A lot has been written about ‘pati panchayat’ of India where elected women of village councils (panchayat) across India are made to act like rubber stamps while their husbands (pati) call the shots.
But the system prevails even in areas of India that still do not have the Panchayat system. Take Meghalaya’s Garo Hills for example.
Garo Hills is home to the Garos – one of the 3 leading tribes of Meghalaya (Garo,Khasi, and Jaintia). Garo Society is governed by matrilineal laws of succession and inheritance. Inheritance and descent, therefore, pass on from one generation of women to another. Usually it’s the youngest daughter who assumes the role of a family and the clan. Known as Nokma, she manages the property of the entire clan often consisting of an entire village.
But these days, all across Garo hills, it has become a common sight where the husband of a Nokma takes all the decisions, thus turning the woman into a puppet.
