Assessing the Role and Identity of Indigenous Women in Northeast India

Abstract

How can a society be democratic when a section of its population is deprived or barred from participating in decision‐making platforms because of their gender? How can we talk about equality and freedom when the Naga society in Northeast India is marred by the fact that a few affluent sections of the population – those who are male – have the prerogative? Can egalitarianism be imagined while Indigenous customs and laws give freedom and authority to the people in decision‐making roles, are largely prohibitive, and fail to promote egalitarianism? The Naga society in Northeast India is fiercely patriarchal, where gender roles and responsibilities are defined according to norms that restrict women's roles in the social and political arena.