Zaserieno Kruse, Bangalore
We are living in a day when mediocrity, not excellence, tends to take priority place in the conduct of public affairs. Resistance to change, even the inevitable change and, crave for holding on to the status quo are what go on, sadly , thus keeping back our society from moving forward . This is with no exception to the ongoing legal battle of Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Naga Women with the State Government on the issue of implementation of 33 % reserved seats for women in Municipal and Town Councils. Our legislators and men folks have indeed not been kind to their women, even as you can recall there has already been as much as 18 Court hearings with 5 of them held at Guwahati! The Naga Women appeared to have a lot of good opinion on our gentlemen and this much of resistance from the Hohos and the State Government never expected initially but what is happening is indeed unfortunate. The Naga women are clear in their minds that their constitutional rights should not be denied. Despite the hurdles, the quiet confidence in them is evident, even as one of the veteran leaders amongst them said recently - “If man will not, God will do it for us!”
Some are saying Reservation for women is against our traditional practices or that it is unchristian for women to fight for reserved seats. Even some educated women themselves are saying Reservation degrades our women since, according to them; women are also no less capable to compete with men! The last one was by our legislators who said that the amendment made in 2006 to the Nagaland Municipal Act 2001 was done hastily and immaturely which , therefore , has to be reviewed .
I disagree to all of these propositions mainly for two reasons ; one, these arguments do not hold water and ; two, these ideas do not uphold the true interest of our people!
Against our traditions?
Though some of our men folks claim that Naga women enjoy a high social status and that they are treated very well, in reality it is just the opposite. According to our tradition, women have no standing in society. Some tribes treat their women in an even worse manner than that by other tribes – e.g. should a woman meet with the misfortune of having her husband die prematurely , in a few days, the close relatives will gather in her house and divide the properties including the children with least regard to the sentiments of the deceased’s wife and, the unfortunate woman can only helplessly submit to the arbitrary decision of the clans men. Some day back a story appeared in local dailies that a man donated an RCC building to his wife and daughter which was publicly declared even by erecting a monolith stone with inscription written as “building donated”. Are the man and the wife not one in marriage or are they separate? Interestingly, this same person once wrote in newspaper advocating that one should not separate woman from the man!
The way women are treated by Naga men is sort of comparable to how the Jews do it to their women , esp. in Jesus’ day, where the women are neither allowed to do anything concerning civil and religious activities nor are given any inheritance. Due to this kind of ill treatment of women in Jewish society, the Rabbis often quoted a morning prayer that was popular among many. In that prayer, the Jewish man would thank God that he was not born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.
Unchristian?
No. There is nothing unchristian or illegal in demanding for 33% reservation for women. It is only a small step towards a higher level of social justice for the good of society and for what the society failed to do in the past in allowing God’s will for men and women to happen. Both man and woman are created in the image of God and with the same capacity for relationship with God. Man and Woman should treat each other with love and respect. It is wrong for the man, being the one with greater muscle power, to refuse to give the woman opportunities to live her life to the full for the good of herself and for the good of her family and others .
To put it further from Christian perspective, from the very beginning when God created man and woman , God created with a definite order for the good of human kind (though man and woman are equal before God in worth), i.e. man was given to play the lead role while the woman was to take the supportive and complimentary role. The deceiving of Eve by Satan occurred in the garden of Eden , not so much for her lack of discerning power but rather because she took the decision exclusive of her husband on such an important matter. This is one aspect women need to take notice and have their rightful attitude towards their husbands in marriage relationship. On the other hand, because of the fall of Eve, certain results of sin on Eve came about in Gen.3:28 in which it says, “your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you”. This is not a license for man to mistreat women but the truth is that this is what sadly happened because of sin and continuing all through human history. But thanks be to God that through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary , the curses due to sin are all done away with (atleast in principle) and any person called by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should live with attitudes of the new humanity in Christ (not based on traditions)! In Galatians 3 : 28 - “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus ”. It is Christ and Christianity alone which has elevated her to a level with man. Nonetheless, God’s creation order still remains (which is independent of the fall of Eve) and the responsibility still lies on the man to act as the head of the family in a marriage. Man and woman are equal but they have differently assigned roles to play here on earth.
It is important to recognize the fact that men and women are different in many ways. If women feel there is a need for the Government to implement policies that will promote greater gender balance in decision making bodies so that issues affecting them are addressed more effectively and their lives and their families are made better, then there is nothing wrong or unchristian in that.
Reservation degrades women?
Women are no less gifted than men and therefore, yes, they should be able to compete with men but, practically it has not been possible. A case example is our Legislative Assembly where during the last 49 years of Statehood not a single woman MLA could be elected to the Legislative assembly and only 1 MP was elected despite the fact that no one is stopping women from contesting in elections. Similarly, even in Municipal and Town councils, only a system of reserved seats would be able to enable some women to occupy seats of decision making and thus represent the views of women. Women’s Reservation policy is inevitable if women are to be helped to become partners with men in decision making for the progress of our people and nation.
2006 Amendment done immaturely?
Absolutely not. This was done in the right direction and any attempt to de-reserve seats for women would not only be a great disservice to the cause of our women but also will go against the progress and development of our State. We are in a democratic country where Government is run with the popular will of the people. But although half of our populations are women, in reality only men who represent half of the total population decide everything for all the people – issues are seldom addressed taking into account the women’s perspectives, which is very unfair and undemocratic.
Conclusion:
Times are changing. Head hunting and physical combat days, in which the man with greater physical power played a more dynamic role, are over. In our generation, every family is trying to send their children to school, women are no less educated than man if not more and, many are working as leaders and top executives in Government and Non Governmental offices. Earlier, our economy was basically agrarian but now it is increasingly getting market based where women are increasingly involved in winning bread for the family. All of these modern day requirements are foreign to our tradition and, this is where one has to have a re-look at one’s attitude towards women also. On top of this, we are Christians calling ourselves as followers of Christ who had great respect for women and even dared to even shock the religious leaders of his day by going beyond the limits of Jewish traditions concerning women. For Christians, nothing, not even tradition, should take priority over the teachings of the Bible. One hopes wisdom prevails in the minds of our leaders and that the right things are done without delay in the interest of truth, fairness and growth of our people in this competitive and fast changing world.
