Editor,
The State Women’s Conference 2022 was a profound moment for our state. For decades many have held the fond but false notion that women have equality in our society. In fact, some misinformed outsiders gushingly claim Meghalaya as the place where women rule. It is only in the lived daily experiences of the harsh life of a Khasi or Garo woman, that grim reality reigns. If the editor of the Shillong Times says that she “had to literally clamber up the dark hole of single parenthood”, how difficult must it be for other women in even more straits. Little has changed for these women, they remain below the social, political and economic radar.
In sociology we teach the teach the different types of families: nuclear, joint, extended etc. But the typical family in Meghalaya today is headed by a lonely, deserted, poverty-stricken single mother who battles her own stress while having to care for malnourished, dropout children. Given that more than one-third of women head such families, why are there no specific schemes for single mothers or for their children? Men in desperate circumstances turn to drugs, militancy, alcohol or even suicide, but the single mother steels herself to stay alive for her children’s sake. Recent research studies provide the evidence for the contents of this paragraph.
The unequal plight of women is hardly different anywhere. The corporate world was recently startled by the sudden resignation of Sheryl Sandberg, the billionaire CEO of Facebook, now Meta. Ms Sandberg, only 52 years old, is the author of “Lean In”, the best seller that urged women to take charge of their lives and succeed in a male-dominated workplace. It is presumed that being a single mother, she left to take care of her teenage children.
A poll by Sandberg’s own “Lean In” Foundation found 71% of women expected being older to count against them at work, and half had experienced sexism and ageism around menopause. Women in the workplace are disadvantaged at every stage in their career: getting married means giving up career or following the husband as he pursues his career, taking maternity leave, child care and then the stress of menopause. Along with these additional burdens, they still are held to a different standard than that applied to men, Sandberg declares.
Our Chief Minister placed his finger on teenage pregnancy as an urgent social problem. He is absolutely right, because the pregnancy of a teenage girl begins the bleak downward spiral of that woman, blighting the lives of her children and herself for decades to come. We know what is needed to prevent that pregnancy is sexuality education and contraception, but we need a dependable system to carry it out.
It was disheartening to see that yesterday’s editorial on women was pushed to the side of the page, when it should have been in the centre.
Yours etc.,
Glenn C. Kharkongor,
Via email
Where are the indigenous trees?
Editor,
I was so relieved to read V K Nautiyal’s letter ‘Cherry Blossom Planting’ (ST June 7 2022) for, like him, I too have long felt that ‘any alien species is a potential threat to local plant species’. I have always been deeply concerned that we do not take pride in learning about our local plants which are part of the eco-system that has long sustained the state and is now increasingly threatened. In more ways than one, this fascination with the ‘foreign’ at the expense of our own, is unfortunately an affliction that is becoming nigh incurable in our State. How many local species of plants, birds and animals will become extinct without anyone knowing their names or their role in maintaining a delicate ecological balance? Eulogies to sacred groves ring hollow if their purpose is merely employed in the service of tourism. It is about time that the expertise of the Forest Department is consulted and the tireless work of naturalists like Bah So Khongsit is recognised and documented before our heritage is lost to us for the sake of a short-lived show.
Yours etc.,
Janet Hujon,
Via email
NEHU employees strike
Editor,
We are all aware of the massive anomalies at the behest of NEHU’s administration regarding hostel and student affairs. The VC somehow has given a 15-day time frame to rectify the issues and come up with a brand new set of facilities as per students’ demands. That being said, what makes us sad and annoyed at the same time is the plight of the casual workers who are braving rough weather to push for their demands to be heard during these testing times. A meagre salary of Rs 20,000 cannot go too far when one has a large family to feed. And that amount when a person has been serving the institution for over two decades is gross injustice! Irrespective of their resolute efforts, what is disheartening is that the VC has till now not met them. If the head of the Institution does not meet them then how shall their demands and grievances be heard? It’s really painful to pass by the NEHU administrative section every day to see these hapless workers, solemnly waiting for their voices to be heard. Through this daily, I urge the officials and the VC in particular(who is usually out of station), to at least listen to what the employees have to say and what it is that they want to convey rather than comfortably sitting in the chambers and leaving these poor souls to drench in the torrential rains. Alas, education doesn’t make anyone a bigger person but a kind heart does!
Yours etc.,
A.Lyngdoh
Shillong- 6