Meghalaya is largely a matrilineal society but that does not mean that its women enjoy gender equality, Director General of Police Idashisha Nongrang said today.
Speaking as the chief guest at an awareness programme on gender equality organised by the International Quality Assurance Cell in collaboration with Meghalaya Human Rights Commission at St Dominic’s College here, she said, “When I look at the data that comes to my office regularly, crime against women is something that is of great concern. Despite all the efforts, awareness programmes and affirmative action taken, we have not yet been able to bring down in any way the crimes against women.”
The trend is negative in both rural and urban areas and that is forcing police to relook at the strategies that have been adopted, she added.
Nongrang, the first female DGP in Meghalaya and only the fifth in the country, stressed that gender equality also means the equality of opportunities for each gender.
“There is no way we can talk of equality of opportunities if we do not have equality of access to these opportunities, whether it’s health, education, nutrition,” she added. “We have certain advantages but we have not been able to maximise these advantages. We talk about the fact that women in Meghalaya have rights that a large section of the society in other parts of the country do not…But has this translated into gender equality?”
Speaking about the country as a whole, she said that reports from the United Nations, particularly UNICEF, have found that discrimination in the country, particularly against women, has not changed very much, which she dubbed “very disappointing”.
Talking of affirmative action, Nongrang did acknowledge positive change, such as the mandated one-third representation of women as public representatives and the equalising of land and inheritance rights. However, she stressed that true gender equality will only be achieved when everyone in their minds considers men and women to be equal.
