INTERFACE OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND CUSTOMARY LAWS: AN INSIGHT INTO THE AO WOMEN LIVED EXPERIENCES OF POLITICAL REPRESENTATION IN NAGALAND

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56815/IRJAHS/2026.V(2026)I1.69-79

Abstract

This paper attempts to study the interface between constitutional rights of India with customary laws of Nagaland. Given the long respected and community driven aspects of Customary laws, its practices in various indigenous societies have seen to reproduce gender biases. Customary laws are not always conducive to modern development especially with regards to gender rights. Under customary laws, the distribution of power, status and resources have known to be male centered. The reservation for women in the urban local bodies in Nagaland is a contentious rights-centric issue in Northeast India. Under the leadership of the Naga Mothers Association (NMA), the women in Nagaland have carried forward one of the most devoted and prolonged struggles to fight for the implementation of women’s reservation in the urban local bodies. Different stakeholders invoke article 371A, an in depth and detailed elaboration of the provision of reservation for women and it is highlighted that the provision of reservation does not violate the special autonomy for the Nagas given in the form of Article 371A of the Indian Constitution. Based on ethnographic research, the study envisages analyzing the contentions between Article 243T and Article 371A of the Constitution. The Article 243T reserves 1/3rd of seats for women belonging to SC and ST in local bodies, ensuring gender representation in governance. While Article 371A grants Nagaland autonomy over religious and social practices, customary law, and land ownership, allowing the state to govern its own affairs without interference from the central government. Further, the paper attempts to address the Ao Naga customary law practices from a gender perspective and examine its implication on women rights, and impeding gender issues by offering feminist perspective of constructivist approach to culture as a means of alternative solution in the face of negotiations between gender rights and the existing customary laws of the land.