AIZAWL: Mizo women have outnumbered their male counterparts in the state electoral rolls, but still they remain unrepresented in the state assembly house.
“You have all the qualities. All you need to participate in politics is determination and sacrifice,” said parliamentary secretary P C Lalthanliana.
He was speaking at a ‘dialogue on women in politics: issues & challenges’ organised by Panchayat Mahila Shakti Abhiyan (PMSA), under the aegis of Women in Governance (WinG), Mizoram.
The socio-political life of Mizos can be broadly divided into two, pre and post Christianity, according to the parliamentary secretary.
”Before Christianity, the status of women in Mizo society was extremely low. Christianity has brought about a change. Now Mizo women have become as able as men in the fields of economy, education, churches and social organisations,” he said.
”It is high time that Mizo women get rid of their inferiority complex. With women outnumbering men even in the state electoral roll, women can reach greater heights in politics if there is unity among them.”
According to Prof Lalneihzovi, adviser to PMSA, failure to ratify the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution by the state assembly resulted in poor representation of women in the local government and the state assembly.
At the village council level in Mizoram, the representation of women is hardly two percent, she lamented.
“In the Mizo district council under Assam government, women constituted only 0.23 per cent. It improved to 6.06 per cent when Mizoram became Union Territory in 1972. However, the representation of women in Mizoram state assembly (from 1986) was only 0.4 per cent at the most. In most of the times, it is nil,” she said.
No Mizo woman has been elected to the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, she pointed out. Even in the service sector under state government, Central Government and other agencies in Mizoram, women constituted only 23.61 per cent.
According to statistics in 2005, there were only 579 female group A officers under the state government against 2369 male group A officers.
The PMSA has submitted a memorandum to the state government to implement 33 per cent women reservation in the local councils in Aizawl and village councils in the rest of the state.
It may be mentioned that since Mizoram became Union Territory in 1972 (later state in 1986), there have been only three women MLAs; Thanmawii (1978), K Thansiami (1979) and Lalhlimpuii (1987). (UNI)