On an autumn morning, fresh military recruits arrive at Imphal airport in Manipur, wearing starched uniforms and polished boots for security duty in one of the world’s most heavily militarized zones.
A few kilometres away, the contrast could not be greater.
In the city, a huge market run by women is a riot of colours. Hundreds of women wearing sarongs are busy arranging stalls to sell flowers in many hues, spices, fruits, handicrafts and a variety of goods.
Their foreheads marked with streaks of sandal paste, the women light incense and pray for good business as the market stirs to life. Manipur is among India’s most conflict-ridden states.
The soldiers are there because more than 20 militant groups are active in the state. It is a poor region that grapples with high unemployment, drug abuse and high prevalence of HIV.
Women here though have a better answer. They are leading struggles against rights violations, drugs and crime, campaigns that are changing the face of society. Some of India’s most powerful women’s movements and icons have emerged from this troubled land.
Their activism is in stark contrast to most parts of India, where women face violence and prejudice from the “womb to the tomb”—including female foeticide, sexual crimes and discrimination against widows.
The Ima Keithel or the Mothers’ Market, is a symbol here of women’s empowerment.
“In an environment where everything from the economy to law and order has collapsed, Ima Keithel enables women to support their families. It helps many households survive,” says Sunita Rani, who runs a handloom shop.
“My husband is unemployed and we have two children to take care of. I do my best to get meals on the table.”
Manipuri society is patriarchal, but women play a central role in their homes, workplace and community. At the market, women learn to organise, be socially aware and active, market general secretary Laishram Ongbi Mema says.
“Through their economic pursuit, women have become examples of strength for the society,” she says. “We have held several protests against killings, drug trafficking and corruption.” In 1904 and 1939, the women rose against the exploitative British colonial policies in the Nupee Lal, or the “War of the Women.” “Manipur has a history of more than 100 years of non-violent resistance movements led by women, the longest perhaps in all Asia. These sowed the seeds for social and economic reform,” political analyst Bimola Devi says. The Meira Paibi (women with flaming torches) is the largest grassroots civilian movement in Manipur.
Comprising women from the state’s biggest ethnic group, the Meiteis, it began a campaign against alcoholism and drug abuse in the 1970s. Its members would patrol streets at night, fining drunks and burning alcohol. This led to liquor being banned in the state.
In the 1980s, it emerged as a movement demanding the repeal of martial law amid torture, deaths and disappearances of suspects. In 2004, Meira Paibi protests shook India when 12 women, protesting against a woman’s rape and death in custody, walked naked outside a paramilitary base carrying a banner that read, “Indian Army Rape Us.”
“Large-scale injustices continue because a democracy shifted its powers to the military,” says Meira Paibi leader Lourembam Ngambi, who participated in the 2004 protest. “We will never let down our struggle against the state’s armed might and aggression.”
Irom Sharmila Chanu, on a 13-year hunger strike demanding the end of martial law, is perhaps the most famous icon of non-violent movements in India. The 41-year-old “Iron Lady of Manipur” is force-fed a diet of liquids through her nose at a hospital to be kept alive.
The tiny state also has many women spearheading key movements.
Binalakshmi Nepram, who lost her niece in a bombing, leads a campaign for disarmament and ending gun violence. She founded the Control Arms Foundation of India that works to end the misuse and availability of small arms.
Ruth Singson runs a group that helps 2,000 widows including victims of insurgency. “Many women who suffer and are neglected by society, try to commit suicide or resort to prostitution to feed their children. We help heal the broken hearts.” Manipur women are facing oppression head-on.
“Even though women have contributed a lot, they are not found at the negotiating tables at peace talks or elected as lawmakers. They wage an unrecognized struggle for rights and justice and are to this day fighting to be treated as equal to men,” Nepram says.
Mary Kom, a five-time world boxing champion and London Olympic medalist, is another Manipur hero feted across India. Unforgiving in the ring, Mary slips into the role of a docile housewife at home, using firewood for cooking when gas cylinders are scarce.
Mary concealed from her family she was taking up boxing, convinced they would stop her, as it was “not a woman’s game.” “I proved myself. When a man can fight, why can’t a woman?” she says. “Manipuri women are steeled by strife and conflict. There’s something different in their blood. We’ve come a long way, but there is still a long way to go.”