Enquiry into the status of women in Nagaland

'Enquiry into the Status of Women in Nagaland' is a study done by a young team from North East Network, keeping in view the state’s diverse socio-cultural context. Empirical work was done in 3 districts of Nagaland, covering 6 villages which, to my mind, has revealed, perhaps for the first time, real situations of women and different forms of discrimination faced by them in their personal and public lives. Indeed the fieldwork is a testimony to this hard reality, with valid evidence. The field investigators were amply trained on issues of gender which resulted in them imbibing a strong perspective that helped them to take forward the fieldwork sensitively. The study is divided into 7 chapters, the first one being that of childbirth, nutrition, and health of children and women. This chapter indicates differential treatment between the birth of infant boys and girls, which translates into normative practices in the life cycle of girls, that are discriminatory, into their adulthood. The remaining chapters depict the experiences of girls and women through their education, their work, their employment and, the barriers that they face in participating in the political process. The absence of women in the political process, the inability to articulate their needs to authorities is of serious concern to us because they are the ones who are intricately involved in agriculture work, livestock care, rural economy and of course, taking care of their families. Thus, denying their constitutional right to voice their opinion in village and public matters is a wrong precedence to a state like Nagaland, considered by many as ‘liberal’, even if couched by traditional norms. But far more importantly is what Naga women themselves feel about their difficult situation, examples of which are represented in the last three chapters. The experience in their married lives, access to land ownership or the lack of assets, relationships with their families and incidences of violence, faced by women, are reflected in these chapters. North East Network undertook the study to understand the gravity of the situation as NEN often experiences women sharing about the hard realities of their lives. This is indeed a grave issue as the general view of Nagaland, being an egalitarian society, can be subject to debate and questioned. It was thus felt that the study should be read by different people to instill a certain degree of awareness among them and state agencies in particular, which must be understood and acted up by authorities, from the village to the state level. It is our resolve to advocate for policy change towards improving the lives of women in communities.