Opinion Democracy in
Ladakh Marginalized Women
by Stanzin Dawa
The
life of a community begins to end the day its people become silent about
things that matter. I am simply trying to break the silence because
every time neither the silence is gold nor the speech is silver. Let the
echo of the breaking of the silence be reached to the hills and valleys
of Ladakh. The surface of the Ladakh is covered with a thin gray layer
of democratic fabric. Ladakh being a part of India is also having a
democratic form of government at the local level (Ladakh Autonomous Hill
development Council Leh and Kargil respectively). In order for Ladakh to
achieve its full economic, social and political potential, all of its
citizens must have an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic
process. As Abraham Lincoln stated that democracy is a form of
government by the people, for the people and of the people. But
democracy in Ladakh doesn't consider women as people, why? Where are the
women representation and their leadership in the local democratic set up
(Ladakh Autonomous Hill development Council Leh and Kargil
respectively)? It's shocking that women representation in the existing
council of both Leh and Kargil absolutely does not exist. Why their role
is confine to the election process? Have we forgotten or ignored the
women's contributions in all the socio political struggles in Ladakh?
For whom are we fighting for the union territory for Ladakh? If we go by
the prevailing attitudes and practices of Ladakh's politics it's only
the men who would get the real benefits from the union territory. If
Ladakh politics could not give due representation to the women in the
existing government; what's the guarantee that union territory is not
going to marginalized the women.
The representative form of democracy has little meanings unless we make
it a participatory one. Democracy is not a spectator sport, Ladakhi
women deserved to be an active contributor in the local political
democracy. Democracy hardly exists for women in Ladakh; women are still
not admitted as full and equal members and citizens in the local
government and political set up. In the more than half a century
political history of Ladakh after India's independence Ladakh could
manage to produce only one women candidate as a member of parliament in
the Indian parliament. Point to be noted here is that she was not an
ordinary woman; she was the queen of Ladakh. The mileage of being
belongs to the royal family could be an important factor. But here our
concern is not the privileged minority but the underprivileged majority
who are ignored, neglected and alienated from the whole process of
democratic functioning of the governance and leadership except their
participation during the election period. At the dawn of the
twenty-first century, Ladakhi political thinkers can no longer ignore
the fact that humanity and Ladakh is made up of two sexes, not just MALE
species.
"…women in Ladakh have enjoyed that freedom and empowerment for
centuries. Today, the status of women in Ladakh seems to be moving
backwards…" Yangchan Dolma1, while raising the issue of increasing rape
cases in Ladakh. Lack of women participation in the local government
makes them more vulnerable for the violations of their rights. There are
many women specific issues which can be dealt and understood by women
only. Marginalization of women participation in the democratic
functioning of the government means that women have no say in shaping
the destiny of Ladakh's education, health, infrastructure, economy,
culture, language, politics and relations. Can we expect our society to
be peaceful and progressive without adequate involvement of women in the
policy making body? Is society to be blamed for this misconception that
women do not hold important roles in the local government and
participate in making important decisions for Ladakh?
I have asked few of university going Ladakhi girls about their views on
gender discrimination in Ladakh. Initially they have consensus that
gender discrimination is not an issue in Ladakh. They have supported
their arguments with the freedom to wear the dresses of their choice, go
to the places of their interest, no pardah system etc. May be their
understanding of gender discrimination was limited to the layers above
the skin. May be they are conditioned to think that everything is fine.
Later I have questioned them; "How many Ladakhi women you know who are
popular political leaders, religious leaders, village leaders (goba) or
sarpanch; of course not successful women government officials?" While
stressing on their grey matters they were desperately looking for names,
eventually they were helpless to accept that gender discrimination in
Ladakh is strategically institutionalized. Looking at the facts, women
make up 44.6 percent of the total population in Leh, strange how such a
big percentage of population has no representation in the local
government body. Even sex ratio in Ladakh is much below the national
level its 805 female against 1000 male in Leh where as its 933 female
against 1000 males in case of India. The female literacy rate in Leh is
very poor compare to the male literacy rate (Female literacy rate is
50.03 percent where as male literacy rate is 71.98) according to the
2001census. These are not mere figures; but are some harsh silent
truths.
"Social status of women in Ladakh is better than women of other parts of
India. Yet it is difficult to place them equal to men, and definitely
not higher. Women in Ladakh can eat, drink, sing and dance together with
male counterparts" Phuntsog Dorjay, Pelik2 My dear Phuntsog I do agree
with you that women in Ladakh are free to eat, sing, dance with male
counterparts but that's not everything. The real freedom in a modern
democratic society can be measured by people's participation in the
governance and policy making irrespective of sex, religion, caste etc. I
don't see Ladakhi women are free in the real sense, as they don't have
any say in the policy making. As the council is a male oligarchy.
Ladakhi women's plays a significant traditional role as care givers to
children, family, domestic and social affairs. For women, these
responsibilities build an awareness of issues concerning human needs
such as agriculture, environment, health, education, food supplies,
water and sewerage, garbage disposal, and community safety. Ladakhi
women are more active in community participation and social gatherings.
As large number of Ladakhi men are serving in the army, engaged in
tourism, absorbed with monastery affairs as monk. Women are the most
active and dynamic but over burdened and neglected as an agent of social
change. The daily work of making ends meet, the preoccupation with the
health and safety of the family, worrying about those unglamorous
details of daily life, are matters that many men simply are not
concerned about. Women in Ladakh are more skillful and hard working than
men in many respects. Their involvement in the governance of the local
government can immensely facilitate to promote the larger interest of
Ladakh. The renowned gynecologist Dr Lhadol, Director AIR, Tsering Angmo
and Tsering Dolkar, Spalzes Angmo, Judicial Service, Nilza Angmo IAS,
Rigzin Wangmo the athlete and many successful Ladakhi women those who
have excelled in different fields, they all are lucky because the
recruitment is entirely based on merit not on the basis of sex, like
local politics. We have many women leaders in the social sectors who
have significantly contributed for Ladakh development. Some of the
prominent leaders are Sarla Chhewang, President Mahila Mandal, Razia
Sultan, Director LEHO, Anay Palmo, President LNA, all the nucleus
members of the women alliance and Halena Norberg Hodge, we know that she
is not a Ladakhi but the footprints of her contributions and
accomplishments can be seen like fortune lines in the palm. While having
deep respect for contributions by Ladakhi women I must apologize to
those women whose names I could not mention due to space constraints. I
was fortunate to work with some of these women and closely observed
their level of commitment and understanding of the issues, its worth
APPRECIATING with capital letters. In 2003 only three girls from Leh
could manage to qualify for the Kashmir Administrative Service
Examination, it also proves that Ladakhi women have got the aptitude for
a good administrator and manager. The perfection of their performances
and achievements need to be considered to break the male stereotyped
attitude for marginalizing women from participating in the local
government and political leadership. In a survey conducted by Ladags
Melong (September 2004 issue) among the young people of Ladakh, it was
found that only 41 percent were satisfied with politician's performance.
It means categorically we can say that only 41 percent were satisfied
with male politician's performances because the democracy in Ladakh has
marginalized the women participation.
What does it mean? It means we should not just sit back and alienate
women's participation in the governance and political leadership who
also have fought hard for political autonomy for Ladakh at every stage?
We need to realize that this is 'the dawn of a new century' and the role
of the female should indeed be reevaluated. The constitutional
protection of one third representation to women in the Panchayati Raj
institutions under the 73rd and 74th amendment to the Indian
Constitution was a land mark steps taken by the Indian parliament to
make the representative democracy a participatory one. The demand for 33
percent reservation was based on the research conducted in the United
States in the 1970s, on women participation in business, which showed
that 30 percent representation by minorities could significantly
influence the majority verdict. Drude Dehlerup of the University of
Stockholm extended these findings to women reservation in politics. She
observed that while quotas are necessary to jump start the process of
equality, the demand for quotas is a manifestation of growing impatience
with unequal political and social citizenship3. I think it takes a lot
of courage to release something seemingly secure and to accept the new.
As there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful and
relevant. Seeing the serious need of women participation in the local
government in Ladakh I strongly propose and appeal for similar
representation in the council's body by introducing an amendment in the
existing constitution of the council. The civil societies, women's
groups, local LIBERAL political parties and concerned individuals should
lobby for bringing such an amendment in the existing constitution of the
council in order to make our democracy a democratic in the real sense.
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The
life of a community begins to end the day its people become silent about
things that matter. I am simply trying to break the silence because
every time neither the silence is gold nor the speech is silver. Let the
echo of the breaking of the silence be reached to the hills and valleys
of Ladakh. The surface of the Ladakh is covered with a thin gray layer
of democratic fabric. Ladakh being a part of India is also having a
democratic form of government at the local level (Ladakh Autonomous Hill
development Council Leh and Kargil respectively). In order for Ladakh to
achieve its full economic, social and political potential, all of its
citizens must have an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic
process. As Abraham Lincoln stated that democracy is a form of
government by the people, for the people and of the people. But
democracy in Ladakh doesn't consider women as people, why? Where are the
women representation and their leadership in the local democratic set up
(Ladakh Autonomous Hill development Council Leh and Kargil
respectively)? It's shocking that women representation in the existing
council of both Leh and Kargil absolutely does not exist. Why their role
is confine to the election process? Have we forgotten or ignored the
women's contributions in all the socio political struggles in Ladakh?
For whom are we fighting for the union territory for Ladakh? If we go by
the prevailing attitudes and practices of Ladakh's politics it's only
the men who would get the real benefits from the union territory. If
Ladakh politics could not give due representation to the women in the
existing government; what's the guarantee that union territory is not
going to marginalized the women. 