Gender Bias in Manipuri Society
- A reappraisal -
- Part 1 -

Priyadarshni M Gangte *

The lofty height of idealism on "Equality" as enshrined in the Preamble to the Constitution of India is a manifestation of anti-climax of inequality which has been in existence in the traditional Indian society. Equality being the cardinal value of the Constitution of India as against the background of elaborate values and clearly perceived inequalities to secure justice, social, economic, and political to all its citizens has to be the premise wherefrom the same could be achieved. Despite equality in economic, political, religious, social and cultural institutions, these are by and large controlled by men.

We already know that before the low status accorded to women in traditional Indian society which was relatively reflected in its laws the Constitution guarantees "equality before the law and equal protection of laws" and prohibition of discrimination on the ground of sex in their favour. But these provisions by themselves can hardly be expected to usher in the desired social change said Shivaramyya (B Shivaramayya, "Inequalities And The Law, Eastern Book Company, Lucknow, 1984, p.64). Thus notwithstanding considerable body of legislation enacted to prevent women's exploitation, and to remove discrimination against them, women suffer disabilities in many spheres, and continue to be victims of exploitation.

Mira (Mira Seth: Women And Development, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, London, N. Delhi, 2001, p.17) was emphatic in saying that it is an interesting reflection on women's status in the Vedic age that women would remain unmarried and remain Brahma vadini devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and self-realisation or marry young men.

Normally, women married after brahmacharya (a life of celibacy till the age of 25). Young men and even not so young men could convert their romantic friendships into marriage. Marriage, according to the Rigveda was based on truth and duty. It had a spiritual connotation which meant to strengthen the social aspect, the mind, life-breath and body of the couple. Bible also defines the same in the like manner (i) Corinthian 7:1-16; (ii) Hebrew 13:4). In society, marriage is regarded as a noble institution – it creates its bonding and is a strong social commitment. A woman was to be considered as a symbol of good fortune in the husband's home.

It is vital for a woman's health and life that she has access to medical and health care needs for preventive, as well as curative health, so as to be able to play her full part in the development of her family, society and country.

In our society, particularly that of Manipur, there has always been recognised the need for special consideration for women in its traditional health sciences. In ancient times it was Maiba or maibi, puithem, rishis or sages who composed the medical treatises. Among one of such treatises is Charak Samhita, believed to have been composed in the 5th Century BC (Mira Seth: Ibid, p.157). It contains special sections on women's health and how to treat their medical problems.

The Susruta Samhita supposed to have been composed in the 4th Century BC and the Kashyap Samhita of 2nd and 3rd Century BC (Ibid) also contain remedies for the treatment-specific ailments. The Unani system of medicine came to India along with the Muslims after the first millennium (Ibid). These systems of medicine have been available for centuries in most villages of India through hereditary vaidyas and hakims that were generally a family.

The social, economic and political status of the Indian women apart from other factors set up is also governed by her past resulting justice for female to remain a dream and a far cry all these years of our democratic even an honest young man striving for a job finds that bribery plays a far more decisive roll than merit in competition for recruitment to public services (Rising Corruption, Low Convictions by U.C. Agrawal – South Asia Politics, edited by Dr. Subash C. Kashyap Vol.I, Issue-4, K-316/4, IInd Floor, Lado Sarai, N. Delhi – 30, August, 2002, p.13).

Generally women constitute the marginalised section in our society. Within them tribal women are more exploited and remain further marginalised notwithstanding the community-based affirmative action provided by the action and the rhetoric of empowerment for women on a more general plane, tribal women constitute to remain at the margins and denied of effective participation in different domains of society. Within the traditional system, they do not have representation or voice in village or clan councils.

While the subjugation is rooted in patriarchy it is sanctified by custom and reinforced by the state, says 'Tiplut Nongbri' (The Marginalization of Women in Tradition and Policy presented by Tiplut Nongbri, Director, NEISP, JNU, New Delhi, at the National Seminar on Women in Traditional Institution and Worldviews, organized by NEISP, JNU, New Delhi, CMS, MU, Imphal and CSSEIP, MU, Imphal sponsored by ICSSR (NERC), Shillong at Manipur University, Canchipur on March 13-15, 2009). This is reflected in the manner in which issues that affect their interest rarely receive adequate attention to address the problems faced by them in the community (ibid).

The development of a Nation cannot only be measured through the technological and materialistic advances but through the quality of life the people live. The growth of a nation lies in its capacity to elevate the lot of the weakest section of its society. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had rightly said :
"The status of women indicates the character of country".

Again a famous Chinese saying goes like this:
"If you want to plan for a year plant wheat, if you wish to plan for ten years grow trees but if you want to plan for 100 years educate young women".

Indian Women's status has seen many ups and downs since the ancient Vedic times to the present day. During the early Vedic period, girls were welcome in a family; they were given education; their age of marriage was after maturation and they could select the male of their own choice for marriage through the tradition of "Swayamvar". They had independence for taking part in decision making, enjoyed power and participated in social, economic and political, cultural and literacy activities. They had control over finances, agriculture and general activities, (Mira Seth: Ibid, p.17).

This Vedic and past Vedic periods in history, can also be called a golden era (Laxmi Devi (ed) Women And Development Institute For Sustainable Development, Lucknow, Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi-92; p.172). However, in the later Vedic Brahmanic period status of women started declining slowly, varied by the code, as given by Manu.

According to P.N. Tikoo "In Manu Samhita, ideas about womanhood are laid down and morality is assigned in authoritarian codes which bring down to the level of sub-species" (Indian Women : A Brief Socio-cultural Survey (1985), B.R. Publication Corp, Delhi).

However, now, there are several number of international human rights instruments which provide protection to women and girls and require States to take effective measures to prevent and eradicate gender based violence. At the international level :

• the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
• the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
• the Convention on the Elimination of All Former of Discrimination Against Women;
• the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
• the Convention against Torture and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

To go in detail, say, for the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) had already adopted general recommendation no. 10 on different types of violences against women. Therein, the Committee suggested to State parties that, in reviewing their laws and politics, and in reporting under the convention, they should have regard to a number of recommendations related to violences against women. To cite a few of such as by the 172nd report of the Law Commission of India made not only a few recommendations including, substitution of the word "rape" by "sexual assault to make law more comprehensive; making the law gender-neutral by substitution of "woman" with "person".

The Government of India and Manipur have brought-forth many amendments in law to give women an equal right and status—a full ministry of social and women's welfare has been formed in 1985 and now followed by the inception of the National and State Women Human Rights Commissions, yet women are still facing some of the most heinous crimes committed against them, such as rape, flesh trade, feticide, female infanticide, child abuse, wife beating, dowry death, sati, financial exploitation, sexual exploitation of working women and female students.

Law is there to prevent all this, yet we find women oppressed, exploited, cheated, uneducated, financially dependent, mentally hoisted, morally run down and physically violated. A country where socio-economic growth cannot take place if half of its population is downtrodden it becomes rather difficult for women to participate effectively and make an indelible mark upon the society, yet they make every effort to better their social condition and contribute in whatever little big or small way in their respective societies.

According to Rahul Rai (Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Athorspress, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92, 2004; p.41) other concerns include, inter alia the exploitation of woman and girl in prostitution and interstate and cross-border trafficking and their exposure to HIV/AIDs and health risks; the very high maternal and infant mortality rates, the adverse sex ratio and the incidence of sex-selective abortions despite the law banning that practice, the sex selective targeting of family planning only at women, the law participation of qualified women in the administration and the judiciary, including family courts and Lok Adalats or conciliation tribunals the practice of debt bondage and the denial of inheritance right in land.

He (Ibid; p.49) has further maintained that gender relations framework is a useful conceptual approach to the structural inequalities that characterise the relationship between men and women in their day-to-day activities and expressions. Rather than dwelling purely on the male/female sexual differences, the gender relations approach here refers to the substantive issues arising from structurally perceived and socially constructed role expectations and differences in diverse social setting.

EDUCATION OF WOMEN :

To bring a change in the mindset of masses, certainly, education is the only weapon by which social trend is made to a twist steadily or suddenly. We cannot depend solely on women, male participation is considerably essential, without male's support, not much can be achieved. Moreover, the specific constraints and restraints that prevent women's access to education and reduce the possibility of their completing it have to be connected to enable them to those who have been traditionally excluded from contended Bhattacharya (P. Krishnaprasad (ed), Women And Society, Student Struggle, Vol.31, Issue 2 February, 2002, SFI-II, Windsor Place N. Delhi-1; p.5). Also, we need to register the presence of women in our society and also to break feminine stereotypes through texts so as to start from the grass-root levels.

Accessing women to education Black Shield (A.R. Blackshield's Paper "Secularism and Social Control" in the Indian Law Institute, Delhi's Seminar, 1989) has also affirmatively asserted that education, for its part must continue to be processed of thoroughgoing objectivity and realism. The idea of wholehearted objective devotion to a job, the need for thoroughness and precision and depth of understanding in basic and advanced skills; an ever-ready willingness to experiment and explore the constant drive to "make good" rather than "make do" but the ability to measure success in terms of quality rather than quantity, whether of handicrafts, agricultural and industrial products, books, or academic degrees, an absolute respect for truth even (when need be) at the cost of courtesy; a fundamental appreciation of the importance of every human individual, and of the seriousness and worthwhileness and intrinsic interest of A "thing-techniques" from handloom weaving to atom-splitting, and of objective factual knowledge generally—all of these must be instilled in the pupils above all the manifest and not stumble example of the teacher. It is an empirical fact that he or she is a human engineer.

Thus, law, religion and education are the best social controls prevalent in any society (Ibid). It is distinctly seen how the educated women in a very conservative society for instance Saudi Arabia have brought a tremendous change especially in the course of women's lives (Jean P. Sasson : Princess, Doubleday Transworld Publishing Ltd., Berks, U.K., 1992; p.163). As a matter of fact, women, now, in Saudi have held the post of Education Director and portfolio of Education Minister.

Inadequate educational opportunities given to girls due to preference for boys doing better is leading to poorer income-generation opportunities for girls and women. Many women are in the informal small-scale sector where credit facilities are more difficult to procure, while the economic risks are higher, with poor potential for expansion. There are many cultural and social hurdles for girls and women to overcome mainly due to gender biases, with girls and women being under-represented in educational institutions.

To be continued.....

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* Priyadarshni M Gangte, PhD , wrote this article for The Sangai Express.
The writer is a Lecturer at Damdei Christian College, Taloulong, Senapati District, Manipur.
This article was webcasted on May 10, 2011.

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