Women, Kinship and Power: A Comparative Study of Garo Matrilineal and Zeme Naga Patrilineal Systems in Northeast India

Abstract

The Garo tribe of Northeast India is among the limited communities in South Asia that practices a matrilineal kinship structure in which descent and assets are passed through women. In many respects this arrangement provides women with a comparatively higher social standing and financial stability than that observed in most patriarchal systems. Nonetheless ethnographic as well as modern research highlights a more intricate reality of matrilineal arrangements. The custom does not automatically result in genuine empowerment of Garo women. The Zeme Naga tribes of Northeast India in contrast exist within a patrilineal kinship structure where lineage and property are transferred through the male line of the household. This paper attempts to analyze the status of women in Garo matrilineal and Zeme Naga patrilineal systems by moving beyond inheritance rules to the lived realities of women. The study also discusses the institutions shaping matriliny and patriliny among the two tribes. It further examines the actual rights of women along with the cultural economic and social limitations that restrict those rights within their respective societies namely the Garos and Zeme Nagas.