Resolution 1325-adopted in October 2000 by the United Nations Security Council states that it is important to ensure that women`s needs, and therefore their views are being taken into account in planning and execution of all aspects of conflict prevention, peace processes, peacekeeping operations and post-conflict recovery. This landmark resolution is based on the premise that women have critical contributions to make in terms of how peace can be achieved and maintained. It is deemed a significant resolution because it links the impact of war and conflict on women on the one hand and also promotes their participation in various peace and security processes such as in peace negotiations, constitutional and electoral reforms and reconstruction and reintegration. Even as the objectives of the resolution remain on paper and women continue to be marginalized in conflict resolution processes, the irony comes in the context of women in Manipur who are eulogized as being empowered and depicted as leaders in various movements.
Even a casual scrutiny of the voices of women groups and ‘women leaders’ vis a vis public discourses on various issues being faced by the people of the state will show that their voices are most vocal and loud when it comes to taking a stand against excesses committed by security forces on one hand and ‘immoral activities’ on the other. The stand taken by women against excesses committed by security forces needs no further mention for right from the 80’s, women have taken to the streets to ensure that citizens stay safe and to keep up the pressure on state armed actors to stay on track. In a way, their protests and the nature of their agitations by taking out torch rallies have led to the identity that is known as “Meira Paibi”. But whether Meira Paibis and other women who are projected as leaders commanding respect as civil society representatives really keeping the spirit of the UN Resolution in the spirit that it was envisaged is another matter altogether for women leaders who are accorded such respect as it were and seen as movers and shakers when it comes to leading various agitations are not visible at the negotiating table.
Once women who lead during agitations on the streets are taken off from their area of operation: which technically are the streets they take control of in terms of protests and the stands they take, they are confined to taking social actions based on their take on morality. Hence, the various restaurant drives, the sermonizing over of women of ‘ill repute’, taking the lead in social ostracization drives, tonsuring the heads of sex workers, alcohol vendors and the like. Once the role of the women on the streets in the times of protests and agitations gets over, there is little in terms of a nuanced and pro-active engagement with the interests of women being taken into account. The fault in part lies in the glorification of the women on the streets without a deeper analysis of what are the other areas that these women can demand action or make a statement. The imagery of women leading protests, fighting against security forces with only their impassioned voices and emotional outbursts have further added to the stereotype of the ‘Manipuri women lead the way’ which is rather further from the truth.
But it is not too late to build on the strides that the women leaders have taken in Manipur. A generational inclusion of thought processes and a healthy exchange of ideas and knowledge to create a broader essence of a new women’s movement in the state is the real need now. The first logical step would be to begin with legal awareness with stress being given on how women groups can aid in community good without having to be in vigilante mode and one dispensing mob justice. Once legal sensitivity is brought about, discourses on people’s movements within certain frameworks like feminism and rights based approaches on reproductive health and sexual rights being introduced to women who have battled against the system of excesses can only empower them and lead them on to emerge stronger and more vibrant. For some time, the women groups of the state who had started out with unified stands had given way to making specific noises over issues with segregation coming in by nature of groups, ethnic identities and the like. This phase seems to have given way as proved by recent developments where women cutting across lines of communities and ethnic groups have come together to protest against the issues of drug trafficking in the state and the Satyabhama murder case. If this spirit of woman bonding is taken further to cut across various other issues and beyond the realms of street protests, there can truly be a resurgent women’s movement in the state.