Politics of Resistance: Political Reservation for Women in Nagaland, India

Abstract

Gender quota opens politics to women and ensures full and equal participation of women in politics. However, the initiative is not an end itself to ensure the representation of women in politics. In 2017, Nagaland witnessed the protest against the thirty-three per cent reservation for women in the urban local body (ULB) after the government’s decision to conduct local election. The article seeks to understand the negligible presence of women representation in the political sphere despite having better gender indicators compared to national average in terms of education, literacy rate and employment in Nagaland, India. Based on the empirical research, it explores the various reasons for resisting the implementation of thirty-three per cent reservation for women in ULB elections. Since the formation of Nagaland as a state in 1963, nineteen women have stood in the assembly election. None of them have won in the election till the year 2022. Even though women are completely absent in the institutional forum, there is a resistance against the implementation of the policy. In its continued exploration, the article discusses the impact of group rights on the women in accessing liberty.