Social welfare minister J.A. Lyngdoh lights the inaugural lamp of the conference in Shillong on Tuesday. Picture by UB Photos

Shillong, Feb. 7: Women’s commissions of the northeastern states today called for joint efforts for the implementation of women’s reservation in Assemblies and Parliament.

In a population of around 38 million (according to the 2001 census), the Northeast has only 21 women legislators in the seven Legislative Assemblies. The total seats in the seven Assemblies is 466.

Percentage wise, the representation of women in the Assemblies is a mere 4.5 per cent, which is miles away from the much-talked about 33 per cent reservation for women.

Assam tops the list with 14 women legislators, which include ministers Ajanta Neog and Pranati Phukan, while there is no representation of women in Mizoram and Nagaland Assemblies.

Manipur, which went to the poll recently, had only one female legislator, Okram Landhoni, in the outgoing Assembly. Landhoni is the wife of chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh.

Meghalaya, which boasts a matrilineal system, also has only one female legislator, M. Ampareen Lyngdoh. Ironically, the state also has more women voters compared to men.

Karya Bagang of Trinamul Congress and Nang Sati Mein, an Independent candidate, are the two women legislators in Arunachal Pradesh.

Tripura has three women MLAs, which include Gouri Das, Rita Kar and Bijita Nath.

“There is gender discrimination when it comes to women in politics. For the past many years, we have not had any women legislator in the state. This is very discouraging even though women are good, if not better, than men,” Mizoram state women’s commission chairperson Lalnipuii told reporters here today. She was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of regional conference on achieving convergence for empowerment of women for the northeastern states.

“To see more women in the Assemblies and Parliament, we need to come together as state women’s commissions and ask for the implementation of the 33 per cent reservation,” Lalnipuii added.

The women’s reservation bill, synonymous with the 33 per cent reservation, has been hanging fire for decades in Parliament because of the absence of a consensus among political parties.

Gumri Ringu, chairperson of the Arunachal Pradesh state women’s commission, said, “While the social status of women is high, we lack representation in legislatures. Therefore, it is important that a joint effort should be made to ask for the bill to be implemented.” On the two women legislators in Arunachal Pradesh, Ringu said they were denied tickets when they tried to contest from bigger political parties like the Congress.

“Since half of the population in the Northeast comprises women, I think we need to have 50 per cent reservation in the legislature,” she added.

Speaking from Manipur, L. Ipetombi Devi, chairperson of the state women’s commission, said, “Women from the Northeast should come together and fight jointly so that we can get more women representation in the Assemblies and Parliament.”

Nagaland state women’s commission chairperson Sano Vamuzo, said, “There is a strong opposition against women taking part in electoral politics. I also agree that we need to fight jointly for the reservation of women.”

It may be mentioned that last year, the Nagaland government was directed by the Kohima bench of Gauhati High Court to hold elections to the Municipal and Town Councils in the state along with a strict implementation of 33 per cent reservation during the polls.

Today’s conference, organised by the National Mission for Empowerment of Women, New Delhi, was inaugurated by Meghalaya social welfare minister J.A. Lyngdoh.

The conference discussed issues like economic empowerment (strategies for convergence) of women, vulnerable and marginalised women, women’s education, health and nutrition, access to justice, gender budgeting and gender mainstreaming and others.