Keywords
Customary Laws
Politics
Decision-Making
How to Cite
Abstract
The journey of women into the political sphere has been challenging across the globe, with their right to participate in politics only being secured after years of persistent struggle. In Naga society too, the inclusion of women in politics has been a slow process. Despite traditional Naga society being often described as democratic and republican, it was governed by customary laws that strictly prohibited women from engaging in political activities. With modernity, society has witnessed a lot of changes in all fields, but the Nagas continue to be governed by their customary laws in many aspects. The Ao Nagas, being one of the first to embrace Christianity, is seen as one of the most forward tribes among the Nagas. However, when it comes to women and politics, the Ao Naga women have limited rights as compared to man in decision making role in the society at large. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to understand the question of whether the Ao Naga community is ready to be more flexible in their customary law and allow women’s participation in all political or decision-making processes.
References
1. Amer, M. (2013). Political Status of Women in Nagaland. Journal of Business Management & Social Science Research (JBM&SSR), 2 (4), 91-95.
2. Devi, J., & Gohain, D.S. (2021). Status of Ao Naga Women from the Perspective of Feminist Philosophy. Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry (TOJQI). 12 (10). 10, 6047-6053. https://www.tojqi.net/index.php/journal/article/view/9272
3. Jamir, N. (2012). Participation of Naga Women in Electoral Politics: A Case Study of Kohima Town. [Doctoral Thesis, North Eastern Hill University].
4. Jathy, T. (2020). The Role and Position of Women in Traditional Ao Society. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT). 8 (10), 2396- 2402. https://www.ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2010320.pdf
5. Khanna, M. (2009). Political Participation of Women in India. The Indian Journal of Political Science,70 (1), 55-64. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41856495
6. Longchar, P. (2002). Historical Development of the Ao Nagas in Nagaland. Print Home.
7. Longchar, R., & Imchasenla. (2017). Taboos of the Ao-Nagas: Change and Continuity. IRA International Journal of Management & Social Sciences (ISSN 2455-2267), 8(1), 46-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.21013/jmss.v8.n1.p5
8. Parwez, M. (2012). Women on the Margin: Customary Laws and Practices of Tribe. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 73, 1366–1375. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44156339
9. Russel, I. L. (1964). “Development of Attitudes, Interests and Values”. In Charles Edward Skinner (ed.). Educational Psychology. Prentice Hall.
10. Shimray, U. A. (2002). Equality as Tradition: Women’s Role in Naga Society. Economic and Political Weekly, 37(5), 375–377. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4411678
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 South India Journal of Social Sciences