is elected to office.

Nakhro, the sitting MLA from the constituency, was denied nomination by the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) that he had joined after jumping ship from the Naga People’s Front (NPF) in April 2022. The woman, who Nakhro’s agent thinks cannot be “our leader just yet”, is Salhoutuonuo Kruse, one of the four women candidates in Nagaland’s electoral fray this time. Interestingly, Kruse has been fielded by NDPP, Nakro’s former party.

On his part, Nakhro hasn’t condemned the agent’s statement. He has instead contended that the words were “misinterpreted and blown out of proportion”.

Glass ceiling

Even though the statement may sound outrageous to many outside, in Nagaland, it is par for the course. The male-dominated Naga society has for long denied women their rightful space in politics — resorting even to violence to keep women out. Sample this: Nagaland has not elected a female member to its 60-member assembly since its inception in 1963. Only one woman, Rano M Shaiza, was elected to the Lok Sabha from the state in 1977.

The state has not only not encouraged women to join the political space but has also concertedly opposed inclusion of women in electoral politics.

Nagaland assembly is perhaps the only legislative body in the country that had passed a resolution opposing the Women’s Reservation Bill which sought to reserve 33 per cent of seats for women in state legislatures and Parliament.

Tribal bodies leading the protests claimed that the women reservation infringes on Naga customary laws and traditions protected under the Constitution.

In 1992, the 73rd and 74th amendment to the Constitution set aside 33 per cent reservations for women to contest polls in village panchayats and urban local bodies. The same was not extended to Nagaland which enjoys special status under Article 371(A) that allows the state to retain its customary laws.

The same was challenged in court. In 2011, the Kohima bench of the Gauhati High Court held that 33 per cent reservations for women in the state was valid. Determined to keep women out from sharing power, the Nagaland legislative assembly passed a resolution in September 2012 that exempted the state.

In 2016, however, the Supreme Court upheld the Guahati HC order and the resolution was withdrawn. Elections were announced for the state’s 32 municipal and town councils in February 2017. Interestingly, of the 535 candidates who filed their nominations, 188 were women. By the middle of January, 140 candidates mostly women, had withdrawn from the fray. Then just days before polling, several tribal organisations came together to call for a strike. Violence spilled out on to the streets with two people dying in police firing. Paramilitary forces had to be called in and the entire episode forced then chief minister TR Zeliang to resign.

The strange contradiction

But Nagaland’s ‘violent’ and ‘vocal’ opposition to women’s entry into politics is antithetical to the traditional participation of Naga women in other spheres of life as the state outperforms many others on several gender equality indicators like literacy rate. Participation of women in the state’s workforce both in rural and urban areas is quite high.

The National Family Health Survey – 5 showed that women in Nagaland enjoy full freedom to make their own decisions related to health, social movement, and participation in decision making.

Nearly 90.7 per cent of the women in Nagaland make their own decisions or decisions jointly with their husbands, which is the highest in the entire country, the survey found.

The workforce participation rate for women in the state is 44.7 per cent as against 53.4 per cent for men, according to the 2011 census. The national average for females is 25.6 per cent.

Similarly, the female literacy rate in Nagaland at 76.22 per cent is higher than the national average of 65.46 per cent. The presence of women in government jobs in Nagaland is also quite high at 30.35 per cent, according to the annual administrative report of 2019-2020 of the state government’s economics and statistics department. What is more significant is that of the female government employees, 29 per cent are Class I officers. Interestingly, even in politics, the participation of women as workers and volunteers is quite high.

Crime rate against women in Nagaland is one of the lowest in the country. The female literacy rate is higher than the national average.

Traditions: an impediment to inclusion

These statistics about gender equality do not, however, translate into political empowerment for women. This is largely because the Naga society is still deeply rooted in traditional systems where gender roles are clearly demarcated. Domestic issues such as issues related to family matters are essentially the domain of the women. Men are mainly entrusted with the larger roles of village administration.

The customary laws of most Naga tribes prevent a woman from inheriting ancestral property, unless it is presented to her during marriage. The laws also bar inclusion of women in the decision-making bodies of a tribe.

Though gloomy, the picture has some silver linings – even though faint. The passage of time has allowed some concessions to be made for women in the political sphere. For instance, in the Village Development Boards (VDB), a Nagaland-specific statutory body that functions under the traditional village authority known as Village Council, 25 per cent seats are reserved for women since 1989. But in most VDBs women representation is only on paper.

Men blame women’s reluctance as the reason for the problem, saying women themselves are not very forthcoming in taking part in politics.

“It is not that the tribal bodies are against women’s participation in politics. They themselves are generally reluctant in taking leadership roles,” said HK Zimomi, the president of Naga Hoho, the apex body of the Naga tribes.

Not many Naga women endorse the contention. “There is no level playing field for women in state politics,” said Monalisa Changkija, the editor of Nagaland Page, and the state’s most forceful and respected woman voice.

Hope for change

The reaction to tribal bodies protests against women-reservation, however, raised hopes the status quo was nearing its end. The protests not only evoked criticism but also forced the Naga society to take a hard look at the tradition of keeping women out of decision-making roles in politics despite their overwhelming participation in every other aspect.

Women groups for the first time stood up to their male counterparts for their rights even in the face of strong resistance and waged a long legal battle, forcing change.

A consultative meeting of civil society organisations, churches, tribal bodies convened by the state government last year unanimously agreed to have 33 per cent reservation for women in urban local bodies (ULBs).

The state also got its first woman Rajya Sabha member in April 2022 when BJP nominee S Phangnon Konyak was elected to the Upper House of Parliament.

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio during campaigning in the state capital Kohima on February 14 announced that elections to the ULBs would be held in March this year with 33 per cent reservation for women.

In a recent tweet he also emphasised the need to have a woman representative in the Nagaland assembly to make “our democracy more vibrant”.

It's about time we have women representation in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly. I appeal to the constituents to support Mrs. @k_salhoutuonuo and cast your precious vote for her. #FactaNonVerba #TowardsExcellence pic.twitter.com/PX7JN1OfHa

— Neiphiu Rio (@Neiphiu_Rio) February 9, 2023

 

These are definitely positive indications of some changes as far as political empowerment of women in Nagaland is concerned. But hurdles remain.

Many in Nagaland are not yet ready to see women in positions of power as is evident from the remarks of Nakhro’s election agent.

The mindset prevents political parties from putting up women candidates because they are considered not “winnable”. Only four out of the 183 candidates contesting the February 27 assembly elections are women despite women accounting for 49.79 per cent votes. Five women had contested the 2018 elections — the highest tally ever. All of them lost with three candidates failing to get even the minimum vote to secure their deposit, in a state where women generally outperform men in voting.

In Meghalaya, which will also go to poll along with Nagaland, 36 of the 375 contestants are women. In Tripura, 31 of the 259 candidates whose electoral fates were sealed on February 16 were women.

Nagaland’s oldest regional party, the NPF like the previous elections did not give nomination to a single woman even this time despite an appeal to all political parties to field women candidates from the Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA).

Four in the fray

Apart from Kruse from Western Angami, the other woman candidates are NDPP’s Hekani Jakhalu from Dimpaur-III constituency, Congress’s Rosy Thompson from Tening and BJP nominee Kahuli Sema from Atoizu.

Women in Nagaland are looking up to them to make history.

“Hopefully, they will make a difference this time. Given a chance these women will any day be better legislators than most of their male counterparts,” said Asenla Jamir, a homemaker who worked as a journalist in local newspapers.

The formidable credentials of the women candidates in the fray justify Jamir’s optimism though all four are taking the plunge in electoral politics for the first time.

Kruse (56) has a long stint as a civil society activist serving in various capacities, including as adviser to the Angami Women’s Organisation.

Jakhalu (48), a recipient of the 2019 Nari Shakti Puraskar from the Union Ministry of Child and Women Development, runs an NGO Youthnet that works for youth empowerment. She founded the NGO in 2005 after giving up a lucrative career with a law firm in New Delhi. She has done her LLM from the University of San Francisco and did an executive education programme at Harvard University.

Sema (57) made her foray into politics in 2022 after taking voluntary retirement as chief engineer in the Public Works Department. She’s the only second Naga woman to hold the coveted technocrat post.

Thomson (58) had a long political experience having served the Congress party for over three decades as a “loyal worker”.

These women are confident of making a difference.

“Once the jinx is broken, more and more women will start getting elected to the state’s highest decision-making body. We just need that one elusive breakthrough,” Thomson said.

Whether Nagaland thinks the time is ripe to let a woman be “our leader” or not will be revealed on March 2 when the votes are counted.