Every year on July 6, Mizoram comes to a halt to celebrate MHIP Day, a state holiday dedicated to its own women’s organisation and its movement. Government offices, schools and institutions remain closed as the state marks the anniversary of the MHIP, the largest women’s organisation in Mizoram. While most parts of the world observe International Women’s Day on March 8, Mizoram has for decades reserved a day of its own to honour an organisation that has shaped debates on customary laws and social reform in the state.
The organisation traces its roots to July 6, 1974, when several women’s groups came together to form a unified organisation. According to the study “Women and Informal Politics: A Study of Mizo Women’s Organisation (Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl)” by Mary Vanlalthanpuii, the merger was initiated after the Central government’s Social Welfare Advisory Board encouraged voluntary women’s organisations to unite under a common platform. The new organisation brought together the Mizo Hmeichhe Tangrual Pawl (MHTP), Mizo Hmeichhe Hmasawn Pawl, women’s welfare organisations from Venghlui and Republic in Aizawl, and Mahila Mandal units from various development blocks.
It was registered under the Societies Registration Act and eventually expanded across Mizoram and Mizo-inhabited areas outside the state. The study by Vanlalthanpuii recorded that during the first MHIP General Assembly held in January 1977, the organisation declared July 6 as MHIP Day, a date that would later be recognised by the Mizoram government as an official state holiday. Today, MHIP has hundreds of branches across Mizoram and among Mizo communities outside the state, making it one of the most influential civil society organisations in the region.
Vanlalthanpuii notes that the organisation later replaced the word “Mizoram” with “Mizo” in its name so that women living outside the state could also become part of the movement. The secretary of the MHIP, Irene Lalruatkimi, informed EastMojo that the MHIP has units in Tripura’s Jampui Hills and in Shillong, Meghalaya, where programs are being held to observe the day as well. The movement itself, however, predates MHIP.
In the study “The Influence of the Mizoram Accord on the Issue of Women’s Rights and Political Participation,” Mary Vanlalthanpuii traces the origins of organised women’s activism to 1946, when the Mizo Hmeichhe Tangrual Pawl (MHTP) was founded with the objective of securing greater justice for women. One of its earliest achievements came in 1956, when MHTP nominated Hmingliani to the Mizo Hills District Council. The organisation also submitted a memorandum seeking changes to customary inheritance laws.
That effort resulted in the passage of the Mizo Hills District Inheritance of Property Act, 1956, allowing Mizo women to inherit property through a will, a significant departure from customary practices that had largely excluded women from inheritance. The momentum slowed during the insurgency years as political instability weakened organised women’s activism. It was in this context that MHIP emerged in 1974 and continued campaigning for legal reforms affecting women, particularly those related to marriage, divorce and inheritance.
According to Vanlalthanpuii’s research, these efforts continued for decades but achieved little legislative success because changes to customary law required the approval of the state assembly. The study quotes former MHIP president Sangkhumi as arguing that one of the biggest obstacles to reform was the absence of women in the legislature. A major breakthrough came in 2014, when the Mizoram Legislative Assembly passed the Mizo Marriage, Divorce and Inheritance of Property Act, 2014, following sustained advocacy by MHIP and the All Mizoram Women Federation (AMWF).
The legislation gave married women the right to a share of family property, made court approval mandatory for divorce and provided divorced women a share of jointly acquired property, alongside their personal assets. Notably, the law was passed the same year Vanlalawmpuii Chawngthu became Mizoram’s first woman legislator in 27 years. Another study, “Emergence of Women from ‘Private’ to ‘Public’: A Narrative of Power Politics from Mizoram” by Anup Shekhar Chakraborty, highlights MHIP’s role in taking discussions on women’s rights beyond urban centres.
The paper notes that MHIP declared 1997 to 2001 as “Women’s Year” in Mizoram and travelled extensively across the state, including remote villages, organising workshops, seminars and discussions on women’s status and the need to review customary laws. According to Chakraborty, organisations such as MHIP sought to strengthen women’s position in Mizo society by campaigning on issues ranging from customary rights and inheritance to property rights, while creating a collective platform for women’s voices in a largely patriarchal society. Over the decades, MHIP has also become deeply involved in social issues beyond legislation, including campaigns on domestic violence, alcoholism, education, community welfare and cultural preservation.
Its methods have also drawn academic scrutiny. In “Women and Informal Politics: A Study of Mizo Women’s Organisation (Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl),” Vanlalthanpuii argues that while MHIP has been instrumental in improving women’s legal status, it has often pursued reform by emphasising women’s role as custodians of Mizo culture rather than directly challenging existing gender relations. The study points to campaigns promoting traditional dress and ideals of womanhood as examples of this approach.
