Status of Manipuri Meitei Pangal (Muslim) women & challenges ahead
- Part 3 -

Henna Tarannum Khan, M S Khan and M Ahmed *

Manipuri Meitei Pangal (Muslim) women Shopping for Id-ul-Fitr at Khwairamband Ima Keithel on July 17 2015 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

(c) Financial dependence: Another factor for Muslim women that affects her social status is her dependence to her husband so far her financial requirements are concerned. Generally, women remain in the house while male member of the family earn livelihood. Thus for every small requirements she depends on her husband. Although there is a tradition of working in the kitchen garden and growing vegetables for selling it in the market, mostly the management is the male affair.

To improve the status of women, various vocational training could be provided to women in groups. If the women are trained in any one vocational trade they can be not only financially independent but also will be an acknowledged earning member of the family. Thus her status will improve. Providing vocational training, we need to facilitate profitable market. Their products should go to market.

(d) Polygamy: The polygamy among Manipuri Muslims exists in some cases. In most of the case second wife is aware of the first wife. Even then she falls in the trap. Now-a-days, numbers of girls are studying theology in Madrassa(s). Let us sincerely hope Madrassa provides the necessary awareness to the girls and hope the case of polygamy is reduced drastically.

(e) Low social interaction. One of the reasons for low social status of Manipuri Muslim women is their less social interaction. As stated above, most of the women remain at home and their interaction with outside world is limited. As such they are not well educated or properly educated and their requirement for going out is reduced to less/nil. Moreover, the male member is the main bread earner of the family so these ladies hardly need to go out of their home.

It could be in the event of some social functions only women go out of their villages. So the exposure to outside world is very limited. Owning to this the status of women in the society is very low. Now the scenario is somewhat changing, women starts forming welfare organizations viz. nupi marup, student organizations and they started to take part in the state and national issues not only issues related to women only. This is a positive sign. We should encourage such individuals and groups. Until and unless they participate in social activities, their status will not be improved.

(f) Non-cooperative atmosphere: The Manipur society as a whole is quite women friendly. If you compare with other states of the country, north- eastern states particularly Manipur is quite women friendly. But somewhere, somehow they are always in seclusions. It is quite unfortunate that we cannot improve on this aspect in spite of all the efforts. Till today many girls/women has to be attended by their relatives while going out. This is shame on us.

We must improve this without any delay. Why our sisters should not feel safe in our own villages. The civil organizations have a great role to play in improving this dismal state of affairs in respect of women. Where there is supposed to be no compromise on the respect and safeguard of women; it is quite disturbing that we do not live up to the expected norms of Islamic teaching.

Economic Status:

The economic status of Manipuri Muslim Women can be ascertained from the finding of the survey conducted by MOBC in 2014. As per the survey report some of the indicators are given below.

Table 2: Economic status of Manipuri Muslim Women (MOBC,Manipur, 2014)
SL.No.   Indicator         Percentage
(a)   Unemployed Muslim Women         90.12%
(b)   Male Worker         60.29%
(c)   Female Worker         37.71
(d)   Unpaid helpers         35.31
(e)   Own account worker female         41.40
(f)   Majority of household monthly earning         Below Rs. 2000/-

The economic status as a whole is very low comparing the mainstream population. Majority of the household earning is less than Rs 2000 per month and average saving per month per household is just Rs 845/-. There are numbers of factors which contribute to the low economic status of the Manipuri Muslim Women. Let us discuss the main factors one by one.

Factors Responsible For Low Economic Status of Manipuri Muslim Women.

There are several factors which are responsible for the low economic status of the women. Some important one are discussed below.

(a) Wrong view: There is a wrong view in the society that only male member should be earning and the female member of the house has to remain indoors to look after the household work and children. Due to this wrong perception the education of the girls were not encouraged; no formal or informal training as means of earning were imparted to the women. Thus, women do not have the required qualification and talent to earn a living. She used to be always dependent on the male member of the house. The perception is now changed to some extent. We have few women lecturer, doctor, engineer and lawyer. The financial status of women is now little/vaguely improved.

(b) Lack of opportunity: A woman has disadvantages of lack of skill and knowledge as they were told that they should not be earning their livelihood themselves. Not only this, the opportunity for them was very few that is almost at minimum. At the most they can earn by cultivating vegetables in their kitchen gardens and by weaving. Since they lack education and they were not allowed to go outside, their opportunities to get a job outside were very limited.

Now-a-days the scenario is changed with the changing of time. Of late Muslim women have changed and she started taking part in every field. Even Manipuri Muslim girls have joined Para Military Force apart from main stream jobs. It is a very positive development. There is recent instance of a girl qualifying the competitive examination conducted by MPSC(Manipur Public Service Commission). At present there is no women member of the state legislative assembly, we may have it very soon once the reservation of women in state legislative assembly is enforced. The young girls of today should forget the past and work harder to beat their male counterpart in near future.

(c) Unaccounted responsibility: One of the major factors of low financial status of Manipuri Muslim Women is due to their involvement in household jobs. It is a huge responsibility that they are taking but it is taken for granted and unaccounted. If the amount of time they spend in household jobs is properly accounted and wages at the prevailing rate is paid to them it will be more than 50% of the total overall household expenditure per day. When we workout the contribution to household income, workload to women group and their wages aspect should also be accounted for.

(d) Lack of skill and knowledge: Women do not have the necessary knowledge and skill to get suitable jobs. If they want to work they even do not have the requisite qualification/education/skill. They have to satisfy with unskilled lowly paid jobs. There is not a single woman ITI in our state. The only ITI in Muslim concentrated locality of Lilong, Manipur, was recently commissioned. There is not a single women college and the only college at Lilong needs to improve in quality. How can we think of improving the status of women? We need to do lot of work on this front. The non-governmental organizations including women organization should take up this with appropriate government authorities and the necessary infrastructure should be available at appropriate locations.

(e) Unfriendly situation: When women are not free to move around and do their duties without a male guarding them, then it is quite difficult for them to grow. So the environment needs to be changed for overall development of the state. The role of civil society in this regard is quite important. Presence of women organizations is a positive indication. Things are changing fast and hope situation will definitely improve.

to be contd...