WOMEN IN BURMA

[caroline@xxxxxxxxxx]

I  HAVE  BEEN  RELEASED.  THATS  ALL.
NOTHING  HAS  CHANGED.
 (Daw  Aung San  Suu  Kyi)
 
 
 Burmese Women's Union(BWU), August 1995
 
Women in Burma
 
Published by Burmese Women Union(BWU) for the Fourth UN Conference on
Women, Beijing, China September 1995 Funded by National Coaliation
Government of Union of Burma(NCGUB) Information Office Washington USA
 
Photographs courtesy of Steve Lehman, AFP, The Nation, Images Asia, 
Burma Information Group, Burma Issue and All Burma Students' 
Democratic Front(ABSDF).
 
 
(The Burmese Women Union(BWU) was founded by a group of female 
students on Thai-Burmese border on January 7, 1995. BWU is an 
independent organization whithout influence of any organization or any 
political party. Any Burmese women who belives in the aims and 
objectives of the BWU can be a member of the BWU regardless of their 
ethnic origin or political belife. The aims and objectives of the 
BWUare;(l) To promote the role of the Burmese women in politics, (2) 
To practise women 's rights recognised by the standard of international 
community and distribute them among Burmese society and (3) To apply 
the physical and intellectual power of the women so that it will assist 
and 
support the emergence of a modern, advanced, peaceful and a new 
democratic union in Burma.)
First Edition
Printed in Singapore
 
Women in Burma
 
Introduction
Though historians say that in ancient times women could hold even the 
highest administrative positions, the role of women in Burmese history is 
blurred. The Burmese have always been proud of saying "The hands that 
sway the cradle could rule the world". Even so, the status and 
opportunities Burmese society offered women of all classes did not equal 
that enjoyed by their men.
 
Under successive Burmese dynasties, the primary task for women has 
been to fulfil the wishes of men. Women were often given to the king as 
gifts, and a king could have any woman he wished. Whenever a king died, 
it was taken for granted that his wives would become wives of the new 
king.
 
Up until the present day, girls are told by their parents to behave 
femininely and respect men as their superiors. A woman has to "respect 
(her) son as Master and (her) husband as God" in order to be called "a 
good woman". It is still widely held that a woman's responsibilities are 
cooking, cleaning and child care. Traditional Burmese society 
discourages women from pursuing higher learning and working like men, 
thus hampering improvement of women's status.
 
During three decades of military rule in Burma, the plight of Burmese 
women has steadily deteriorated. Burmese army violations of the human 
rights of the people are without limit. Men and women are arbitrarily 
arrested for service as porters and forced to carry arms and ammunitions 
for the military during its offensives against ethnic minority groups. 
Sometimes they are forced to cross mine fields at gun point. At night, 
the 
women are raped by the soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of people, 
including pregnant women, are being forced to work as slave labour for 
infrastructure projects, such as building airports, bridges, railway 
tracks, 
and roads.
 
About one and a half million families have been forcibly relocated from 
their homes in the cities or towns to new satellite towns in rural areas 
where there is no electricity, no clean water and no proper 
transportation. 
It is women who have suffered most of the harsh consequences of social 
and economic collapse. Just meeting the survival needs of a family has 
become increasingly difficult for poor mothers.
 
The social, economic, educational and political setback plaguing the 
country for so many years has left many Burmese girls and women with 
little choice but to enter  the sex industry in Burma, Thailand or other 
neighbouring countries for their survival. About 200,000 young people 
have become drug addicts. As a consequence of these developments, 
between 400,000 and 500,000 persons are estimated by the WHO to be 
HlV-positive in Burma. Although the situation of Burmese women seems 
better than that of their counterparts in some countries in South Asia 
and 
the Middle East, they are suffering gravely under the social and economic 
pressures in the country and are being severely oppressed by the Burmese 
military junta.
 
Backaround
 
In 1962, the Burmese army (the Tatmadaw in Burmese), lead by General 
Ne Win overthrew the democratically elected government. A one party 
system of government under the Burmese Socialist Program Party (BSPP) 
led by army generals was introduced and the economy was nationalised. 
The coup effectively put an end to political and economic freedom.
 
Burma, extremely rich in natural resources and once known as the "Rice 
bowl of Asia", is.today forced to import rice. At the end of 1987, Burma 
was given Least Developed Country status by the United Nations, thus 
rated along with Ethiopia and Bangladesh as one of the ten poorest 
countries in the world.
 
A quarter of a century of lack of freedom and development of skills under 
the mismanagement ofthe Burmese military generals, had by 1988 
resulted in a situation in which the Burmese economy, educational 
system and all other basic infrastructure were in ruins. In the spring 
and 
summer of that year the people's discontent virtually exploded. Hundreds 
of thousands of people led by students took to the streets and called for 
an end of one party rule. The Burmese army completely ignored the 
wishes of the people and brutally suppressed the peaceful 
demonstrations.
 
On September 18,1988, the military dissolved its own parliament and set 
up another ruling body called t}3e State Law and Order Restoration 
Council (SLORC). Several thousand students, Buddhist monks and 
civilians were gunned down in the streets. Thousands of demonstrators 
were thrown into prison while many thousand others were forced to flee 
to the Burmese border areas controlled by ethnic resistance groups.
 
Although SLORC had promised to hold a multi-party election and make 
Burma a democratic country, members of the political parties and student 
activists were arrested by military intelligence agents. At that time, 
Daw 
Aung San Suu Kyi, Secretary General of the National League for 
Democracy party (NLD) and daughter of Burma's national hero Gen. 
Aung San, became a political focal point by openly defying the rule of 
the Burmese army. She was detained on July 20,1989, (nearly one year 
before the election) without trial. In spite of the fact that she 
remained in 
detention, her party won over 80% of the seats in parliament. To this 
date 
SLORC has refused to accept the result of the election.  Violations of 
human rights occur widely in Burma. Unlawful detention, execution, 
torture, rape, forced labour and forced relocation are common practices 
of 
the ruling military junta. The United Nations Commission on Human 
Rights has appointed a Special Rapporteur on Burma to investigate 
human rights violations in the country for five consecutive years. The 
Special Rapporteur's reports show that violations of human rights in 
Burma are steadily worsening.
 
1. Burmese Women in Pro-Democracy Movements
(a) During the 1988 Uprising
 
In March 1988, female students joined the anti-government 
demonstrations. On March 16, 1988, hundreds of students demonstrating 
on the street were blocked and beaten by riot police. Some concentrated 
on the female students; their jewellery and  watches were snatched and 
later they were raped. Many were too ashamed to tell anyone. Some were 
in shock for four or five days. Some cried and requested to be sent to a 
nunnery without giving their parents any reason. Some of them 
committed suicide upon their release. About 100 students, female as well 
as male, were drowned in a nearby lake while trying to escape the 
brutalities.
 
A male student who was at the scene related how he and his sister were 
arrested by riot police and his sister was raped by a prison guard. She 
was 
detained in Insein prison in Rangoon for a month. After she was released, 
she could not speak and walk properly. A year later, she wanted to go and 
see her mother who was in Japan. However, the military authorities 
refused to give her a passport. This was the time she entered into 
puberty. 
As a result of her hardships, she came to suffer from a mental disorder.
 
In spite ofthe military's brutality, some female students, teachers, 
doctors 
and lawyers continued to be at the forefront of the anti-government 
demonstrations. The housewives' Union was formed to voice women's 
demands for democracy and freedom.
 
(b) After the Military Coup
 
On September 18, 1988, the Burmese arrny seized power in a military 
coup, and in the process gunned down several thousand peaceful 
demonstrators throughout the country. Martial law was announced and 
military tribunals introduced. Gatherings of more than five people were 
banned. The head of the Burmese military junta said 'We are ruling the 
country by martial law. Martial law means no law at all.' Burma had 
become a complete police state.
 
While tyrannising dissidents, the Burmese ruling military junta promised 
to hold a multi-party democracy election and allowed political parties to 
be formed. In October 1988, the major opposition party National League 
for Democracy (NLD) was formed. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi became 
Secretary General of the party and a female lawyer, Daw Myint Myint 
Khin, was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee. Daw 
San San Nwe (Tharyarwaddy), and Shwegu May Hnin, both writers, were 
elected as Central Committee members. A university teacher, Ma 
Theingee and a doctor and writer, Ma Thida (Sari Chaung) became Daw 
Aung San Suu Kyi's personal secretaries. All of these women were 
arrested in 1989 or soon after. Daw San San Nwe and Ma Thida are still 
in prison, serving sentences of 15 and 20 years respectively.
 
The first women's political party, The Union for the Improvement of 
Myanmar Women, was formed in October 1991. The group's aims were to 
achieve peace, democracy, equal justice, improvement of the lives of 
women, national unity and to preserve world peace. They had thirty-three 
Central Executive Committee members.
 
During the 1990 multi-party election, only 84 out of 2,296 candidates 
were women. Out of 485 members of parliament elected in the May 1990 
election, fifteen were women. Four women MPs, Daw San San (Sake 
Kan, Rangoon), Daw San San Win (Ah Lone, Rangoon), Daw Ohn Kyi 
(Myit Tha, Mandalay) and Daw Khin San Hlaing (Wat Lat, Sit Kaing) 
were arrested by SLORC in connection with the formation of a parallel 
government. Although Daw San San has been released, it is not known 
whether the rest of the women MPs are still in prison or not. Today, the 
movements of the political parties including the NLD are totally limited. 
Political gatherings, meetings and making speeches are strictly 
forbidden. 
Publication of newsletters, bulletins and journals by political parties 
is 
banned. Instead, the Burmese military junta has created several puppet 
grass root organisations and 'NGO's such as Union Solidarity and 
Development Association(USDA), Myanmar Medical Association, 
Myanmar Red Cross Society, Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare 
Association, Myanmar Women's Sports Federation and Myanmar Women 
Entrepreneurs Association. 
 
 (c) Border Areas
 
After the bloody military crack down in 1988, several thousand students, 
teachers, lawyers, doctors and other civilians fled to the Burmese border 
areas controlled by armed ethnic groups who have been fighting against 
the Burmese army for over 40 years. There the students founded the All 
Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF). The ABSDF joined with 
the ethnic resistance groups in their struggle for democracy and human 
rights in Burma. Several independent women's organisations have also 
sprung up in the border areas. The following women's organisations have 
been founded along the Burmese border with the aims of promoting the 
rights of women within their respective ethnic groups and in Burma as a 
whole:
 
1. Karen Women's Organisation (KWO)
2. Mon Women's Organisation (MWO)
3. Indigenous Women's Development Centre (IWDC)
4. Karenni Women's Organisation (KNWO)
5. Women's Association of Shan State (WASS)
6. Burmese Women Union (BWU)
 
 
2. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma
 
For the Burmese people Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a symbol for freedom 
and symbol for equal justice. Her unexpected release this year was a 
great 
encouragement for Burmese women and men in their fight for freedom 
and human rights in their country.
 
When she was awarded the 1991 Noble Peace Prize, the Norwegian 
Nobel Committee noted: "Suu Kyi ' s struggle is one of the most 
extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades. She 
has become an important symbol in the struggle against oppression. She 
also emphasises the need for conciliation between the sharply 
divided}egions and ethnic groups in her country. The Norwegian Nobel 
Committee wishes to honour this woman for her unflagging efforts and to 
show its support for the many people throughout the world who are 
striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic conciliation by 
peaceful means."
 
As Secretary General of the NLD, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi delivered more 
than a thousand speeches during her extensive campaign tours throughout 
the country from 1988 to 1989. She advocated democracy, human rights, 
discipline and 'freedom from fear'. On July 20, 1989, she was placed 
under house arrest by SLORC without trial. Because of growing 
international pressure, she was released on July 10, 1995, after six 
years 
of unlawful detention.
 
Upon her release, the first thing she asked for was the release of all 
other 
political prisoners and dialogue with the Burmese military junta for 
national reconciliation. "I have been released. That's all.  Nothing has 
changed," she said.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has received over 20 awards, honorary 
memberships, and honorary doctorates, including the 1992 Award of 
Progressive Women by the Spanish Federation of Progressive Women.
 
3. Current Situation of Women in Burma
 
(a) Social
 
When it comes to women in Burmese society, they are supposed to keep 
the household and look after the children, but not make decisions for the 
family as the men do. Today, the lives of women are in a very difficult 
and exhausting stage. They are the ones who directly suffer the 
consequences of the high and rising prices of basic commodities and the 
consequences of the forced relocations and forced labour by the ruling 
junta every day.
 
When a Burmese woman gets married, she is usually expected to quit her 
job in order to take care of the household and' children. Therefore, 
women often depend on their husbands and get less education than the 
men. The husband gives whatever amount of money he wishes to the wife, 
but it is the responsibility of the wife to handle the affairs and needs 
of 
the whole family. 
 
To provide for their families, many women at some stage forced to seek 
work to support their families, but they will earn less than their 
husbands 
because of their low educational level. Women are afraid of divorcing 
their husbands, and once they marry a man they are to be with him for 
their whole life. Only the woman would be blamed in case of divprce, and 
she would be looked down upon by her community.
 
(b) Health
 
Public health education is very poor and many women have very limited 
knowledge about sex, pregnancy, family planning, reproduction and 
abortion. The 1995 UNICEF report on Children and Women in Burma 
analysed the situation this way: "The paucity of information on women 
reproductive health in Myanmar is in itself an indication that many of 
their needs are unrecognised." According to the report, 80 per cent of 
all 
births in Burma take place in the home, and 32 per cent of all births are 
not attended by trained health personnel. Forthe 20 per cent of all 
births 
that take place in a hospital, the Maternal Mortality Rate estimates at 
140 
per 100,000 live births.
 
Although there are no specific data on maternal malnutrition, cases of 
poor maternal nutrition, low birth weight and growth-retarded babies, 
micronutrient deficiencies(iodine and iron deficiencies) and malaria 
infections are causes for concern in Burma, the report said. It added 
that 
the spread of HIV/AIDS also poses a serious threat in Burma.
 
(c) Educaton
 
No Burmese has an automatic right to higher education, which remains 
under the strict 
control of the junta. However, women are more discriminated against than 
men under the current system. Although women enjoy, equal rights up to 
the high school level, and female students in fact are in the majority at 
the 
institutions of higher learning, Burmese universities have sex quotas for 
technical majors such as Engineering, Forestry, Geology and Dentistry. 
These subjects, providing skills that are highly marketable abroad (large 
numbers of Burmese now work in Thailand, Singapore and Japan) are 
extremely hard for women to enter. For instance, only 10% of the 
entrants for dentistry can be women, whereas for forestry the quota is 
zero. After finishing their studies, women are less likely to be accepted 
for positions in an undeveloped economy flooded with arts and sciences 
graduates. 
 
(d) Politics
 
Since Burma became independent from Britain in 1947, there has been 
none but one woman servingattheministerial level. Shewas Daw Khin 
Kyi, wifeofBurma's national hero Gen. Aung San and mother of Daw 
Aung San Suu Kyi, serving as a cabinet minister in 1960 - 61.
 
After the first military coup in 1962, there were only a handful of women 
even in the puppet parliament. Women occupied only ten percent of other 
administrative positions, and even less today. The military generals have 
stated repeatedly that they would never accept a woman becoming the 
leader of Burma.
 
According to the principles laid down by SLORC for the 'National 
Convention' convened by the military junta to draft a new constitution 
for 
Burma, the Head of State is to have experience in military affairs. This 
would effectively exclude a woman from becoming a Head of State. At 
the 'National Convention', as most of the delegates are hand-picked by 
the junta, only a tiny percentage of the delegates are women.
 
4. Civil War and the Plight of Ethnic Minority Women
 
(a) Porterage
 
Women have suffered most of the consequences of over 40 years of civil 
war in Burma. Especially the women of the ethnic minorities are 
suffering the effects of the civil war, but their voices have been silenced.
 
During the 1991 dry season offensive, over 10,000 civilians, including 
3,000 women were press-ganged into porterage by SLORC's troops. They 
were not given enough food and at were ill-treated by SLORC soldiers. 
When they were tired and unable to carry heavy loads, they were beaten 
with bamboo sticks and rifle butts. Some were bayoneted and stabbed 
with knives. Porters who tried to escape were shot dead. Porters who 
suffered sickness on the way were left in the deep forest without medical 
care. Female porters were not only forced to carry heavy loads, but also 
gang-raped at night.
 
(b) Sexual abuses
 
Most ofthe sexual abuses and sexual slavery are perpetratedby SLORC 
soldiers. In the areas of military occupation, such abuses are common.
 
SLORC military commanders frequently summon local womenat any 
age and regardless of whether they are married or notto their outposts 
for questioning and rape at gun point. Sometimes, her husband a 
children were forced to watch as she was being raped by soldiers. Many 
of these cases have been systematically documented by the Amnesty 
International, Human Rights Watch/ Asia and other international human 
rights organisations, including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on 
human rivhts on Burma.
 
(c) Forced labour
 
The development models that have been adapted by the regime in the 
context of Burmese military rule have led to the impoverishment of many 
women. In the name of so-called development programmes, women and 
children are not spared forced recruitment into what amounts to slave 
labour. Thev toil at public
works, for infrastructure and on more specific 'tourism promotion' 
projects, i.e. cleaning the moat around Mandalay Palace. Not only do 
they not receive any pay, they also have to provide their own food. 
Furthemore, as they are forced to work as labourers, they have to leave 
their own jobs, cutting of their source of income. As a result they 
cannot 
orovide *or the proper education of 
 
their children. At 0e work side, the forced labourers do not receive 
appropriate medical treatment Those who are too weak for the stenuous 
work must hire other persons or pay a fine. Human Rights Watch/Asia 
estimates that  since 1992 at  least two million  people have been forced 
to work without  pay on government projects.
 
(d) Forced relocotion
 
Many people have been uprooted from their home communities by 
SLORC's relocation campaigns, herded into cramped, noisome 
cocentration camps, sometimes separated from their families, often 
deprived of adequate food and clean water, and frquently subjected to 
beatings, back-breaking forced labour, devastatings diseases, and 
repeated rape. Providing a decent life for one's own children is  nearly 
impossible in the unstable environment of a civil war. Educadon, health 
ca e, proper nutrition peace, safety, care-free play, and appropriate 
timulation are longed for treasures, far out of reach fbr most women 
along  
the borders. 
Other women face the experience of internal diplacement, hiding out in 
the jungle, not knowing where to go next, or how to find food 
or medicine for the hungry  and sick. Accoding to the report of the UN 
Special Rapporteur on human rights in Buma, there are over a million 
internally displaced people in areas near the border to Thailand.
 
(d) Refugees
 
Most of the 80,000 Bumese refugees along the Thai-Buma boder are 
Women From the ethnic minorities. They face various difficulties and 
hardships. The death rate of women in refugee camps is very  high. They 
mainly die of preventable or treatable diseases like malaria, diarrhoea 
and 
cholera, because of shortage of essential medicines and lack of medical 
treament Some have died of malnutrition.
 
5. Trafficking of Burmese Women
 
According to an unpublished report by WHO, between 400,000 and 
5OO,OOO persons in Burma are HIV positive. However this number is 
only the tip of the ice-berg, according to some medical experts and 
observers..
About 40,000 Bumese women and children, mostly aged between 10 and 
16, have been forced to work a brothels in Thailand. With the collusion 
of police and military  personnel from Burma and Thailand young victims 
are sent to Thailand where they were sold at the price of US$ 560 and 
brced into prostitution. These slave prostitutes include both ethnic 
Burmans and hill tribe people from Burma. They are forced to have sex 
under life-threatening conditions. If an owner learns of any attempt to 
escape, the women in question are confined without food, beaten and 
sometimes even killed. 
 
6. Conclusion
 
In Burma, the pursuit of liberty for women from oppression and of 
women's rights in general is inextricably intertwined with the ongoing 
struggle for liberation of the whole population from the SLORC's iron 
fist and for restoration of democracy and human rights. The issues cannot 
be separated; those who struggle for genuine democracy must also focus 
on the specific hardships inflicted on women solely because of their sex.
The lack of women's representation in the government, institutions, 
religious organisations and business enterprises in Burma clearly shows 
that the voices of women are being silenced. Only a few  women in 
Burma hold positions in such
 
organisations and decision making bodies, and the majority of women are 
suffering from all forms of social, economic, educational, health and 
political problems and discriminations .
It is essential that the ruling Burmese military junta ratify and adhere 
to 
all the UN Conventions on Human Rights; specifically that it:
 ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Disrimination against Women
 ratify the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women
 respect the Convention on the Political Rights of Women (ratified by 
Burma)
It is also essential that SLORC release all political prisoners in Burma 
and start dialogue with Burmese democracy groups led by Daw Aung San 
Suu Kyi and representatives of the ethnic minorities, in order to achieve 
peace, stability, economic and social development and an accelerated 
democratisation process in Burma.
One can not excuse violations of women's rights or discrimination against 
women by invoking culture, tradition or religion. It is the everyone's 
duty 
to condemn, prevent, punish and stop the continued oppression of 
women, in Burma as in the rest of the world.