Sikkim for Sikkimese

The Woman Question

Abstract

There has been a general assumption that the North-East states of India are better off in terms of gender equality primarily because there have been no reports of dowry-related deaths, sati or female infanticide. However, the ground reality is far from true. Gender inequality may not be blatantly visible but there have been studies to show how womenfolk in these North-East states are lagging behind in terms of access to economic and social welfare measures causing a hindrance to their empowerment. Studies in this direction have already been made by scholars like Ruth Lalsiemsang Buongpui (2013) who has called this apparent picture of well-being of North-East women as an “illusion” and scholars like Bidisha Mahanta and Purushottam Nayak (2013) have shown how a society that does not believe in overt sexual disparity can still be deeply gender- fragmented.