Tribal women participation in Local Bodies in Manipur

Grace Kamei *

Kangpokpi MLA, Nemcha Kipgen, speaking at District Council Hall, Kangpokpi on September 07 2014 :: Pix - TSE

The term 'political participation' has a very wide meaning. It is not only related to 'Right to Vote', but simultaneously it is related to participation in: decision making process, political activism, political consciousness, etc. Women in India participate in voting, run for public offices and political parties at lower levels more than men.

Political activism and voting are the strongest areas of women's political participation. To combat gender inequality in politics, the Indian Government has instituted reservations for seats in local governments. Women were substantially involved in the Indian independence movement in the early 20th Century and advocated for independence from Britain. Independence brought gender equality in the form of constitutional rights, but historically women's political participation has remained low.

Women constitute more or less than half of the population of any country. But their involvement in politics is insignificant compared to men. A democratic country cannot progress if energies of its half population are concentrated in the kitchen only. The issue of women's participation in politics cannot be viewed in isolation from the general position of women in a society but despite their vast strength, women occupy a marginalized position in the political system. Political status of women implies a degree of equality and freedom enjoyed by women in sharing of power and importance given by the society to the role of women in the political system.

The equality and active political participation are inseparable. Participation of women in political arena is integral to the advancement of women. Their political participation means not only using the right to vote, but also power-sharing, co-decision-making, and co-policy-making at all levels of governance of the State. Women's equal status in every sphere is inextricably linked to country's progress and development. But most of the tribal women participate in the electoral process as voter.

They are less awareness about the Panchayati Raj Act of 73rd Amendment in the Constitution of India. They know that every village have a Panchayat which works for the development for the village but they do not know the various power, works etc. of the Panchayats. They have a very little knowledge about the reservation of seats for women in Gram Panchayats. It is true that most of the women cast their vote to that candidate whom their husbands choose. Even they do not have that right to cast their vote for their own choice.

Status of Participation of Tribal Women in Panchayati Raj Institution:

Status of Women' refers to the position of women in society in relation to men. Although, geographically, men and women share the same space, yet they are not treated equally in many professional fields. In reality, there exists inequality in women's access to education, health care, physical and financial resources and opportunities in the political, economic, social and cultural field. Participation level of tribal women in Gram Panchayats only limited, only to remain as voter. Some of the women even do not know the functioning of Gram Panchayat. In Gram Panchayat election their husband and family decided to whom they have to vote, in many cases tribal women do not have their own choice.

Life of tribal is not easy. Since time immemorial forest has been the habitat of the tribal. Tribal areas are the remotest as well as the most scheduled and generally inaccessible hilly tracts. The life of tribal is full of adventures and susceptible. Tribal areas had drawn special attention of the administration since pre independent era. Village Council plays an important part in economic planning and implementations of policy programs at the grass-root levels.

However, it is very important to note that since time immemorial the tribal women folks are not given opportunity to participate in the functioning of village/local governments and till date such discrimination continues to exist in the Village Authority/Council. Therefore, to effectively pursue the various powers and functions of Local Self-governing Institutions, there is an urgent need to include women in such institutions through amending the existing laws.

Challenges:

* Often, the men of the village do not accord women the respect and regard that is their due. Official take advantage of their inexperience and poor education.

* Elected women members sometimes used as dolls behind their husband or men in the family.

* Tribal women were particularly vulnerable as a group because of strong traditional values maintained in village areas lack of women's education and access to information, poor exposure to the "outside" world and lack of power.

* They have less awareness about the 73rd Amendment of Panchayati Raj Act and the working of gram Panchayats. Less participation is due to reasons like illiteracy, poverty, traditional family values and pattern of society, male dominance society etc. are responsible for their less participation in Panchayati Raj Institutions.

* The progress of tribal women in Panchayati Raj Institution is slow and it will take more time to attain women's goal. Because tribal women are irregular in the Panchayat activities due to daily wage and worry about their crying babies and family.

* The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) included a provision for a 33% reservation of seats for women politicians in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). The awareness level of all Panchayat members are very poor regarding the importance of women's reservation in Panchayat Raj Institutions, as well as regarding laws pertaining to women, financial aspects of the Panchayat and issues to be addressed by PRI.

Recommendations:

* Women members of Panchayats needed to be educated and informed about politics; their rights, the nature of Indian democracy, policies and programmes for women and the underprivileged and voting rights. Women's centres and other organization can serve as catalyses to mobilize women and help solve political dilemmas.

* Elected women in each district may develop a network among them and hold meetings and discussions on routine basis about necessary measures to promote their participation and neutralize male domination in local-self bodies. Thus, it is important to make extra educational training programmes related to politics for enhancing knowledge of elected women members on government policies and programmes, bureaucratic structures and the issues of local concern. For this, government may make provision for mandatory attendance of an Awareness Programme/Orientation Programme by members of PRIs.

Sensitization of male members in PRIs is equally important so that they listen to women patiently, converse politely, acknowledge their suggestions in the meetings and implement them wherever feasible. It would lead to psychological empowerment of women.

* It is evident that men's attitude towards women's entry into politics has begun to change from that of total rejection to limited encouragement and in some cases even to active encouragement. This trend needs to be strengthened through orientation courses and training programmes for officials and elected representatives, both men and women. Besides there is a need to train the women leaders at regular intervals to enable them to manage the responsibilities assigned to them in the Panchayats at all the levels.

* Bringing about an attitudinal change in both men and women. The feeling that women are meant for household activities and rearing children needs to be transformed into a feeling of equal partnership of women and men. To inculcate this they should be imparted education for bringing about social and political awareness among both.

* The women should also be encouraged to organize themselves. The Mahila Mandals in the village can be effectively used as instruments to mobilize them for this purpose. Some successful women's organisations can also act as catalytic agents for encouraging the women's participation in social and political activities. The Government should provide finance and infrastructure to some of the deserving and successful women organizations to take up the responsibility of encouraging the women elected representatives.

* It may be considered that to achieve the women empowerment, advancement can be facilitated with the co-ordination of different sections of the society such as male gentry, religious heads, political leaders who should come forward and shun their interpersonal interest even ego to understand and appreciate that the women are equally as important segments of society as men. Unless the male ridden society is transformed and replaced by a better socio-economic set up where men and women are equal co-workers, the future of human set up appears to be bleak.

* The media both print as well as electronic can play an important role in creating awareness in the rural area. It can act as an agent of political socialization for inculcating the values of gender equality and gender justice.