Questioning the Gender Stereotypes

ANURADHA M. CHENOY

The issue on gender brought out in the Eastern Quarterly (Volume 5, Issues II & III) titled GENDER STUDIES IN THE NORTHEAST has raised some pertinent questions and initiated a debate on the status, role and challenges on gender and gender relations in Northeast India. While the issues faced by the Northeast India have some unique dimensions/characteristics, the larger macro level problems remain the same for women across geographical and cultural boundaries.

To begin with some unique problems faced by the region, followings are the questions raised in the debate initiated by the four paper writers – Tiplut Nongbri, Anungla Aier, Ningthoujam Irina and Sukalpa Bhattacharjee. How does gender play out in a matrilineal society (in the case of tribes in the Northeast)? How is it framed at times of prolonged conflict? Do women get to share power when they lead resistance in a society? These are some issues that writers take on in this special issue on “Gender Studies in the Northeast,” or should it have been “Gender and the Northeast?”

The issue of gender relations and its patriarchal base, all the articles have shown, carries a bond between cultures and across time. If there is one thing that links men in the Northeast to the rest of India, [and to much of the world] it is their deeply patriarchal nature which remains embedded in relations and structures despite globalization, development or the lack of it.

At a time when the world is discussing climate change, it appears that one major debate amongst Khasi tribes, who like other tribes are closely linked to the preservation of nature, is that the matrilineal society weakens the image of men, and this system should now give way to a patriarchal one. This, according to Tiplut Nongbri, is evident from the work and poetry of important Khasi writers. Nongbri on the other hand contests this vision of women dominating Khasi society because of its matrilineal system which she argues, continues to not only give a higher place to men in society and firmly retain their image as “protector” of women, but also that political and other power relations rest with men. Thus, as Nongbri has showed earlier and now, matrilineal societies do not ensure gender equality in any way, and patriarchy is alive and well here, too.

One clear reason that patriarchy is so instilled in our lives and being, is because it is part of our conscious culture. Anungla Aier shows this with the case of the folklore among the Nagas. Patriarchy is thus, as Tiplut also puts it, part of the “speech act.” Folklore, so ingrained as part of culture reinforces gender relations or rather gender roles in a strict hierarchy where they remain unequal in spirit, song and ritual. Women’s role as caretaker and nurturer that confines her to the private space is so structured that no matter what role she actually plays in the public space, in the collective mentality, memory and existence, she remains inferior. Thus, despite her role in social or political movements the image of women remains that of mother.

Much has been written about Naga mothers and the role they have played in the Naga movement. Though not specifically taken up by Aier, other writers have shown that perhaps part of this role is because women themselves have used their role as “mother” to negotiate with patriarchy and get what they can through this very role. This adaptation of motherhood to evoke nationalism and as negotiating tool is a double edged sword. On the one hand, women have made some gains in terms of having “rights” of being mother, but on the other hand, they have also reinforced the image that women’s roles are primarily restricted to a particular frame.

Whoever follows the Northeast would be aware of the stellar role that women of Manipur have played historically and in current times against oppressions. Ningthoujam Irina highlights this by using concept of social capital, which she argues is the social construct that can adequately understand how women’s informal and behavioral relations have woven together solidarities through which they operate and resist state instruments like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Irina traces the history of the first Women’s Uprising to the current dissent movements to show the culture and history of women’s resistance in the state. She also takes an interesting look at the social organizations in Manipur – the market and the collective homestead. In a short but comprehensive article Irina then convincingly argues that women have got the power to resist but have not got the power to share. In other words, their resistances have not translated to an acceptance of their political leadership.

It is an irony that in a state like Manipur which takes pride in women’s high status and role in terms garnering social movements, and of having a rich history of women’s tales of emancipation, the contemporary Manipur does not see women taking part in power sharing in modern institutions. This for sure tells that there is something seriously wrong in the forms of social emancipation project of the women.

This takes the discussion back to patriarchy. As much as women accept the role of motherhood to gain certain exclusive rights for themselves, the identity of the women gets confined to “motherhood” as an ideal stereotype. Similar may turn out to be true of the civil society movements in Manipur and elsewhere in the region, where role of the women may get confined to staging dharana, protest march, and sometimes physically confronting the state authority. There is much need to come out of the stereotypes constructed by the patriarchal world order where role of women and values therein is decided beforehand.

The debate on gender as rightly started by each of the four authors must begin by a critique of the power structure that is prevalent in the contemporary societies. These inevitably find source in patriarchy and its value structure.

The effort made by Eastern Quarterly is novel in the sense that it will start questioning some of the stereotype images that are painted about the women in the Northeast – of their being emancipated, free, vocal and socially dynamic. Many a myth and fantasy have to be done away with. For this to happen, reading the dynamics of the contexts in which the women struggle, their identity constructed, social roles they perform, and above all the relations they have with their counterparts need a fresh look. Towards having that understanding, the effort of Eastern Quarterly has been significant and commendable. A further debate on specific themes on gender should be initiated.