By H.H.Mohrmen
The editorial of the Shillong Times on the 8 March edition of the paper which is also observed as International Women’s Day (IWD) hit the bull’s eye when it said that celebration of IWD in Meghalaya has become a mere tokenism. It is true, the day has been celebrated every year without default but the question is whether there is any change at all in the status of women in comparison to that of men in the society? What have women gained from the celebration and how are women benefitted from the annual celebration?
Let us start from the top and that is the parliament of the country. All political the parties talk about women’s empowerment but when it comes to giving real power to women, everything is reduced to rhetoric. Why are political parties shying away from passing the Women’s Reservation Bill which has been lying in the parliament closet for a few decades now? The Women’s Reservation Bill only finds mention at the wrong time when the parliament is not in session. But the moment the parliament sits to talk of weighty matters the WRB is pushed to the back-burner. It will be interesting to see how many women candidate will contest the ensuing election to the 16th Lok Sabha and more importantly how many women candidates get elected to the august house? On the occasion of IWD the government also spends crores of rupees to put up expensive ads in both the print and visual media to observe the day but what happens the day after the IWD?
Women are not treated equally even by faith groups. Almost all the faith groups in the state be it women’s wing of various Christian denominations or that of the traditional religions celebrate IWD regularly but what is the status of women in the churches and in the various faith traditions? Are women equal to men in these organizations? Even in traditional religion all the decision is taken in committees comprising of men only. How many churches have ordained women ministers? I only know of two – the Unitarians and the Church of God Iongpiah, Jowai. When can we expect women to be part of the clergy or when are women going to be ordained as priests? The other question is why are there no women in the top hierarchy of the churches or faith groups? The other interesting question is why don’t we have men’s groups (seng rangbah) in the churches especially in the protestant church? Is it because the decision making is an all male club or male dominated so there is no need for another men’s group? In many Christian denominations even if women are allowed to organize themselves into groups, the final decision on any of their activities is decided by the highest decision making body of the church which is male-centric. These women’s groups in many religious organizations are mandated to work on women issues only and not beyond so if this empowerment, is it absolute empowerment?
In the traditional context we proudly claim that there is gender equality among male and female in the Hynniewtrep matrilineal community, but is it? Can women become Rangbah Shnong? Till very recently women were not even allowed to attend the dorbar because they do not sport a beard. Still in many villages women can attend the dorbar and take part in the deliberations but they are yet to be allowed to hold responsible posts like the secretary, the treasurer or even executive members not to mention the post of the Rangbah Shnong. The challenge to the community is to prove to the world that there is gender equality in the Khasi Pnar matrilineal society and that can happen by by electing the first female Rangbah Shnong.
In Jaintia hills only men from a certain clans can contest in the election to the Daloiship and in the election to the office of the Daloi only men are entitled to vote; women have no right to vote in the election. With regard to the Daloiship the only glimmer of hope that in some places these institutions have undergone gradual change, males from the Daloi clan even if they do not belong to the traditional faith can contest in the election to the post in certain elekas, but in elakas where the Daloi still has to perform religious duties and also act as the head of the traditional religion, only those who still practice the indigenous faith can contest in the election. In the Khasi tradition can a female become a syiem or are the matriarchs of the royal family destined to be just “ka syiem sad”? What about the Myntri of the hima? Can a female be a Myntri or Lyngskor etc? One hopes that in Jaintia hills the eleka Rymbai which has recently created history and sent the first female MDC to the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council will also create another history by electing the first female Daloi in the history of Jaintia hills. Eleka Rymbai is a fit case to change this tradition because the previous Daloi of this eleka is a Christian, since the Daloi in this eleka does not have to perform any religious role. Coincidentally, the office of the Daloiship in the eleka Rymbai also fell vacant after the recent demise of the previous Daloi hence eleka Rymbai is due for elections very soon and it is up to them if they choose to create another history.
The growing numbers of crime against women also portray the true picture of how we treat our female counterparts and the community’s attitude towards the fairer sex. Every day there is a growing number of reports of crime against women and some men even have the audacity to blame women for the crime against them. But there are reasons for hope as well that in a just over a year the fast track court in Williamnagar has convicted the six men were found guilty of gang- raping a young woman. On the same day the court found guilty the four alleged rapists involved in another gangrape case of a photo journalist at the Shakti mills compound in Mumbai last year.
But what happens to the pending rape cases in other parts of the state. The case that Agnes Kharshiing and I are still following very closely is still lying pending in the fast track court in Jowai even after the lapse of over two years. This rape case which involved a minor victim is pending in the ‘supposedly’ fast track court and the suspected rapist is roaming free. He was not arrest even a single time in spite of the fact that he had claimed (in public) which was carried by the media that he had sex with a minor but that it was consensual. What is the use of handing over rape cases to fast track courts when the court is not able to convict the rape accused even after the lapse of more than two years? It is a matter of shame for our justice delivery system in the State when rape cases are delayed. If this is the way we handle rape cases can we expect women to readily come to report rape? Maybe it is time that we come up with laws that punish lawyers, judges and even Investigating officers if they are found to be involved in delaying justice to rape victims. After all they are also accountable to the Constitution and the public.
The Khasi- Pnar and Garo community still has a long way to go when it comes to gender equality. We need to change our attitudes towards women and give them the respect they deserve. Young men should stop cat calls and stop teasing girls in the streets. In fact, respect for women begins when we stop treating the other half of the society as our pets that we can tease and call by whistling.