It is strange but, in today’s age, a whole tribe in India is ruled by women and is accepted by the Constitution of India. It is the Khasi tribe, in Meghalaya, an ancient community of about a million people who live in the hills of northeast India.
The Khasian society is matriarchal. All the earnings of males and females are owned jointly and administered by the head woman. Property is inherited from mother to daughter. In some cases, women act as religious and secular chiefs. The economic life of the Khasi is characterised by division of labour based on gender. It is a market-oriented one in which women have an important part to play.
They are producers and sellers.
The descent of the Khasi family is traced through the mother. According to Khasi laws, a woman cannot be forced into marriage. She owns the children and properties.
A woman may end a marriage at her will with no objection from her husband. Men are prohibited from inheriting real property. All property acquired by a man before marriage belongs to his mother. Property acquired by him after marriage belongs to his wife and children.
It is the youngest daughter who inherits the family name. Children take their mother’s surname. When the mother has no daughters, then the mother’s sister and their female kin receive the inheritance.
In the wife’s house, the man is “U Kpa uba lah ba iai” (a father who is able and steadfast). He is the progenitor, God’s instrument to increase his tribe and the clan of his wife and prevent it from extinction.
Men are expected to sleep in the house of the mother-in-law and keep quiet.
Women are respected and far from subservient.
All men are excluded from clan meetings, which are presided over by the tribe’s matriarchs. They have no say in any matter. Women make the most major decisions. They control household finances. They have full rights of the children. They have rightful ownership of land and houses.
In the state capital, Shillong, women wear skirts to church, put on lipstick and drive their cars with their windows open, listening to music. Many are happy to stay single. In a country where the pressure to get married is everywhere, they are an exception.
Men have no responsibilities. All they have to do is eat, drink, play the guitar and produce children. But are they happy? I’m positive most men reading this article are wondering: “Wow! That’s life! That’s wonderful!”
These men are far from happy. The men belonging to the Khasi tribe do not want to be treated as sexual machines to produce children. They are fed up of being branded the weaker sex and discriminated against. They want to enjoy their rights as men. So they have begun a “men’s lib” movement, which may be the world’s only, and are fighting for justice.
Well! Good luck to them! At least... perhaps they get the right to sleep with their wives!
And then we say, we are emancipated!
Well, happy Women’s Day to all of us girls!