Political Representation of Naga Tribal Women in Manipur and Nagaland

This paper will address how gender equality is viewed by the Naga society in Nagaland and Manipur, Northeast India? Why Naga women are not represented equally in politics and remain largely invisible? What are the cultural constraints for the Naga women to achieve gender equality till now? Undoubtedly, the Naga women organisations and their leaders have been working at the grass-root level for equal rights and gender justice. However, they could not completely break the glass ceiling and get into a position where they can exercise power and authority. This paper will also scrutinise the constraints, challenges and structural barriers of Naga women to politically participate in the decision-making. The feminist ideologies have not appealed to most of the Naga women owing to their cultural, historical, religious and social sphere of life. Women's issues have been espoused with the larger political issue of the Nagas., which the leaders have been negotiating with the Indian state for the past several decades. The Naga tribal feminist discourse is still in its nascent stage due to a confluence of many factors that are intertwined, and no single blame can be laid on one group or actor (s). Considering these arguments, it is understood that Naga women encounter various kinds of challenges in asserting their rights, and privileges from a feminist perspective.