Mizo women fight for their rights.
In a collective fight against outdated patriarchal laws, Mizo women fight for legal reforms
In a historic victory for the women’s movement in
Mizoram, the State Law Commission is now in the final process of
reviewing The Mizo Marriage Bill, 2013, The Mizo Inheritance Bill, 2013,
and The Mizo Divorce Bill, 2013, which will be introduced in the State
Assembly after public consultations across the State. This is the result
of a struggle that has gone on for over a decade, a key party to which
is the Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP), an apex body representing
several local women’s groups.
After years of
advocacy and repeated attempts at sending memorandums and draft bills to
the Assembly and other executive bodies, the MHIP finally managed to
push the system into considering judicial and legislative changes in the
marriage, divorce, inheritance and succession laws in order to
safeguard the interests of ordinary women.
Pi
Sangkhumi, 60, former president of MHIP, is a happy woman. It’s been her
dream to ensure reforms related to marriage and inheritance as she has
seen generations of Mizo women suffer because of the legal biases in the
system.
“A Mizo woman has never had any rights over
property whether moveable, immoveable or even gifts, known as ‘bungrua’
in the local language, that are given to her at the time of marriage.
Her husband can divorce her at any time and throw her out of the house
without providing any financial support,” she explains.
Traditionally,
Mizo women have made a mark outside their homes as entrepreneurs,
teachers and officers in the State administration. However, just as the
State’s history has been strife-torn, so has the life of its women, who
have borne the worst consequences of the instability and violence that
had marked the region.
The years when the Mizo
National Front (MNF), an underground movement, was actively agitating
against the government were particularly difficult. Earlier known as the
Mizo National Famine Front, formed to help ease the immense suffering
of the local people during the severe Mautam Famine of 1959, the
organisation renamed itself the MNF in 1961. The State’s inaction during
famine led to a wave of secessionist uprisings during the 1960s.
Sangkhumi’s
father, one of the key leaders of the MNF, was killed during the peak
of the movement. A year later, in 1965, she went for higher studies to
Shillong on a scholarship. All the while that Pi Sangkhumi was coping
with her personal struggles she was acutely aware of the difficulties
being faced by other women.
An incident involving
the brutal gang rape of two young women by army jawans in 1966 is a case
in point. On a fateful November night, the MNF attacked a convoy of
Army personnel advancing towards the Champhai village in east Mizoram.
In retaliation the Army herded the villagers together and set fire to
their homes. The two women, the daughters of prominent community
leaders, were held separately in a small hut where soldiers allegedly
took turns in raping them. After 47 years, a compensation of Rs five
lakh each has recently been announced. It was such crimes that prompted
various women’s groups to come together and fight for their collective
rights. The MHIP was created in 1974 when Mizoram was still a Union
Territory and it literally means binding women together. One of their
main challenges has been to convince people to change traditional
systems and customs that suppress women.
Pi Sangkhumi
is of the opinion that while “Mizo women are definitely a part of the
work force now, they are still not the decision-makers.”
The
practice of quoting a “bride price” irks Pi Sangkhumi no end. According
to her, the “bride price” custom started around half a century ago and
was meant to be “a phuahchop”, or a practice introduced temporarily. But
over the years, it has become a ‘tradition’ that is faithfully being
followed. “A regressive practice should be prohibited by the legal
system,” she argues.
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