Women’s Participation in Politics

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WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS

….[P]recisely because of the negation of political rights, the people have no say in the economic, social and cultural policies that affect all aspects of their everyday life in the short term and also for their future survival, well being and development. - Special Rapporteur Rasjoomer Lallah, Statement to the United Nations General Assembly on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, 26 October 2000 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to take part in the Government of his/her country. The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of women’s social, economic and political status is essential for the achievement of both transparent and accountable government and administration and sustainable development in all areas of life... In this respect, women’s equal participation in political life plays a pivotal role in the general process of the advancement of women… Without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women’s perspective at all levels of decision-making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved. - Beijing Platform for Action, Paragraph 181 There are no women leaders in the government. The government does not consult with women in the community at all, the government is only for and about men. I have never heard of the government running activities to improve the image of women or to educate men about family responsibilities. Everyone in the government just passes on responsibilities to others and nothing gets done. In the city, the government controls everything. Money talks – if you are wrong and have money, the government will say you are right. If you are poor and you are in the right, the government will say you are wrong. CINT 18 All the key posts are men. I think we women have to try our best to get that kind of post. The most important thing is not to think you’re a woman. I am a human. I can do what men do too. CINT 120 The country could be ruled by either men or women. It depends on their skills and knowledge. If you do good, people will respect and support you. CINT 49

OVERVIEW

Women in Burma face many obstacles in the path to political participation, whether at the community, national or international level. Although money and connections to those in power may enhance women’s access to decision-making positions, the existing political structure excludes average Burmese women from having input in affairs of state. The current regime also does little to encourage women’s activity in the political arena. Its harsh criticisms of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and provisions under the new constitution, introducing criteria for leadership that effectively veto the possibility of a woman as the head of state, stand in the way of its compliance with international obligations to encourage women’s presence in leadership positions.

by cultural norms that indirectly restrict women’s political progress. The restrictions women experience in traveling and accessing education, and the resistance they sometimes face from men (or other women) in their own communities, serve to disempower many women from effective political influence. Cultural constraints and the demands of domestic duties leave Burmese women little time or energy to devote to consideration of political ideals or involvement in public affairs.

In spite of these barriers, women from Burma have made and continue to make a political impact in their communities, their country and the world. Their work to expose the plight of the Burmese people, and especially of the country’s women, in the international arena has brought a new dimension to Burmese politics. In the face of harsh reprisals from the military forces and risks to their personal safety, Such direct actions by the government are buttressed many women have striven to ensure that their voices

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and those of their communities are heard. Through conflict and cease-fires, women have been a constant force in the quest for democracy within Burma, and yet their own requests to participate more fully have been and often continue to be ignored. It is clear that in the path to peace and reconciliation, the obstacles to women’s political participation must be removed.

Gathering Strength

Because of the restrictions on political participation that women face, those who are both active in politics and easily accessible to researchers are mostly living in exile. The voices in this chapter, therefore, are mostly those of women from women’s organizations and refugee communities. Additionally, because their stories are quite unique, more of them have been included in their entirety.

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION WITH REFUGEE WOMEN OF DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS Q: What do you think of when you hear the word “politics”? 1st woman: When I began to hear about politics I thought that it was not of concern to women. And I thought that it was also not of concern to me. I thought that it was solely for men. Later, since we gradually got involved with the organization, we accepted that women also could take part in politics. 2nd woman: At first, I believed that politics could only be done by MPs. I didn’t think of the things that we were doing in our community as politics. In the beginning we thought that only the higher-ranking officials like the MPs and township and village LORC members could do politics. And if we heard about the politics, it was beyond our comprehension. Most people knew that politics was something done by the wicked for the sole purpose of grabbing power from one another. 3rd woman: Actually, at first I didn’t understand about politics. I only knew that politics is an activity in which people dispute, shout and quarrel with each other, and cunning people cheat and swindle each other. After that they try to kill each other and cause civil war or something like that, that’s all I thought at the beginning. 4th woman: When I was in Burma I simply thought that politics could not impact civilians anyway. If I heard ‘politics’ I thought that it is a business which only the very highly educated or most experienced people who know very well and can talk about politics are able to do. We knew that the national politics had stagnated, but even then we had no idea about being involved in politics. We also had no confidence to get involved, because we had no hope that we could access the political process and we thought politics was above us. 5th woman: I thought that politics was a job of the ruling people that did not concern civilians. That was all I understood about the politics. 6th woman: I heard about politics from older people from the time I was young. But I believed that it was not of concern to women. But then when the general uprising took place in Burma we became immediately involved in politics. Since Daw Aung San Suu Kyi joined the political arena and as we started listening to the international news, we learned that women could also participate in politics and they could freely choose to take part in politics. 7th woman: As I am a rural woman and lived in a rural place all of my life, like other rural people, I was afraid when I heard the word ‘politics.’ We thought that politicians were just people who oppress ordinary people, that’s all. But later we realized that politics is of concern to all ethnic nationalities. 8th woman: Before I joined the revolution I used to listen to the radio secretly about the political news, not like here where we can listen to the news freely. So I had heard about politics but had never dared to talk about politics. But when I came to the revolution and also my husband was serving in revolution, sometimes he told me about the politics, and I have learned that both men and women can be involved in politics. CINT 279

Women’s Participation in Politics

RESTRICTIONS ON POLITICAL FREEDOM What programs, projects or laws exist to encourage [political] participation of women, when history shows that when a woman wins the elections, the results are cancelled? And when a woman wins the Nobel Peace Prize, she is imprisoned in her country? - CEDAW Committee member Zelmira Regazzoli

Under the current conditions, very few people in Burma, regardless of their sex, social status or age, are involved or interested in politics. Both men and women within Burma experience constraints on their political freedom. Many factors combine, directly and indirectly, to ensure that politics will remain out of the domain of the average Burmese citizen. For women, direct action taken by the government to discourage any involvement in politics is reinforced by economic and social factors, ensuring that their opportunities for participation are severely limited. General restrictions

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ensure that the knowledge that is imparted to students is heavily tinged with propaganda. Students learn some of the country’s official history, and are taught to recite a number of verses and the regime’s slogans about national unity and sovereignty, but the curriculum does not compare political systems or encourage investigation into political subjects generally, even at a high school level. This interview summarizes a 12-year old Burman girl’s knowledge of Burma’s political situation. Moe Sanda has heard of Khin Nyunt and has seen him very often on the television. She doesn’t exactly know what his job is but she thinks that he is a construction worker because he always goes to pagodas that are under construction and gives orders to people. She is aware of some conflict between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Khin Nyunt. Her teacher told her that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi betrayed the Burmese people but she doesn’t know what this means. She thinks that because Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s father owned Burma, and the Khin Nyunt’s group stole it from them, that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is trying to steal the country back. She thinks Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a British person and was surprised to learn that she was female.… (H)er teacher explains to them all about politics. Moe Sanda can recite the three national causes in song form, but doesn’t know what anything means except for national unity, which is something that when it doesn’t exist creates many problems. Moe Sanda believes that you must obey the SLORC rules. She is scared of what will happen if you disobey, but doesn’t know why. CINT 143

The SPDC does not tolerate any dissent to its rule: freedom of speech, association, and expression do not exist under the regime’s rigid controls. Censorship of all kinds of media keeps political information effectively out of the public’s reach. The publications that are most widely available and likely to pass the censor board are movie magazines and journals of romance stories and popular culture aimed at youth. Most of the books published today in Women we spoke with voiced the opinion that politiBurma are romantic novels. cal education was a necessary part of increasing all people’s access to and participation in political affairs. Politics is for those who are older. We are only interested in famous movie stars, singers, and handsome boys, that’s all. CINT 61

Broadcasts that are aired on state controlled radio do not invite any differences of political opinion or independent political thought. Until late in the year 2000, on a daily basis Myanmar Television showed rallies against the NLD, and information about (forced) resignations and denouncements of NLD members. Daily, all broadcast media and the country’s newspapers repeat the “People’s Desire,” rhetoric against forces threatening the central government, as well as the National Causes, and the government’s various objectives, social, economic, political and so on.

The government should provide the basic political subjects in schools starting from primary level, then people could have political knowledge from when they are young. In fact, since the BSPP regime, political science was offered in university. But it focussed on the ruling regime’s politics. Really it was just indoctrination. CINT 279

At the same time, the belief that the current government is not representative of the nation leaves many without any alliance to the political system. Burma’s bitter experience of conflict between ethnic groups seeking independence or autonomy and the Burman-dominated central government has made many ethnic people skeptical about the efficacy of becoming involved in national politics, and Within government schools, methods of teaching fostered hatred between ethnic groups. Some who

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FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION WITH KAREN REFUGEE WOMEN Q: What do you think of when you hear the word “politics”? 1st woman: When we were children, we never heard anything about politics. When we lived in Karen State, and even after we arrived in the refugee camps, we didn’t hear this word. Now [living in] Mae Sot we hear about politics, and it is very important. 2nd woman: We have been suffering because of the Burmese government for over 50 years. The politics in Burma are not good for the Karen people. The problem is the politicians. Politicians should solve problems. We do not have enough food, so we need to solve this problem. That is one of the things that politics should deal with. Also, we have to solve other problems, and solve all the problems that happen in our communities. Because of this, we belong in politics. 3rd woman: Before 1998, I thought politics was very far from me. I thought it was something that only concerned generals and soldiers, especially men who fight. But later, I could say that the reason we became refugees is political. Now I know that we can all participate in politics, even women. I would like to participate in politics. 4th woman: There are politics because problems occur in the country. Anyone or any government who solves these problems are part of politics. 5th woman: Politics includes education, religion and the military. Everything is included in politics. CINT 286

reject central government rule endorse ethnic opposition groups or armies as their governments. I am Shan, I don’t like Burmans. The government only takes care of the Burmans. They don’t care about the other nationalities. The soldiers are mostly Burman, and I don’t like the soldiers. This government doesn’t like our people to practice our traditional culture. They also don’t like other ethnic groups to have traditional celebrations. Also, they don’t like people to meet together. I think this government believes that if people meet together, they will plan how to fight the government. The government is afraid. CINT 14

Gathering Strength

My government is the KIO even if the Burmese don’t recognize it. They don’t recognize us because they don’t want to give us an autonomous state. But if they would give us equal rights, it would be the same as independence. But it’s not the same in Burma [as in other countries]. They would never give us equal rights. If the NLD gives us the right to govern our own area, it would be better. This is where our ancestors have lived. That would be the same as my objective. CINT 123

As the power structure has always excluded grassroots voices and concerns, many people perceive politics as something with negative repercussions, and have no allegiance to any particular political group. For those in rural areas, particularly in areas where conflict is ongoing, politics is often something equated with war and armies that works only to make their lives more difficult. After decades of military repression, many inside and outside the country feel powerless and frustrated, and are suffering from political fatigue. We had to give many taxes to many organizations, to many armies. It was very difficult to survive because you cannot go to the forest to find food, because in the forest we are scared of the armies — the SLORC, KNU, and DKBA. We had to give a lot of food to DKBA. CINT 108 We have heard that international countries are trying to pressure, restrict, and boycott Burma. But this pressure, will it make any change in the country? When will that be? We read the newspapers and after we arrived in Thailand, we read the newsletters. While many people are working to pressure our government, we the ordinary people just wait and hope that prices will be reduced, hope that we can live with our families, our parents, hope that we can travel inside our country freely. While we are hoping, when will those other people get the changes they’re striving for? Everybody is working, fighting, but the time, when is the time we will win? Some people have decided to go back when there is democracy in the country, when will those people go back? Inside the country, the government doesn’t allow anyone to engage in political work. If you do, you’ll be put in jail. CINT 70

Social Constraints on Women’s Participation

Socio-cultural and economic factors often indirectly serve to keep women out of the political arena. Under the current climate of economic hardship that exists for the vast majority of the country’s people, any non-income earning activity is a luxury. Most people’s energies are focussed on supporting them-

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selves. This is especially true for women, as they are usually responsible for their families’ day-to-day concerns. In particular, the demands of household chores leave little time for political awareness or participation.

they can, because all of them are female. I don’t think they will have the chance to be leaders because women cannot travel to places far away. Women only have the right to lead when they have graduated from university and been to other countries. CINT 69

I’m not interested in the political situation, only in how to survive and work every day to get rice. CINT 168

Women in Kachin society often marry and don’t have chances to get higher education. So maybe that’s why we don’t have women leaders. It would be nice to have women leaders as well. CINT 123

The difficulty is either education or economic problems. As men are heads of the family they have responsibilities to lead and feed their families well. They need to find money for their children’s schooling and family survival and so on. But some men seem [to find] that this burden is too much for them and as they cannot afford to feed their children, they instead try to become involved in politics and end up leaving and ignoring their families. They likely believe that the mother will be able to feed the children. Therefore the wives are absorbed in taking big responsibilities, to look after their families. So they cannot afford to be involved in politics. CINT 279 Usually I only see men listening to BBC or VOA (radio programs). They have no jobs in the house, so they have time. Women are taking care of the babies, cooking or cleaning, so they have no time to listen to the radio. So they don’t think much of themselves. As for politics, women are afraid, since they don’t know about it. Even when we vote, women vote less than men. CINT 286

Many of the constraints that discrimination imposes on women in their private lives also hamper their activities in the public sphere, particularly travel restrictions and their relative lack of access to education, factors which are often connected. These are further intimately connected to the positions that women are expected to assume in their families and communities, and work to affect the way women see (or do not see) themselves as political actors. (See also Education for Women & Girls.) In my hill village, most of the authorities are men. Women and girls are not allowed to go into town. They can only stay at home or work on the farm. They are afraid of what might happen if women or girls travel. For example, if they have to run from Burmese soldiers, they might not have the strength to run. They are afraid they might be raped. Since there are battles often, the girls are not allowed to go out. But boys and men are allowed to go to town and study, and therefore they can get positions of authority. CINT 24 I want my children to become the leaders but I don’t think

You could say that formally we have the same opportunities [to participate in community affairs] as men. The main thing is we don’t have enough education. Women don’t get as much education as men, because some people believe that women don’t need education to do housework and take care of children. CINT 127 Most women can only just read and write because they weren’t able to finish school. That’s why the women are not eligible to take leadership positions. The men also aren’t educated. They are just a little shrewder than the women are. People respect the men more than women because it is our custom. CINT 225 Since women are not so educated, most people who work in politics are men. So women think it is not possible for them [to be involved.] They think poorly of themselves. CINT 286 Education is the main thing women need in order to participate in political affairs. Without education, we can do nothing…. In order to change this, girls must go to school from the time they are young. CINT 287

The social roles and behaviours that tradition and culture ascribe women are perhaps the greatest hurdles they must overcome should they wish to become politically active. Overwhelmingly, the traditions of Burma’s various ethnic groups place women’s roles firmly within the parameters of the home. One of the most consistent barriers to women’s political activism that the women we spoke with mentioned was marriage. Married women, especially those who have children, have difficulty taking part in political affairs because of the many demands on their time. When I worked in Karen State, I worked in a township, and my leader told me I was paddy that grew outside the field. Sometimes I didn’t agree with him and I talked a lot and argued with him. I was far away from my family, and he said that was not good. I was not a good ‘paddy’, away from the

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ground, from my family. But I was interested in social welfare and politics…. Currently, there are not so many women in the political movement. If we look at our background, we have been so oppressed by our government and excluded from the political movement. Now we know more about global changes. We have to listen to what is happening in our neighborhoods and know that the main reason we live is to change bad things to correct the situation. But in Burma, women have the status of housewives, to take care of the children and the house, so they don’t participate in politics. CINT 286 The main problem is that according to Burmese tradition, even though a woman is very skillful, if she is already married, she is automatically labeled a housewife and will not be freely allowed to be involved in politics. Maybe she is a lawyer or a doctor – still, in this position, it is not suitable for her to be involved in politics. CINT 279 (Most women’s) interest is their family, business, kids. They are not interested in politics. As far as I’ve seen, the women who are interested in politics are spinsters. They are single and so they are interested in politics. Married women are not very interested in politics. CINT 93 In Burma, if women are praised as “good women,” they are proud of it, myself included. A good woman means a woman who can maintain her house and look after her children well. If a woman is going around from place to place, even though she is doing political work or whatever, she cannot be identified as a good woman. On the contrary, most women believe that if they really want to be identified as good women they must live at home and try their best in home affairs. It is pretty certain that if they want to be seen as good women, they can’t do any other things such as politics or business, anything except for the household work. In fact, women accept these traditional beliefs, and as a result, women are likely not to be interested in politics and other activities. CINT 279

These constraints function to keep women out of both government and opposition politics, and to restrict their contribution to decision-making at the international, national, and local levels. INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION A Myanmar delegation attended the Beijing Conference, not to demand the lost rights of women, but to explain that Myanmar women are enjoying their rights fully, bestowed upon by the state constitutions as well as the Myanmar Customary Law.1 - National Plan for the Advancement of Women

Gathering Strength

At the women’s conference in Beijing, the head delegate of SLORC stated in his speech that there was no discrimination against Burmese women, as they are treated equally to their fellow Burmese men. We agree. The Burmese women are equally subjected to summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrest, forced labour, forced portering, denial of participation in the political process, religious persecution and forced relocation. In addition, we, the Burmese women, receive unique treatment from the SLORC. We are raped during military offensives and trafficked into prostitution. - Statement of the Burmese Women’s Union to the Briefing on Burma in New York, December 1995 In Burma, the SPDC said they are undertaking programs for women. But when they had the Beijing conference before, they went themselves instead of letting women go to speak. If they are really concerned about women, they should have let women go to Beijing. They don’t support women to have any kind of position. They left the women behind, and then all the male leaders went to the meeting. This is not good. Really only women should go to the women’s conference. Women should have the positions. Women should speak about women’s issues. So in my opinion, they are holding women back. They keep us down, in order to keep us from seeing and hearing. CINT 90

Women from Burma have few opportunities to express their views or represent themselves or their country internationally. The government claims that 20% of staff at Burmese embassies and consulates around the world are female,2 but at present there are no female Burmese ambassadors. In the recent past, the only women from Burma who regularly appeared at international fora were those in exile, usually because of their involvement in opposition activities, and the relatively small number of women working for international NGOs. When Burma attended the 4th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, although the SPDC claims that seven women representing various ministries took part in the conference, the delegation was led by Major Soe Myint, who represented the country in the plenary. Burma signed the Platform for Action, and subsequently reported on the country’s implementation of it at the October 1999 ESCAP High-level Intergovernmental Regional Review of Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action leading up to the Women 2000 meeting. Since 1999, women’s presence in government delegations at UN and other meetings has dramatically

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON WOMEN IN NATIONAL POLITICS Though a few women have played notable roles in Burma’s national political history, from the rise of the anti-colonial struggle, through independence in 1948 and the brief period of democracy in the 1950s, until the successive military regimes of recent decades, government in Burma has been dominated by men. Those whose names have been passed down to posterity are mostly urban-born Burman women. In conflict torn areas of the country, ethnic women have engaged in their people’s struggles for self-determination for decades, however little of their history has been recorded.3 1919

1920

1920s 1922 1927

1930 1930s 1936 1938 1947 1948 - 62 1953 - 54 1958 1960 - 62 1960 - 67 1964

1965 1974 - 79 1978 1988

1990 1990s- 2001

The first national women’s organization, Konmari, was founded. Other national women’s organizations that followed included the Burmese Women’s Union, the Burmese Women’s National Council, Burmese Women’s Association, & Dama Thuka Association 1st December: Ma Khin Gyi, Ma Hla Shwe, Ma Nyin Lwin, and Ma Ma Gyi joined the first students’ strike. Hludu Daw Amar joined the second strike. Daw Su, Daw Phwar Thit, and Daw Khin Saw of the Burmese Women’s Union also participated in student demonstrations. Other early leaders included Thakin Daw Thein Tin of Prome, Thakin Daw Sae of Yenanchaung, Daw Kyan and Daw Hla of Yangon. Both women and men were granted the right to vote under the British colonial rule. Daw Mya Sein and other women activists staged the first anti-sex discrimination strike, protesting regulations that did not allow women to hold legislative positions under the British administration. Subsequently, women occupied important positions in the Rangoon City Corporation and Legislative Council. Daw Mya Sein, Secretary of the Burmese Women’s Association, traveled to England to speak at the Round Table Conference of the British Lower House, demanding Burma’s administrative separation from India. Women participated in the national cheroot rollers’ and farmers’ strikes. 36 women activists joined the university strikes. Women oil workers started national strikes Widows of the cabinet members assassinated along with Aung San were appointed as interim members of parliament. A total of 18 women stood for election in the parliament or chamber of nationalities. Naw Ba Maung Chein (Irene Po), Minister for Karen State and an ethnic Karen, became the country’s only woman cabinet minister. Daw Sein Pyu was elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Anti-Fascist People Freedom League. Olive Yang, sister of the Kokang saohpa and supporter of the Kuomintang, ruled Kokang. Daw Khin Kyi, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother, became Burma’s only woman ambassador, serving as the ambassador to India and Nepal. Sao Nang Hearn Kham, the “Mahadevi of Yawnghwe,” and wife of Sao Shwe Thaike (the saopha of Yawnghwe and first president of Burma), who had escaped into Thailand after her husband was killed in custody, became chairman of the central military council of the newly established Shan State Army. Naw Louisa Benson, a former actress and twice-crowned Miss Burma, led her husband Bo Lin Tin’s former KNU 5th Brigade back into the jungle after he was killed in Thaton. 9 women representatives won seats in BSPP legislature, out of 449. 13 women representatives won seats in BSPP legislature, out of 449. Women joined in nationwide protests to overturn the military regime and install a democratic government. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Bogyoke Aung San, returned to Burma, and on August 26th gave her first speech addressing pro-democracy protesters in Rangoon. She subsequently helped found a political party, the National League for Democracy, which elected her General Secretary, and campaigned during the run-up to the 1990 elections. During nation-wide free and fair elections, 84 of 2,296 candidates for office were women. Of these 15 were elected. The election results were annulled by the ruling junta and none of the candidates were given their seats. There are no women in the Cabinet of the SPDC, no women ministers, and only one woman directorgeneral (the next level under ministerial posts).

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increased. At the October 1999 regional ESCAP Review of Beijing Platform for Action, the government presentation was made by Yangon University Dept. of Psychology professor Dr. Khin Aye Win, a member of the National Women’s Affairs Committee and author of many of the government’s reports on violence against women. Dr. Khin Aye Win was also one of the three women on the four-person team headed by U Win Mra that represented the government of Burma at the January 2000 meeting with the CEDAW Committee.

Gathering Strength

delegates and requirements by donor organizations that exiled activist groups address gender in their programs. NATIONAL PARTICIPATION

Women, despite the many obstacles in their path, have long been involved in Burmese politics at a national level. However, on the whole, they have been more visible in protest movements than in the mainstream government. In the quest for independence from colonial rule and the long civil However, the reports that female members of del- war, women have been active both in the forefront egations to international fora have presented have and in supporting roles. been remarkably similar to those of their male counterparts. For example, the report that Daw Khin The 1988 Uprising Aye Win presented to the ESCAP meeting in October 1999 stated that women have enjoyed equal sta- In many ways, 1988 is viewed as a pivotal year for tus with men in Burma since time immemorial, an Burmese women’s involvement in their country’s assertion that has characterized virtually all Burmese politics. Before 1988, many women remained ungovernment reports that make mention of women. aware of the political influence they were capable Thus while the greater inclusion of women in inter- of exerting; the political contributions of those who national delegations is encouraging, it is unknown did participate went mostly unremarked. The bloody to what degree the presenters contribute to what is events of the 1988 uprising, which saw women reported at such meetings, or how able they are to throughout the country from all backgrounds pubrecognize and represent the situation for more dis- licly demonstrate and sometimes even die for their advantaged women in the country. beliefs, while one woman rose to lead a political party, became something of a watershed. The various ways Over the 1990s, women from Burma opposing the that women took part in national affairs in 1988 and current SPDC rule have steadily assumed more after, protesting, campaigning during the ensuing public roles representing Burma at regional and in- election, voting, and running for office, initiated a ternational meetings. Exiled women refugees and new era for women’s affairs. activists have taken part in UN human rights-related sessions and committee meetings, including Very few women were aware of their rights before the 1988 the annual Commission on Human Rights uprising but since then all the people around the world have meetings, CEDAW meetings, the Women 2000 UN started turning their eyes to Burma and talking about hureview of Beijing Platform for Action implemen- man rights, women’s rights and democracy. The media also tation, and the World Conference Against Racism. has great impact on the women of Burma and now women They have also attended many regional and have become more familiar with their own rights through international NGO meetings focussing on the media. As you know, BBC, VOA, all the media broadtrafficking of women and girls, violence against cast pieces about rights and violations of rights, and so on. women, women’s human rights, and children’s CINT 276 rights, as well as on globalization, media and other issues. As the momentum of the women’s move- In 1988, extreme economic conditions and political ment grows among refugee communities, women repression in Burma led to a nationwide, pro-dehave also become a constant presence at interna- mocracy uprising led by students. If these initial tional fora addressing democracy and development issues did not serve to inspire the masses to protest, issues in Burma generally. Though it has taken the harsh reaction by the Burmese military drew several years to achieve this level of participation, popular attention and support for the activists. The successful pressure from women themselves for peaceful demonstrations were crushed, resulting in equal representation has been bolstered by requests the deaths or disappearance of thousands of people. from NGOs facilitating meetings to send female In urban areas and townships throughout Burma,

Women’s Participation in Politics

many women became involved in political activities for the first time during the 1988 uprising and after. Women and girls joined marches and protests, carrying flags and banners, and even pots and pans. That seeing women take active part in these activities was still a novelty is obvious from statements such as the following, from a male student. In 1988, female students played an important role, including in inspiring men to join the movement. Especially stories from the Red Bridge incident, hearing how women were forced to the ground while soldiers stole their jewelry, how the soldiers forced them into the water and drowned them, how the women were beaten – these stories made male students very angry. Some female students gave speeches and this encouraged the male students, because we thought, “If even these girls can do this, why can’t we? Why should we leave?” In particular, Christopher Gunness’ interview with one female student, who spoke of the women being raped in prison, made people really angry and pulled many people out onto the streets. CINT 85

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I voted once when I was 18. It was a township election and there were names on a list including all township party or council members of the BSPP (Burmese Socialist Program Party) but no women. We had been told whom to vote for, and we voted for him whether he was good or not, because at that time, we were told by the local authorities that since he was our township representative we had to vote for him. CINT 279 Since the BSPP regime, in the military community — not only for women but also for men — they do not encourage civilians to be involved in politics. They always favor military personnel. In any election we could not vote as we wished to elect those whom we really trusted, because the officials always nominated the persons they liked as candidates. So there was no way for a woman to be elected. Although under the law, men and women are given equal opportunities, in fact, the way is not open for women. CINT 279

In May 1990, a general election, the first multi-party vote in three decades, was held. For many, the 1990 elections were the first opportunity they ever had to Eventually on 18 September 1988, in an attempt to vote. They took advantage of this chance to make put an end to the unrest, the military declared that it their political will felt – against the ruling BSPP had seized power and established the State Law and regime and for the NLD. Order Restoration Council (SLORC), killing at least 1,000 demonstrators. The experiences of individual I voted for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the 1990 election. My women participating in the 1988 protests and be- husband and I never talked about politics. During the elecyond, campaigning during the 1990 election and tion, most people voted for Aung San Suu Kyi, because she working with political parties, appear later in this is honest and respected by the people. Also people like her chapter in the section Women’s Participation in stance. I learned about it by listening to the BBC news on the radio. But when we listened to the BBC news, we did it very Opposition Movements. Voting and the 1990 Election I think in the future, women’s participation in politics will increase. The 1990 elections were the first time women could become active in politics, so if we achieve democracy there will be more opportunities in the future. CINT 91

carefully because it was very risky. If they (SLORC) know you are listening to the BBC news, you will be classified as political and you will put be under their surveillance. CINT 49 In the 1990 election, I voted for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Almost all the rural people did. My village is small and we didn’t have a polling station. But all of us who were old enough voted at another nearby village. There were no NLD representatives in my village – maybe there were some in nearby villages, I don’t know. I was young and I didn’t know much about it, so I just followed the others and voted the same as everyone else. CINT 162

Prior to 1990, women in Burma had few opportunities to exercise their right to vote at a national level. Although women and men were granted the right to vote under British colonial rule in 1922, free and fair national elections have only been held twice in Burma in the last 40 years, in 1960 and 1990. Under However, in remote rural areas, particularly in parts the BSPP regime, the Burmese people voted to ap- of Karen, Karenni, Shan and Kachin States, many prove the 1974 constitution, and also elected repre- women never got the chance to vote in the election. sentatives to the legislature in 1974 and 1978, but the candidates were chosen by the Burmese Social- I remember the 1990 election, but I didn’t vote because the election never reached our village. It was done in the cities. ist Program Party (BSPP). I wouldn’t know who to vote for because I’ve always lived in

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the jungle. If the people vote for someone who can really make peace in the country, we must follow them. There are some villagers who have radios and listen to news on the BBC and other channels, but it seems like they don’t know much about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and they don’t take politics very seriously. CINT 53

Gathering Strength

WOMEN MPS

[Source: ABSDF, To Stand and Be Counted (Bangkok: ABSDF, June 1998) p. 21.]

Name Daw Sein Tin Naw Khin Htwe Myint Daw May Hnin Kyi Daw Ohn Kyi Daw Khin Htay Kywe Daw Tin Saw Oo Daw Hla Hla Moe Daw San San Win Daw San San

Party NLD NLD NLD NLD NLD NLD NLD NLD NLD

Dr. May Win Myint NLD In the 1990 election, I was Daw San May NLD not allowed to vote Daw Khin Aye Myint NLD because my husband had Daw Hse Hse NLD already left to the border. Daw May Phyo NLD At first I was very happy to be voting, but when I went to the polling station my village leader said, “Your husband has left to the border so you are not allowed to vote.” At first I thought he was teasing me and I told him, “Why not? I must have an equal right to vote with others. Since my husband has already left, he is not concerned with me anymore.” I gave them a reason why my husband was absent, but they did not allow me to vote…. In fact, the key man is the village leader. He has the authority to make decisions about people, and about how people in his village can vote. CINT 279

In the end, women’s (and men’s) political franchise was to have little effect. Although the people overwhelmingly declared the NLD their choice, awarding the party 392 of the 485 seats contested, the election results were ignored. Elected representatives were never allowed to take power and the parliament was not convened. Among the total 485 seats, fifteen women representatives were elected as Members of Parliament. Five subsequently faced harassment for their political involvement. Daw Sein Tin, was forced to resign from the NLD. Naw Nan Khin Htwe Myint, Dr. San San, and Dr. May Win Myint were detained and given sentences ranging from six to 25 years. Daw Ohn Kyi, Dr. San San Win, Dr. San San, Daw San May, and Daw Khin San Hlaing have all been dismissed as MPs under the June 1991 Law Amending the Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law.7

State/Division Remarks Kachin Forced to resign Karen Under detention Mandalay Mandalay Dismissed as an MP Mon Mon Died Pegu Rangoon Dismissed as an MP Rangoon Under detention, dismissed as an MP Rangoon Under detention Rangoon Rangoon Sagaing Dismissed as an MP Shan

of national government, women’s issues did not figure specifically in the 1990 election campaign. The Current Administration The government is the military. So women have no participation in the government. CINT 73 Number of women among 19 Members of SPDC = 0 Number of women among 39 Ministers = 0 Number of women among 45 Deputy Ministers = 0 8 I would like to assure the Committee Members that the establishment of a democratic society is the ultimate goal of the Government. - Response by the SPDC delegation to the CEDAW Committee

The SPDC maintains a strong grip on Burma’s internal politics by exerting its presence and influence throughout the echelons of the political structure. From local administration to international policy, political decisions are controlled and executed mostly by appointed SPDC members. In consequence, women’s (and men’s) involvement in decisions made at local, national and international level is severely curtailed, including on those issues that directly relate to their lives and communities. At present, there are no women in instrumental positions at a national level.

While those women who were elected were all NLD representatives and supporters of a democratic form If the National Convention’s proposed constitution

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AUNG SAN SUU KYI We are particularly proud of the fact that a Myanmar woman has the distinction of being the first Asian woman to earn a Nobel Peace Prize. - CEDAW Committee member Salma Khan We would have liked to love and cherish a woman who also happens to be the daughter of a national hero –- Gen. Aung San. But she is obsessed with the idea of bringing about political change through creation of utter devastation…. - Response of the SPDC delegation to the CEDAW Committee

Ironically, the country’s most famous political figure is a woman: Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary and co-founder of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party that won the 1990 popular elections with a landslide majority. Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Rangoon on the 18 June 1945. She was two years old when her father General Aung San (considered the “father of Burma’s independence”) was assassinated. She began her education in Rangoon, and continued it in New Delhi, where her mother was appointed Burmese Ambassador, completing her tertiary studies at Oxford University in the U.K. It was there that she met and married British academic Dr Michael Aris. They had two children. After living abroad for many years, Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988 to nurse her dying mother. She was approached by students involved in the pro-democracy uprising, intellectuals and critics of the government to lead the pro-democracy movement. On 26 August 1988, she addressed a 500,000 strong group of supporters in her native Burmese language and instantly gained acceptance with the people. She has since become the figurehead of the struggle for democracy. While campaigning for election in July 1989, Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest for allegedly violating State Protection Law. She remained there while the NLD achieved an overwhelming victory in the 1990 General Elections, taking more than 82% of the vote. She was finally released in July 1995, when the terms of her sentence under the existing law expired. However, even after her release, her movements were severely curtailed, with restrictions on her party increasing after 1997. In August 1999, she and other party members were forcibly returned to the capital, after an aborted journey to visit a party office near Rangoon ended in a stand-off with authorities on a bridge. In September 2000, following similar attempted trips to NLD branch offices in other areas, Aung San Suu Kyi was again placed under house arrest. At the time of writing, she is allowed out primarily for meetings with Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt. Since late 2000, talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military government have been ongoing, however litte is known of their progress to date. Although Aung San Suu Kyi is the recipient of over 60 prestigious international awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize (1991), the Rafto Prize (1991) and the Sakarov Prize (1991), for the past decade, the statecontrolled press has villified her almost daily for her perceived deviation from the norms of respectable female behaviour. She has been libeled with epithets ranging from “the stunt actress of democracy” to “disgruntled housewife”4 to “genocidal prostitute.”5 When government restrictions on her movements have separated her from her family, she has been insulted as a bad mother and wife. Until her husband’s death on 29 March 1999, frequent reference was made to her marriage to a foreigner, which in the regime’s eyes made her an inappropriate head of state.6 In 1998, the SPDC organized compulsory rallies denouncing Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, and calling for her expulsion from the country. One woman, when asked whether she thought people accepted Aung San Suu Kyi as a woman leader, replied, Yes people accept her... But they don’t think of her as a woman, they think of her as a leader. CINT 93

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programs addressing women’s isis implemented, the exclusion of sues. In accordance with their inwomen from politics may be made ternational obligations and declamore formal and extended more rations, the SLORC and now the indefinitely. Under the new and as SPDC have begun to implement yet unfinished national a national program for women. constitution, qualifications for the (See also Meetings and Machinery: The Head of State (President) and Government’s Obligations.) HowVice-President will introduce de ever, these government actions do facto restrictions on women not appear to have arisen out of a standing for office. In the perceived need to include or rebicameral system proposed, a spond to the country’s women, so quarter of all seats is reserved for much as out of a desire to deflect appointed military representatives. external criticism or attract more The President and Vice-President aid. Regrettably, the junta has not are elected not through popular yet taken action to pave the way vote but by the Presidential for women’s increased access to Election Body, composed of existing government posts. To equal numbers of representatives date, a Ministry for Women’s Afof the two houses and the military. fairs has also not been established. Qualifications require that candidates have “vision” concerning national affairs, Instead, the SPDC has created area specific and closely including those related to the military, as determined monitored “committees” to deal with a plethora of by the representatives.9 According to the International women’s issues. League for Human Rights, Subsequent to the Beijing conference, a Myanmar The extent to which women are prejudiced, in practice if not by National Women’s Affairs Committee was establaw, from equal access to government service in elected and lished on 3 July 1996, chaired by General Soe Myint, appointed posts is in doubt given the requirements of various the Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Settleexperience, including military service, for the Presidency, other ment, as this ministry which has been designated elected posts, and all reserved military posts in the legislative the National Focal Point for Women’s Affairs. The remaining committee members are from other minand executive bodies at all governmental levels.10 istries, the police force, the judiciary, university facQualifications also stipulate that the Head of State ulties, and the GONGOs: the Myanmar Maternal must be an indigenous Burmese citizen and cannot and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA), Myanmar be married to a foreigner, a restriction many see as a Women’s Sports Federation (MWSF), Myanmar Red direct prohibition for candidacy of Aung San Suu Cross (MRC), Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs AsKyi (see the box on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi). How- sociation (MWEA), the Myanmar Women’s Develever, in late 2001, Senior General Than Shwe, head opment Association (MWDA) and the Union Soliof the SPDC, stated that he would not stand in the darity Development Association (USDA). A Naway if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi were later to be elected tional Working Committee to carry out the objectives of the National Women’s Affairs Committee as a head of state.11 was formed on 7 October 1996. Policy Formation & Implementation

Women’s Affairs Committees that report back to the National Women’s Affairs Committee have also been established to the state/division district, and township level. At the national level, both the chair and vice-chair are men, and of the remaining 32 members, 16 are men. Thus less than half of the members of the National Committee are women. The Under the current regime, some steps have been state/division, district and township level committaken towards forming policies and implementing tees share a similar structure to the National ComHalf the population of Burma is women. Since this is so, instead of monopolizing the country’s power, men should give women a real chance to take part in the country’s development and economy and participate with the ruling people. CINT 279

Women’s Participation in Politics

mittee, but have fewer members: 10 at state/division and district level, and nine at the township level. At all three levels, the chair is held by the Peace and Development Council administrator, a man, and the second position is held by his wife.11 In the SPDC now, they only have men, so even if they really want to do something for women, how can they understand how women feel? Women should lead with regard to women’s issues. For example, what kind help or instruction do pregnant women need, what kind of support do young girls need, what can they do for older women, these kinds of things only women can know. If there were women, it would be better. Now, I feel like there is pressure on women not to be in the front, at any high level, in any visible place. I think they don’t really try to help women, they don’t do anything for women’s development. CINT 90

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ciations, 2030 branch associations, and a reported 870,000 voluntary members. It aims to provide community health education, birth spacing programs, STD and HIV/AIDS education focused on women and youth, day-care facilities, functional literacy programs, and income generation schemes for poor women. The government emphasizes the primary role of the MMCWA in implementing the National Plan of Action, implying that it is an organization that is capable of representing women’s needs at a national level. Some UN agencies working in Burma partner with the MMCWA on programs. Observers and women from Burma have said that the MMCWA is not a non-governmental organization in the true sense, but a very consciously government-organized group. The organization is criticized as being heavily centralized, with weak connections to the state and division level and little grassroots base. Many women we spoke to who lived in villages outside the township center had never heard of it. Whether other allegations are true or not, it is generally agreed that the MMCWA is under-resourced to carry out many of the tasks already entrusted to it. For example, the contraceptives it receives for its birth spacing program are nowhere near adequate to fulfill the demand for free birth control.

It is not clear how the existing committees relate to the central government structures, or how they will work to mainstream women themselves or women’s issues. As noted previously, it is also unclear how they will undertake work on the issues presented them, as they have no budget allocations from the central government and operate primarily on donations. Some women working on development issues feel that the current system will serve only to encapsulate certain very specific issues and concerns, without connecting these to the problems that NGO workers and women of various backgrounds women face as a whole, or to the actions that could have also criticized the MMCWA as a leaders’ wives be taken at a community level to solve them. club, a mirror image of the male-dominated military administration, in part because it is headed by Daw Sometimes I regret that for women’s advancement the na- Khin Win Shwe, the wife of Secretary-1 General Khin tional focus seems to be on commercial sex work and vio- Nyunt. Most of the members at the state/division, lence against women, which are really the extreme cases. district and township level are the wives of the local This makes the theme of gender equality more contentious. PDC members, and as such, belong to a small elite It would be better to look at which problems women actually group, whose standards of living are often considerhave at the community level and to focus on what can be ably better than others in their communities. done to resolve those by promoting community participation. CINT 225

The Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association is responsible for carrying out numerous activities under the National Plan of Action, particularly in the area of women’s health. The Myanmar Maternity and Infant Welfare Society was formed in 1911 as a voluntary and charitable organization with four maternal shelters, and reformed in 199112 as the Maternal and Child Welfare Association. According to frequent references in government papers and to organizational pamphlets, it is a nongovernmental organization with 312 township asso-

Poor women are 80% of the country’s women. Women in the national women’s organizations such as MMCWA are often related to high level military or government officials. As such they do not represent the majority of women, because they themselves belong to a class of privileged citizens and are often unaware of the circumstances in which the majority of people, including women, in the country live. Besides they are often bound by political loyalty, which obliges them to take such membership positions, rather than being spontaneously motivated to help improve women’s situation. CINT 251 Their main function is to go to ceremonies, opening ceremo-

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CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil society is usually defined as the institutions and groupings that are formed outside of the state, including non-government organizations, student unions, interest groups and trade unions. These groups are usually considered necessary to the growth of pluralism and democracy. Under the current authoritarian rule, people in Burma are not able to enjoy the fundamental freedoms upon which the development and maintenance of civil society depends. While religious activities not overtly political in nature are permitted at the local level, even opportunities for ordinary discussion are restricted by Order 2/ 88, which prohibits, along with other activities such as demonstrations, meetings of more than five persons. The 1908 (1957) Unlawful Associations Act deems illegal participation in any organization, including those of a non-political nature, “which has been declared unlawful by the President of the Union under the powers conferred.”14 International NGOs (INGOS) must apply to the government for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) before they can operate in the country, and all NGOs and Government-organised NGOs (GONGOS) must register under the Companies Act, a difficult and time-consuming procedure. These INGOs are closely monitored by the military. Their planned activities are often curtailed and are frequently limited to humanitarian or emergency relief or basic community development programs. The regime has tried to co-opt civil society in Burma by creating its own organizations, including the Union Solidarity Development Organization and the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association. The USDA, which is specifically mandated to support the activities and policies of the military, has been accused of forced recruitment procedures and is headed by the Chairman of the SPDC. Regrettably, while the initiatives of civil society remain suppressed under the current rule, the state does not have the administrative capacity to deliver the services that the population requires. Furthermore, fear of the government means that people are sometimes inhibited from participating voluntarily in government social and health programs. With the restrictions on forming associations of any kind, few women can belong to organizations specifically for women. If woman wanted to start their own organization they would have to get permission from the government, who would then control everything within the organization anyway. CINT 18

However, many women spoke of working with religious organizations, or gathering privately and informally to discuss common concerns. Before I left the country in 1995, my friends and I joined the campaign against the Visit Myanmar Year by talking to each other and having discreet discussions about the effects of having more tourists in the country. I think, though, that today it is more difficult to organize people and students, because the ‘detectives’ can be as young as 8-10 years old and one can never be sure about how safe it is to talk. Nobody knows if you will be arrested or not and the police can just come at midnight and just pick you up. CINT 25 [Before I left Burma in the early 1990s] many places where there were no formal organizations, women would meet and discuss at weddings, ordinations, funerals and other social gatherings and the SLORC was afraid of that. There were no formal organizations at that time, just individuals organizing themselves. Most of the “good works” are done by individual women and informal groups, rather than anything very organized. Women in Monywa and other towns meet at the monasteries four times a month for meditation and discussion, and if there is something that needs to be done locally, they talk about it there. CINT 91 Mostly women try to go to places where women can meet each other easily in groups such as the church or temple or

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monastery, where there are some religious or reading associations that meet regularly. They can meet each other and exchange the information about the political situation while they are doing ordinary duties such as sweeping or cleaning. Sometimes they got the statements from liberated areas and they read them quickly and burned them soon after they read them. The main purpose for gathering at the temple or church is to exchange information. Since the government warns people not to listen to the news broadcasts from BBC, VOA and so on, people try to listen to the news very secretly then meet each other at public places like this to share information. And they also fix times to meet each during religious ceremonies, or regularly two or three times in a week. That is one way that women in Burma who are interested in politics can find out about political issues. CINT 279

nies, closing ceremonies, ribbon-cuttings, all these things, and they shake hands with the generals and officials and present them with flowers and get their pictures taken doing it. If you watch Burmese television, they are the ones who are usually seated near the front at every ceremony, like the meetings to denounce the NLD, wearing yellow tameins (sarongs) and engyis (blouses). CINT 218 I was a member of the Maternal and Child Welfare Association. From 1987 I was the chairwoman for two years. We were trying to build a maternal and child-care center in Monywa. We used to cook at festivals that were held at the hospital. We also sometimes had seminars and meetings. All the money we collected was used to fund the building of the center. We also had an Independence Day Children’s Contest. I lost the position of chair when my husband [who was a doctor] moved to Paleh. Some women in the organization then were really good. Now, they mostly just attend public meetings. They are the ones in the yellow shirts clapping in the front of the audience in the recent meetings to denounce Daw Suu. But if you look closely you will notice some are not clapping! CINT 91 ...Nowadays, even though General Khin Nyunt’s wife is leading a women’s union in Burma, that union is not a genuine one. There is a need to form a genuine women’s organization. CINT 279

Given the widespread fear and distrust that many ordinary people feel for the government, it must be questioned whether organizations like this that are closely associated with the government can really be said to represent women’s desires, aspirations, voices or needs. At the same time, until independently organized women’s groups are allowed to form, women wishing to be active on community issues may have no outlet for participation apart from working with government-sanctioned groups like the the MMCWA. It is hoped that the current restrictions on civil society organizations will be lifted to allow more diverse women’s participation in program

planning and implementation for their own needs. LOCAL PARTICIPATION In each of the 14 states and divisions, military commanders serve as chairman of the Peace and Development Councils. In Myanmar’s 324 townships, Township Peace and Development Committees have overall responsibility for administration. They are usually supported by officials from the General Administration Department. At the village level, administration functions are undertaken by Village Peace and Development Committees, which are composed of 3 elected members who receive no salary and one clerk appointed and paid by township authorities.13 1st woman: We’ve never thought about becoming leaders. 2nd woman: It’s no use thinking about things that are impossible for you. CINT 110

At present, in the absence of a representative national democracy, the psychological distance of most people in Burma, men and women, from political concerns is so great that few ever consider how or why they might be involved in decision-making, even at a community level. At the district and township level, most administrators are military men and others appointed by the state who constitute a local elite. As those who serve on elected village councils in central areas receive no salaries, they must have sufficient time and other income to undertake the unpaid work, a situation that usually favours the community’s older and more privileged men. In cities, local quarter heads are also usually men. In remote areas that have little contact with the central machinery of the state, villages are traditionally governed by headmen, who confer with councils of mostly male advisors. While village heads are usually elected, in areas of conflict they often have to be appointed, sometimes on a rotational basis, because no one wants to occupy their positions. Most women we spoke with from villages said that

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there had never been women as village heads in their areas. Some women also believed that women did not have the de facto right to vote or take part in decision-making, though the reasons they gave for this varied.

that women can also have chance like that. As we haven’t studied in books, we don’t know how women’s functions are also important. So we always thought that it’s common for men to resolve problems, and women usually stay at home. CINT 267

In my village [in Karen State], we have always had a headman. No woman has ever had that position. Women cannot do this work, only men. Actually men make the decisions. No women can be decision-makers. CINT 47

The exception appears to be in conflict-torn areas of Karen State, where women have been increasingly appointed village heads. Like women’s expanding presence in the paid work force, though, this development should not necessarily be taken as an indicator of women’s elevated status within the community. Rather, women are becoming the more convenient choice, sometimes because most of the men in the village have left, but more often because people feel women heads are better negotiators and are less likely to be executed by government forces, even though they are still likely to face abuse from them.

In some villages [in Tenasserim division], the headman is appointed by the government. In other areas, the headman is appointed by the local villagers according to heredity. And no woman will be candidate for village head elections. The government only nominates men to contest elections. Of course, some became head of a village because of their wealth, and those rich men married young and educated women who could take control over the affairs of the village. In some villages the wife of the headman is more capable than her husband. So she controls him from behind, and the headman is just nominal. All the decisions are taken by his wife. Women have the right to vote, but a woman cannot be head of a village. CINT 276 Normally women are not allowed to go out [because the village is Muslim]. But if there is an election for the village headman, the women can go to vote. But women cannot become the leaders. We the women can feel satisfied about that because we have no ideas in administration and we cannot travel around. CINT 49 According to Matu [Chin] custom, women cannot hold positions. CINT 74 Our culture says women must become housekeepers who cook and wash the clothes for the husband. And the men have to work to earn for their families. So most of the leaders are men. We saw that Karen women were married when they were 16 or 18 years old. Therefore there is no chance for them to become leaders because they are busy in their housework after they marry, but their husbands still have time to work another job. CINT 75 Women don’t have the right to vote or join political parties. They can’t participate in decision-making [in Shan State]. CINT 141 [In my area in Irrawaddy Division] if the village or quarter has to solve any problem usually only the elected men can make decisions. Women are not invited to be involved in the decision-making process. We the women also do not know

In the village there is one headman for each group (SLORC, DKBA, KNU). The SLORC headman is a woman. A council of elder villagers decides who the headman is going to be. The SLORC headman is a woman because it is less dangerous for a woman. The woman has no choice. She is elected. CINT 63 In our village, the women serve as temporary headmen. They don’t want to, but they have to take turns. We can’t have men as headmen because the SLORC beat them brutally. CINT 108 I only know the village head woman, whenever they called for her, she must go to them. She must follow them and she had to sleep with them. Once the head woman went to complain to DKBA soldiers about the Burmese; the Burmese found out and beat her very badly. The Burmese didn’t want the DKBA to know about that because some of the DKBA are friendly with the villagers, we are all Karen. When she complained, they beat her, arrested her, and took her to — —. Her son had to go to pay 5000 kyat to get her released. Now she stays in the village again. When the Burmese come and ask for food, the headwoman has to collect the food, cook for them, feed them. The headman cannot speak Burmese, but the headwoman can, so the villagers elected her. Village headwomen can do some things. She helps if the Burmese come, so the villagers wanted her to be the leader. In the two months since the Burmese were there, the headman always had to flee, because if he didn’t, they would arrest and beat him. All the men had to flee. Other villages have headwomen also. Some villages have

Women’s Participation in Politics

headwomen, because in the village men cannot work alone, they ask women to work together with them. The villagers like to have a headwoman because they can ask her to plan for when the Burmese come; the men are afraid of the Burmese. If the Burmese come and arrest the men, the headwoman and other women in the village try to go and get them released. When I was young, there were no village headwomen. Just in the past ten years have we elected women as heads. CINT 271

Though few women would choose the dubious distinction of being a village head under the conflict conditions described above, in other areas of the country that have not been similarly affected by civil war, the posts are desired. I know women leaders in the [Tavoyan Women’s] Union who wanted to become heads of their village. Although they have been fighting for that status, they never achieved that position because of the traditional influence that men only can be village heads. Now we have started encouraging women to participate in community affairs and also improve their leadership abilities. These things can also change gradu-

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ally. The women start taking part in some celebrations in key roles and hope to gain more confidence. CINT 276

WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN OPPOSITION MOVEMENTS Some women are doing political things but they themselves don’t think that they are involved in politics. They usually say that they are afraid of being involved in politics but actually they are already participating. CINT 279

Direct Participation

In movements opposing central government rule over the past five decades, women have played and continue to play an active part. Since the time of opposition to colonial occupation, women have organized, demonstrated, and in the post-independence period, fled alongside men to “liberated areas” held by anti-government insurgents to take part in opposition activities, including in some cases, combat. Women and girls, including female middle school, high school, and university students and adult women from all walks of life have participated widely

FAMILY CONNECTIONS & WOMEN LEADERS

Sometimes in Burmese politics, women who have achieved positions within decision-making hierarchy have been preceded by husbands, fathers, or other relatives, a phenomenon that is also observed in other Asian countries. While critics have sometimes said that this is proof these women have not secured their positions through their own abilities, what this trend actually demonstrates (apart from the dynastic nature of Asian politics) is how greatly gender perceptions affect women’s access to power. That a woman must depend on her connection to male relatives for the seal of legitimacy needed to rise to the top is only further evidence of the difficulty women have in achieving public credibility. Actually because of their traditional mentality, Burmese men do not like to respect women. They respect men. Men must be leaders. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi too. She is respected because of her father Aung San. Otherwise she would never become a leader. CINT 106 I know that the late Chairman Brang Seng’s wife is in the Central Committee of the KIO. And I think Mrs. T--- [the wife of another Central Committee member] is also in the Committee but I’m not sure about that. CINT 110 If you marry a richer man, it’s ok. You can fulfill your ambition. It seems this way from looking at women who are married to more wealthy KIO officials. Women who marry more elite KIO men seem to be able to do what they want. CINT 123 Usually if women get married to the officers or leaders [in the CNF], they can automatically control their husbands. CINT 198 There are women leaders but not in high positions such as Central Executive Committee. Women could only be in district or local level leadership. Some with ability can reach high positions. Daw Ma Tin Kyi, wife of Thakin Lu Shein, and the wife of Thakin Ba Thein Tin were leaders of Tenasserim Division. They could more or less lead the organisation with the help of their husbands. CINT 276

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alongside boys and men in the various protest movements, been arrested and killed along with male activists, and in documented incidents, raped in custody.15 Some women have contrasted the equality women and men enjoy in the pro-democracy movement with the discriminatory attitudes of those in the military government. I worked with the youth association organizing in many towns and villages, in Tawgyi, Hopin, Narmma, Mogauk, and Myitkyina. In September 1989, we held a conference in the northern area at the No. 1 High School, and there were thousands of people…. After that, I went to campaign in Tawgyi area, together with other people from the NLD youth. We were divided regionally into chapters, and this group worked in upper Burma. For demonstrations, we female students went into villages, sometimes 15 or 16 miles from the towns, and distributed packages of cooked rice to the villagers. The male students took care of security. They allowed both men and women to do nearly all the same things, but they worried about women doing the more dangerous things. We worked together, hand in hand, on everything. When we held meetings or seminars, the [BSPP] township chief officers condemned the women, saying that we associated with men all the time. But that was only from the government side, the opposition men didn’t look down on us. It was just the army generals who spoke ill of us. Among ourselves, we were equal. CINT 211

Nonetheless, the number of women members in opposition groups has always been markedly smaller than the number of men, in keeping with the gendered perceptions of political activism and administration in the country, and many women have complained that they do not have an equal role in opposition movements. This may be due in large part to the nature of politics in Burma and the quasimilitary character of most opposition groups. It is also part of a vicious circle: since traditionally few women have engaged in politics, women often claim they lack the experience and confidence to become involved. With the dearth of women in most organizations, political activities are deemed inappropriate for them. Women are thus constrained by the perceived risks that surround their work in underground or protest movements, and accordingly, sometimes voluntarily limit their participation. As a result, women continue to be exempted, both as lower levels and in leadership positions. Not so many women left from Burma (to border opposition groups), but there were many men, so those in leading posi-

Gathering Strength

tions are mostly men. For a long time, women have not been as educated, so not many women could even think that they should leave to work for democracy, we didn’t have that kind of idea. CINT 90 If I told my parents, they definitely would have stopped me [from going to the border to join the underground movement]. My mother knew I was doing something and I had some kind of plan. She was trying to persuade me indirectly not to go, by telling what had been said on the television about problems that girls students had faced in KNU areas, about people who had been raped and killed in the field. From Burmese television, the government was distributing all kinds of propaganda. And my mother was showing me, “Dear, come and see this.” CINT 94

Protectionist attitudes and stereotyped views of women’s abilities continue to limit their participation in the mainstream or high profile activities of opposition groups. [A male student:] We always try to spare women the most dangerous tasks, because we don’t want them to suffer, especially physical abuse like beating…. Women doing underground work often felt that they had to be more brave than the boys. One student pushed and pushed the line till she was arrested, doing really risky and difficult things. Women are often more focussed, and spend more time on projects than men. They don’t sit in teashops…. Parents worry about their daughters. [If a woman student is an activist], many times boys visit her and they go out and she comes home late – this is a serious concern for parents. Too much interaction with men and the parents will worry. So organizers must also worry about women in the organization, and about their behaviour. Sometimes in Burma, if [the task] is inappropriate [for women] in the Burmese context, then it is difficult to get support and respect from people. CINT 85 In Burmese society, women are seen to be weak. We are the weaker sex. So the boys always worried that it wasn’t good for us to go out of town, or participate in any of the riskier work or anything like that. So sometimes they told us, you can’t do this, don’t do that. But then in some cases our male friends trusted us and believed that we had the ability to do anything they did. They would say, here you can do this, and especially things that involved hiding and getting information, something tricky, like a kind of espionage, they would get us to do it. But in the leading roles, they really hesitated to give us power at any decision-making level or leadership role. They really did not think that we could do it, only the male leaders were at the front of the

Women’s Participation in Politics

student activists. It’s been really difficult, even up till now. In our democratic struggle, many of the organizations really forgot the women’s ability to organize. So we had to really try hard to show what we could do. They didn’t promote or encourage us. Now only this year [1999], women’s issues are becoming important, with a growing focus on women’s organizations and a number of women’s seminars. I don’t know whether this is just for show, that the pro-democracy groups feel the need to show that they do have women members, or what. Because I feel that really inside men don’t really feel this themselves. But in some cases what we did, we have shown that we can be very strong and capable and that we have ability and that we can compete with men. And often the men really don’t like that. Only those women who listen to them, who are not actually very strong but are part of the membership of an organization and listen, they usually want to promote those girls. Those are the kind of people who can achieve a position. They really don’t like the women who have efficiency and ability, they don’t want to promote us. They are really jealous. CINT 94

With the notable exception of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in the leadership positions of the ethnic and pro-democracy opposition to military rule, women are still conspicuously absent. Attitudes favouring male leadership prevail, especially in the predominantly military opposition groups, which often maintain operating structures not dissimilar to that of the central government. Most are overseen by elected members in the positions of Chairman, ViceChairman, General Secretary, Secretary-1, and Secretary-2, and in the Central Committee, which is responsible for much of the decision-making. A Central Executive Committee is usually further appointed from among the members of the Central Committee. Lower administrative positions are often appointed rather than elected, and elected positions usually require that members are nominated and their nominations seconded by the membership at large.

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they are ready to sell all their stuff. When we worked in the underground, we relied on ourselves, and the women had money. The men never had money. For the guys living in the dorms, during the anniversary of the elections, we decided to wear Kachin longyis and white button-down shirts. Normally guys don’t have these clothes, and they don’t have time to do laundry, so the girls brought longyis from brothers and fathers and gave them to the guys. They also gave us expenses for sitting in teashops—we were moving from one teashop to another, and the women provided everything. The women could sit next to us in the teashops. Girls can save money. They don’t spend on unnecessary stuff. They don’t buy clothes. They have much more extra money than boys because they can save. They get it from their parents—boys spend it. The girls funded the booklets we produced. CINT 85

The impediments married women engaging in politics face are sometimes amplified for women in opposition movements. Some kinds of work are felt to be unseemly and can affect a woman’s reputation. Activities that are seen to involve danger or risk are considered inappropriate for mothers, since they may affect children’s wellbeing. Even women who had been extremely active when they were single frequently said that it was not possible to continue working after they married. Even though I wanted to become a leader I can’t give my time because I am married and have to take care of my own family. I have hated my enemies, the SPDC army, so I wanted to become a medic who goes to the front line and help the soldiers. If I were a man I could do that. But now I cannot be satisfied — I cannot do that because I am a woman. Some of our [ethnic opposition] government’s ideas about women are right but some are not just. If women and men live together, they may fall in love with each other and women may become pregnant. So they believe that work can’t be done when you put men and women together. Because of this, the headmen want only men to work with them. They think that women should not work together with men for long periods of time. CINT 75

Sometimes it is assumed that because of their experience in managing household finances, women are most appropriate also to manage organizational funds and accounts, so when a woman achieves a The single women mostly go around in the frontline from village position within an organization, it is often as the to village with CNF soldiers and give treatment to those who treasurer or accountant. In these positions, women are sick. Women who are married to the CNF members may be responsible for keeping track of organiza- work at home, doing office work as typists. CINT 198 tional money, but rarely for making decisions about how it is spent. One political activist signed a pre-nuptial agreement with her husband guaranteeing that he would allow Normally, women were in charge of the finance committee. her to continue her activities after marriage. For instance, they have rings and jewelry—whenever we need, Before we got engaged, we openly discussed my work.

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Some leaders from both sides attended. And I requested that he must allow me to work. I wanted his permission for that before our engagement. I wanted him to sign an agreement for that, that he would never prohibit me to do my political work for the whole life. He agreed. We signed that agreement in front of both sides. Even though we signed the agreement, still sometimes he oppresses me. That is the man’s mentality. He wants to see me as a housewife. Before our marriage, he lifted my life up, helping me with interviews and introducing me with top leaders. He supported and advanced my political career. After marriage, his mentality changed a bit. Sometimes he worries for me because of the situation here where we live and tries to prohibit me from carrying on my political work. As husband and wife, we are not always peaceful together. Many times we fought. CINT 106

Gathering Strength

child rearing. If there is family planning, it would help women advance. With fewer children, they could work in the community, at least part-time. Most Karen women get married early, but this is a bad sign. Karen women need to press to achieve more. CINT 26

Most of the politically active women we spoke with were single or had adult children at the time they undertook their activities. In the following narratives, women describe some of their experiences with opposition groups and surrounding the political events of 1988.

A well-known community leader, formerly a major in an ethnic army, now active in a woman’s organization, when asked how to increase women’s participation in public life, pointed to herself as an example. I have no husband and no children. That is why I have been able to do this. There is an absolute need for family planning so women will be freed of some of the responsibilities of

YIN YIN MYAT, 34 On August 8, 1988 when I working as an accountant, I joined the student demonstrations for the first time. From that day I participated in all the demonstrations I could against the BSPP government, gave speeches, and organized with my friends and others. Then in October 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi formed the NLD party, because General Saw Maung announced that there would be free and fair elections. When she formed the NLD, many students and youth joined, not to be directly involved in party politics, but to work under the cover of her party. We had another movement, underground, so at that time many students were being arrested by the government and we thought if we joined any party, we wouldn’t get arrested. So I also joined the NLD party at its formation. I worked for the NLD organizing the youth wing, and I was elected as one of the executive committee members of the NLD youth. Youth members visited places in the whole of Rangoon division. But we girls again were not allowed to go out of town, including by Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD. You know, even Aung San Suu Kyi was worried that no, no, no, girls should not be travelling too far from the city or going around too much, so we just had to stay in the Rangoon headquarters and organize things around there. At that time, there were only two women members of the CEC of the youth wing, me and my friend. There was some jealousy within the party. There were attacks by the “Thone Yaung Chet” [“Three Colors” group] close to Aung San Suu Kyi. I don’t know why but they started making personal attacks. We were very free sometimes. Sometimes we even drank [alcohol] and things like that. They accused us and pointed us out to the leadership, saying, “Those girls shouldn’t be CEC members,” and they reported to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s secretariat, three members. We couldn’t believe it. You know, we could work anywhere, organize anything, we were able, educated activists, but those young boys and girls, they really couldn’t accept it. We didn’t do anything that the boys didn’t also do. In fact, many of the male students used Fansidyne [an opiated cough mixture] and other medicines, but for boys it’s no problem. So I just left. I told them I don’t want to be a CEC member in the NLD youth wing, I don’t like party politics. We have many things we can help with and many things we can do, so in the mean time we will just work as ordinary NLD. Then they reformed the CEC and there were no women CEC members, only men. CINT 94

Women’s Participation in Politics

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YADANA PYNE, 39 When I was in 10th Standard, I heard about the Rakhine revolution for the first time. When I was 20, I wanted to join the ALP members based in the Dawna Mountains, in Karen State, but I hadn’t finished my education. Finally in 1981, someone contacted me to work for the ALP. I undertook the duty of forming an underground movement in Rathedaung township. Because I was a teacher, I was also a BSPP member. I attended Youth Leadership training at Rangoon University. Therefore I took ideas from the BSPP and decided to work for my people. After I completed the leadership training, the BSPP ordered me to give sub-training in Arakan State two or three times. At each session, I had to teach army training and BSPP party ideology to at least five people. I had read a lot on Rakhine history. So, during these sub-trainings, no BSPP leaders were there to supervise me. I taught the students only about the Rakhine victory. In 1983, they sent me again for further training to the Central Institute for Political Science in Rangoon, and this way, I got more education and more training from the BSPP. During my days off I contacted so many Rakhine UG [underground] in Rangoon. The UG decided that after the training they would send me to the Dawna Range. I was 23. But then they changed their minds: “She is too young, she is the only daughter in her family, she will cry and she will face a lot of problems on the border.” Really I wanted to go to Wangkha but they didn’t want to send me there. So they finally sent me back to Arakan State. In 1987, I crossed the Naaf river into Bangladesh and made contact with our people on the Bangladesh side. I went to see how our people were working as revolutionaries on the Burma-Bangladesh border. I met two ALP leaders and discussed with them my intention to to come and join the revolutionary movement. They advised me, “But now, you can live in Burma. You must stay quietly for two or three years there, then you can come and join us here.” Just after that, the pro-democracy movement broke out in Burma. I decided to organize the UG in our area, so I secretly made contact with people in Akyab. On 8 September 1988, the demonstrations started in our area. On 9 September, 11 students collected one group. They went shouting around the whole town. When they arrived where I was staying, nobody knew I was collecting people and organizing the movement. Not even my friends realized anything. These students called me: “Teacher, Teacher, you must join with us. We should give our lives for our Rakhine State and for our Rakhine people.” So many people followed us, so many people. It was incredible. We marched towards a roundabout in Akyab. 20 male students lifted me to the monument in the centre of the roundabout. I gave the first speech in Akyab. During the speech I hid my face. Later even my friends didn’t recognize that it was me. So I felt my security situation was okay. Then I started again on 10 and 11 September. We collected the people and chanted slogans asking for democracy and human rights. We arranged speeches. Then I found out the BSPP army was following me. They were searching for me to kill me. Everybody was afraid for me and also afraid of me. Nobody tried to contact me in Akyab. I was alone… I had to take shelter in the jungle to escape arrest. After six days, I left my village and went to Rathedaung. I met with the democracy activists there about how we should continue the demonstrations. We collected nearly 200 or 300 people near my native village, and we marched to Rathedaung. We peacefully occupied all the BSPP offices. When we were ruling Rathedaung, the SLORC was formed. At that time we fought with jinglees, and they used arms. On 20 September, we left Rathedaung town, crossed the Mayu river and fled to the Bangladesh border. On 24 September we crossed the Bay of Bengal by boat and landed in Teknaf. After that, our revolution groups formed NUFA (the National United Front of Arakan), a four-party alliance. I worked as the Organising Secretary of NUFA. At the time, NUFA had no money, and we only depended on jungle food: banana plants, some vegetables that we grew, and so on. But it was not sufficient, and we had no medicine. We faced so many difficulties. I spent three years with them. CINT 106

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Gathering Strength

NANG MO KHAM, 36 In 1988, I was in my final year at the Institute of Economics in Rangoon. When the schools closed I went back to my home in Kachin State. Since there was a general uprising time throughout the country, I joined the students group in my town and led mass meetings and demonstrations. Later, the Burmese Army leaders staged their coup and many of the male students in our group left to the border. At that time we wanted to follow them but they didn’t accept our plan. They said, “If we go together now we don’t know what the conditions are like, and we can’t take responsibility to take care of you on the way.” But they said that since they needed female students in their activities, they would call us to come when they had settled down somewhere. So most of us female students were left in the city. After that the government decided to hold a multi-party election. I joined the National Political Student Youth Party, but it was outlawed before the election, so I joined the Democratic Graduate Student Association. Actually, we did not intend to win seats in the election16 — we just tried to lobby for the NLD. We went to many villages together with the NLD members and organized people to vote for the NLD. We traveled to every village in our area, sometimes on foot and sometimes by bicycle. Every trip, one of the NLD members went along with us and he explained to the people about genuine democracy and its consequences. He also compared the 1947 constitution with the current constitution. He explained to the people how to vote in the election. He also explained to people the difference between the 1974 election and the coming election, because the 1974 election was only to approve the new constitution drawn by the BSPP regime, and then there were two kinds of voting boxes, white for OK and black for not OK. This time was different. We also explained to people why they should be involved with the democratic movement to abolish the BSPP rule, and what commitments we had. Even though the election took place in 1990, our party still had its underground movement until 1991. Since we had engaged in fundraising activities, set up the libraries and maintained contact with the students in the jungle, we were constantly under army intelligence surveillance. In 1992, the intelligence arrested some of my friends, and I knew that they also might come to arrest me soon. One day, I heard that they were trying to find me in my town and I fled to the jade mine area, Hpakant and stayed there for six months. Intelligence came looking for me and I had to flee again. I arrived at the Burma-China border in November 1992. Usually, I traveled alone with men in the trips. Most of the other women participated only in our urban activities. If we had to go to other villages they always had trouble getting permission from their parents. They could come when we didn’t have to stay overnight. Of course, we also had difficulty to travel to the border. It is not appropriate in the eyes of the community or neighbors if a woman travels alone, even if she has personal reasons why she must. When I had to flee I had to ask my brothers to send me at night. I could not go alone actually. My parents and my relatives didn’t know that I would leave to the border. They only knew that I would go somewhere to avoid the arrest for awhile, that’s all. If they knew that I would go to the border they would definitely have blocked me. When I arrived at the camp, I attended basic military training for six months, but as I was an economics student, my organization eventually appointed me to work in finance department. The six months training was the hardest time for me, because as well as being exhausted from the drills, I had malaria often and even lost consciousness from it sometimes. In the training, there were about one hundred trainees including sixty women. Many people got sick during the training. The weather was terrible, the worst rains in three years that year, and we had no nutritious food. Some people got cerebral malaria and went crazy. Everyone became thinner and thinner. Some of the women stopped menstruating. Finally, I was sent to the Headquarters, where I had to attend another training. In some missions they chose only men to go, because they said if women also go in the missions the men will have extra responsibilities taking care of the women. So it seem boys had more opportunities than girls. Since we stayed in a military camp, this meant only the boys were chosen to go to the front line, and only the boys could be promoted to a higher rank. The girls could be designated as office staff or cooks in the camp. Some might also say that this shows women were given priority and protected from dangerous situations, and that this is our culture. CINT 274

Women’s Participation in Politics

Women Soldiers There are two women lieutenants in the KIO. That is the highest rank women have achieved. There were a lot of [female] Kachin officers in the past. Even now, in the health clinics, a lot of the women are second lieutenants. Before, some were involved in fighting at the frontlines. They started in the frontline. But now, most of them are in the clinics. Not at policy level. There is only one woman in the KIO Central Committee, Chairman Brang Seng’s wife. CINT 111

With the militarized character of Burma’s political history, participating in politics has often meant going to “the jungle” to found or join with paramilitary forces opposing central rule. In the history of various ethnic groups’ armed struggles for independence and in the more recent pro-democracy groups’ efforts alongside them, women have also voluntarily served in armies and defense forces as a way of taking part in opposition politics, sometimes at a very young age. Many activists dedicated to ousting the ruling military, who fled from urban areas after the 1988 demonstrations, found themselves ultimately working with armies. Although women soldiers living in harsh conditions have worked alongside men, often their abilities have not been acknowledged. Women in the ranks of these armies are frequently part of the medical corps rather than combat troops, but some have

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also participated in battles. Most have not risen beyond the rank of private. At the same time, recognizing that women often bear much of the hardship of hostilities, many of the women we spoke with who held arms in the past are now working with women’s organizations and actively involved in the promotion of a culture of peace. I just wanted to prove that a woman like me can do everything that a man can do. If we just have confidence, or are keen to do things, we can. We don’t need to look down on ourselves. If we do, we won’t dare, we’ll be too shy to accomplish anything. The only way that women are weaker than men is physically. I don’t like discrimination. As I wanted equal rights, I tried to deserve them [by showing I could also fight]…. Now I work for Karen women refugees to develop themselves and to oppose the dictatorship. CINT 219 Women are looking to make peace -- they are waiting for peace while men work to fight. Women are waiting for peace. CINT 235 Women participate in politics in peaceful ways, like in health and education. Like Dr. Cynthia, she is peaceful. And Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, she doesn’t participate in violence. Women’s politics is the peaceful way. CINT 286

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Gathering Strength

THET OO, 44, KNU My husband died while he was carrying out his duties for our Karen State. When my husband died I was only 25 years old. At that time, my daughter was very small. People said I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t bear when they said that and decided to follow in my husband’s footsteps. Since I raised my daughter as a widow for a long time, people looked down on me, even my relatives. People looked down on me so much! I thought a great deal about the fact that if my daughter were a boy, he would surely take his father’s place someday. I started working for the intelligence department [of the KNU] and attended political trainings twice. I had leave sometimes to go back to my family. When I organized the women’s groups inside, we had more than 2000 women from 11 villages. Whenever [the SLORC troops] got into a village, they did all kinds of terrible things, like taking men as porters. Sometimes instead of men they used women, and raped them at night. So the women were seeking ways to be free from them. Because of that, we organized those women and formed a group. I was in charge. I told them to work in unity and not to go out alone do farming and fieldwork. I sometimes secretly called people to meet in one place. For example, if the soldiers were in this village, we had a meeting in another village. When they chased us, we ran away. If they didn’t come, we had meetings moving from place to place. The villagers would also lie for us, and tell the soldiers that nothing was happening. Sometimes the soldiers met me and didn’t realize who I was. I just pushed my way through the crowd as if I were intelligence. The SLORC troops were ordered to arrest me. But I was like a leopard and I managed to escape every time. Once when I knew they were after me, I dressed as a Done dancer and walked right through the cordon around our village. It was my area, I knew it too well. If they came this way, I went another way. It was a piece of cake to me. Once when I was on the verge of being arrested, people sent my two daughters to me in the Dawna Mountains. We had nothing to eat, so we survived on banana stem and bamboo shoots. I begged a bit more from the other villagers, and my girls had enough food to keep them alive. When I was hiding alone with my daughters in the mountains, the troops asked me if I’d seen an old woman, and I answered them very solemnly. They didn’t realize I was the person they were looking for. Finally they gave up searching and went back. That was when I realized there were no assurances for my family if something happened to me. I worried about my kids and wondered who would look after my old mother. I was shadowed by the enemy. SLORC troops stationed in the 2nd, 3 rd, 4 th, 6 th and 7th [KNU] Brigades all followed me. The high officers from our township became worried about me. Then we got an intercepted message that Aung Myint Thu’s column was about to seize my family and me and arrest us. Luckily I was not with them. Others told my parents to leave from the village immediately, and they sneaked out at about midnight. SLORC troops were moving in to try and arrest them, but fortunately, they took a different route, and I was able to meet my family at Na Boo village. I was first very sad for the trouble, but I didn’t get discouraged. We got to the border in 1993. Normally it takes two days, but it took eight days for all of us to get here. On the way, we had great hardship as all the food we brought went rotten, but we continued our journey. I worked in 6th Brigade for my family baking charcoal, but after a few months, our area was attacked by the enemy, and I lost everything. I was in trouble. I had no idea what to do. I always encouraged my eldest daughter by saying that education is more valuable than wealth, and she should be proud of what she had been able to do. Money is not the main thing, but success in one’s activities and one’s reputation are important, and it was for those reasons that I joined the army. I said, “Men can use their hands to shoot guns, I have hands also that work just as theirs do. I can shoot too!” A man can die only once in a lifetime, no matter whether in battle or somewhere else. I decided I would join the army. I believe that when my children grow up, they will understand me and what I have done, and that it was because I loved them, that I wanted to sacrifice for the nation and our people. We were able to form a battalion including some majors, women who could not work in Thailand. We were trained by Capt. Htin Maung for six months. After that I went to the frontline. We had around about one company of women soldiers, over 70. Every time we went to the front line we merged with one section of male soldiers. At times, we needed their help to fire the heavy

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weapons. When we faced the enemy, women let the men hide and we lured the enemy so that they would think we only had female troops. That way we trapped them. I was in battle four or five times. I fought and killed. The women’s battalion cooperated with the men’s in the south of the Dawna range plateau. One day one of our holds fell to enemy hands, and we had to split. At last I made a decision to quit doing that. I had done what I wanted to already. I went to Huay Kaloke and gave up all political affairs. I am interested in women’s affairs because I am still able-bodied and can do many things. And now I will never again do anything connected with politics. Why? Because I feel very bad that nobody supported my family, not even to help with my kids’ school fees or provide medical care for my parents when they were sick. But I was at the frontline alone, so I feel satisfied with what I did. Now I’m getting old, and I’m not able to do what I could before. I will just settle down here, in the camp, and live peacefully. I see many young people with nothing to do, and I feel some responsibility to them. They need the chance to do things. So I am involved only in the camp women’s affairs group. Now many of the women I worked with are already in camps in Thailand. We couldn’t achieve what we wanted in Burma, so now we all just work in the refugee camp as teachers and medics, and with women’s organizations. CINT 219

THAWDA LIN, 24, ABSDF When the uprising started, at first I didn’t try to make contact with the demonstrators – my parents forbade it. … I secretly started going to join them, without telling my parents [about eight or nine days after the 8-8-88 demonstrations in Mandalay]…. [W]e organized people to function as a reinforcement group [against the attacks of the soldiers] and coordinated with the NLD. I helped them. I was just 13, in 7th standard, but most of the people I was working with were adult men…. [We stayed together and] at night, I slept there with my friends who were college students, so I was the youngest girl among them. I was very close to these women, they accepted me as one of the members of this group, and I believed so much in them, they convinced me I had to work effectively. Some of the men in the group were detained in the Monyin prison at that time, and some were already in the jungle in the north, because as soon as the SLORC seized power, many of the students left to join political groups [on the border].... On Friday, 19 February 1989, there was a student demonstration in Monyin. The youth association and the ABSDF students joined together, so the army was trying to arrest all those who were moving around. We went to Hpakant, then contacted the ABSDF students there. We got to the border with their help. I intended to go join the revolution army, so I went to meet my brother’s friend who was working in the jade mines in Hpakant. He said there was an urgent need for more female soldiers. At that time, a monk was an organizer for the ABSDF in Hpakant. I contacted him and together with 20 soldiers, I left for the camp. We traveled by foot. It took four days to get from Monyin to Hpakant. Then it took another 20 days to get to the camp. On the way, four of our people were seized crossing the railway, because there was fighting between the SLORC and the students. It was 11:00 at night, and the moon was shining down, so we had to wear black so we wouldn’t be seen. But it didn’t work, there was fighting anyway, and we were fired on. Our side fired back at them, but we had to flee. It was horrible. They used heavy weapons. I thought I would die. I had never heard even a gun shot before in my life and there was bombing going on all around me. I was terrified and I just kept silently praying with my whole being that I would survive, and thinking what would happen if I were shot. To cross the railway, we had to run on the sandy soil of a peanut plantation, and it was difficult to keep my footing. There were huge mud slicks too, and sloughs of water. We couldn’t sleep at all. We had to rely on the light of a few candles to see, and we had no food. We were starving. We resumed our journey after dawn. We had to run instead of walking, even though we were hungry. We took different paths that the government soldiers hadn’t found, until finally we arrived at a farm hut. Luckily there were some Kachin farmers threshing paddy, and they fed us rice. Three days short of a month since we left, we arrived at Kaiza village, near the headquarters, near Bhamo, then we were able to reach the headquarters near Yinjiang. First I thought that the camp would be like something in a movie, deep in the jungle. But it wasn’t like that. It was built

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in a really orderly way. I was so happy to meet people from my hometown. Since I was just a 14-year old girl, I was often homesick. But I also felt very committed and enthusiastic, more than I ever expected I would. I stayed there from 1989 to 1997. At the time the KIO made the cease-fire with the SLORC, I was in the frontline holding a gun. There were 25 women, including me, at the beginning. By 1997, there were about 180. We got up every morning at 4:00 am and drilled till 5:00. Then we had an hour’s break. We went back and continued till 8:00. Then we had breakfast and did other things till 2:00. At 2:00 we had lectures until 4:00, then another hour break till 5:00, then lectures again until 6:00. In the four-month term, we had very little time to rest. We studied military field practices, basic military training, and practical strategies, as well as about political theory and democracy. It was really tiring. I became really dark from being in the sun all the time, and very, very thin. We wore our uniforms every day but Sunday. We were divided into companies. Each group had 40 men and eight women. None of the women were ever injured, but we took part in the battles and fired weapons along with the other soldiers. Three times I was in battles. My first time was crossing the railway, before I was a soldier. Then the other two times were in Bhamo, at the frontline. Our latest battle was in April 1992. We were defeated and had to return to the camp. One of our troops was killed and another seriously injured. But we won the previous battle. After that I worked in the office, doing different things. Sometimes I was like an accounting assistant. In 1994, I took medic training. After that, I mostly worked as a medic, giving treatment to the soldiers and villagers until I left. We faced all kinds of problems. If one of our soldiers got sick when we were at the frontline, in enemy territory, we were away from everything. It was terrible. We were really hungry often, nearly starving, with nothing to eat but rough rice. The KIA provided us with rice and salt. We had only beans and potatoes. We grew our own food, potatoes, we traded dried beans and dried mustard greens for soup. Camp committees also formed, we had a system like a regular military camp. There were no women in the committee. I think they didn’t want women to be in the committee. Our committee members were all nominated then appointed. But other than that, women took part in everything. We campaigned in the villages, we went to the frontline, we gave medical care, cut firewood, and carried things. CINT 211

CHERRY, 26, CNF I was 15, in 10th Standard during the 1988 demonstrations. My friends and I participated in the demonstrations. We tried to support the demonstrators, we fed them by giving them some sweets and snacks. The demonstrators gave speeches and passed out statements explaining what they didn’t like about the government and the education system. We agreed, especially we felt we should be able to study in our own language, Chin language. So we helped them to distribute the leaflets and we also demonstrated. Finally they closed the school. Then the MIS started asking about me, and I was sure I would be arrested, so I went into hiding, house to house. I was terrified, because they followed and caught my friends, then persecuted them and interrogated them. They were asked so many questions. They tortured them, by beating and punching them. I was very afraid that also I would be arrested, so I decided it would be better if I left. Finally I secretly fled to the border with another friend. There were only three women including us two in the camp where I stayed. We used to get up at 4:00 am for training, military training. Every day, until we left for the camp in Bangladesh. About 12:00 we used to study English. Sometimes we had discussions about our revolutionary struggle and how to continue, and other activities like that. Finally I joined with the CNF members who were going to Bangladesh. We had about 100 members total, and I was the only woman. It took a long time, because we had to go by foot, and the way was very difficult up and down, up and down the mountains. We couldn’t carry rations, so all we had was a little rice. We were

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hungry but we just had to keep walking. It took about nine days of continuous walking to reach the place, then we built the camp ourselves with bamboo. We stayed there a long time, and we had many difficulties because the weather there is so bad, very hot and so different from where I came from. We were always suffering from malaria, and many people got dysentery. We had only a little rice, no curry, we never had oil or sugar, and we became very weak. I cannot tell you how hard it was. We didn’t even have shoes a lot of the time. Sometimes I remembered my parents and my friends, especially when I had very bad malaria. We had to work every day so we could eat. We had rice fields and vegetable gardens and we grew all our own food. We couldn’t rest, even if we were sick, because our rations were so small. We all got very weak, and people had fevers all the time. We stayed there for about two and a half years. At that time, I suffered from malaria a lot, very seriously. Often when the other soldiers went out into the operation area, I had to be left alone. I became very, very weak. Finally my hair started falling out and I developed a skin rash on my face from the vitamin deficiency. So they sent me some medicine from Mizoram and some soldiers carried me back to Mizoram. I had to stay there for about 2 or 3 months under treatment. I just took medicine and rested. I just couldn’t get better, so I couldn’t do anything. The rest of our troops stayed in Bangladesh or in the border area. The three or four soldiers who came with me were able to get work as manual labourers earning 50 rupees a day, and that was what we used to buy rations so we could eat. They were all also in very poor health from having constant malaria. One night they arrested all of us, all eight of us who were living together like a family. I don’t know what information the Mizoram police got, but they arrested us. They sent us to the district jail for two years. They interrogated all of us who were detained, sometimes as often as three times a month. We were charged under section 120B of the code, for having arms. And also we were illegal entrants to India. The Indian government gave us a lawyer. He helped us, but there was no way to close our case quickly because under the provisions of 120B we were liable for treason, rebelling against the government. However, since we were trying to overthrow the Burmese government, not the Indian government, why were we tried for this in India? So the Indian court ruled we would not be allowed to stay in India. Finally we had to stay in jail for two years and two months and then we were released. So I went back to camp of course. I don’t know how to describe all the problems, and the problems we face in the jungle, especially for women. When you’re sick, in the jungle you can’t do anything, even you can’t eat what you would like. So when I was in the jungle, I had no freedom, I could never be happy, I couldn’t live like other people. I couldn’t do anything I wanted. But my life is for my cause, so we must have a lot of rules. I know I could also not be happy living in Burma until we achieve democracy. We have a lot of women who must live like that, in the jungle. CINT 98

SANDA, 25, ALP Two years ago, two girls were raped in Ratkhonding, five miles away from my village. These girls were about 15 and 17 years of age, and they used to sell dresses and clothes around the villages. On the way, they met some soldiers. They were gang raped by about 10 soldiers. They were released afterwards. These girls were so ashamed and they did not go to the hospital. They only told their relatives, but the news of the rape broke out. Their relatives complained but nothing happened. Some women treated them with traditional medicine. Many women felt very angry against the army and said that they would like to kill these soldiers. That is why 12 girls decided to flee together and join ALP. I was one of them. Because of that rape! Maybe this could have happened to us too! In our village, a girl cannot do anything. She cannot even die. Because the news spread, these two girls had to leave their houses and move somewhere else. Their parents couldn’t move because they had a farm. So they sent their daughters to the city to hide. After we girls left to join the ALP, our parents, our relatives and the headman were arrested by the army. They were tied up because they did not inform the army that we had left. Another girl from a nearby village, a nurse, went to join

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ALP too. She was about 18, she was single and she came from Pring Chaung village. The army got informed and arrested her. They cut her with a knife. She did not receive any food and they tortured her so much, she died from it. They asked her to promise not to join with insurgents. She refused. The army called her parents at the army camp and they tried to convince her, to no avail. It happened at Daung Daung Nyo camp in Kyauk Taw Township. When I joined the ALP, I got military training, the same like the men. I am a private. My duty is in the ALP women’s section. During operations the women always stayed at the back line. Women serve as nurses, medics, signal operators, or they cook food for the men. I would like to fight in the frontline. We, women, requested our leaders many times to be sent to the frontline, but they refused. Our Captain said, “After I die, you can!” There are 15 women soldiers in ALP plus the soldiers’ wives and female relatives. We have a special women’s regiment. The highest rank for a woman is section commander. What men can do, we, women, can also do! CINT 173

Indirect Participation

In addition to participating directly in political organizations and movements, women in every part of Burma have sustained social and family life in times of conflict. They have allowed men – fathers, sons, brothers, husbands – to engage in politics, and provided the resources – sometimes the lifeblood of cash – that have made many of their activities possible. Women who take care of the children when those in their families are arrested or flee into exile, women who cook, house and care for male politicians, activists and soldiers and thereby allow their work to continue, provide needed support that is rarely recognized. Besides women who work alongside men politicians, there are so many women who help in different ways, indirectly, as much as they can, for example, by cooking and sending rations to the men when they are in the field. CINT 279 Our husbands are politicians, so they do their work and we cook for them. That’s all we can do. CINT 71 [During the fight for independence] we helped in order to provide moral support as well. It showed that the women back home were caring for those who were out on the battlefield…. We had to find money for food as well as do housework. We also helped with the nursery. Before the ceasefire, the KWA committee members discussed with women in various communities to help find funds to buy cigarettes and dried foodstuffs for the soldiers in the battlefield. We found funds sometimes by selling chicken porridge or snacks. We also helped with the nursery schools and health clinics with financial assistance from overseas. CINT 111 My brother and his comrades formed the CNF. Some went to the Kachin State for training. Those who remained be-

hind opened up a camp. When I was in Mizoram, my sister joined me because she couldn’t go to school there. So I had the responsibility to send her to school. I sold the goods that she brought from Burma. I was a pwehza (an agent who works between the buyer and the seller). The CNF members frequented our place. At that time, they were really poor. They had no money. They would come to my house to eat. They had no clothes to wear. I bought them clothes as much as I could afford to. I gave them pocket money. Sometimes when they didn’t have bus fare, I would give it to them. They also would come and borrow money from me. It wasn’t much. I helped them that way. My brother also stayed with me whenever he came back from travelling. The CNF members would frequent my place. There was not a single MI in Mizoram who didn’t know me. They knew me as the sister of the vice president of the CNF. The military intelligence from the Special Intelligence Branch, Law, and the Mizoram government always came to my house. They came to investigate. Previously the CNF and the Indian government got along well. At that time, things were convenient for us. They didn’t search our house. They didn’t detain us. Later, when they didn’t get along with the CNF anymore, they detained us a lot. They searched our house often. They took me to the station often. They asked me what I did at the CNF, what rank I had at the CNF. They thought I was a CNF member. Not an ordinary member, but an executive committee member. I was not a CNF member. I was nothing. I was only helping them from outside. I wanted to help them. I wanted to help achieve freedom for my people. Later my brother was shot by Indian Military Intelligence. After that my parents couldn’t stay in Burma, so they came here. CINT 97

Women traders have been instrumental in keeping communication between groups inside and outside the country, and have often assisted by providing funds when organizations had no other source of income.

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Because their continued ability to work often depends marriages. While most of the women we spoke with on their anonymity, these women usually do not have were in exile, many times in the Burma’s turbulent formal political affiliations. political history, it has been women who have been left behind when men have left their homes to go to [When I first became involved] there was no particular po- war or undertake covert political activities. Many of litical organization. We just were involved in student activi- the male politicians living in exile have left wives ties. When the uprisings took place in 1988, some political and children behind inside Burma. These women student activists asked me to carry leaflets to distribute in are often required to provide for and raise their chilMandalay. At the time, I was in business and traveling dren alone, maintaining the hope that their spouses around… Sometimes I brought the newsletters and some will return to them. In exile as well, some women leaflets from the student camp to Mandalay. I put these we spoke with had divorced because of the strains beneath the batik cloths I sold and distributed them when that political activity placed on their relationships. the customers bought things. Women are still involved in political movements. Sometimes it is very difficult to bring political documents inside Burma. Mostly women try to bring them because women are not as suspicious as men. Also at the border, the most powerful authority is immigration, and they know that women do this work, but act like they don’t know and let them go. They know that women have connections with student activities. CINT 62 When I arrived at the border, we agreed that all members, except me and another man would stay together in the camp. We both would stay outside and work for the others. The weavers, like Ma O— and Ma W— supported the students a lot by paying donations for our travelling and living. For me, I like all organizations and I help them all as well as I can…. I love to stay at the border to help the Burmese people who are in trouble. As I can speak the local language I can help many Burmese people here when they have no money for hospitalization, when the new arrivals have no place to stay and when some others are being arrested. That’s why I still stay here at the border. To save our country of course we can do it from afar and also we can do it from the place closest to our country. I can be a useful person in many places on the border. On the other hand, I can help to ensure our security also. I can tell who are good and who are bad — who might be used as informers or spies by the SPDC. Mostly the SPDC uses the local speakers and those who are accustomed with the place. In order to accomplish our aim and goals, I would like to serve in any channel given to me. I don’t want to be proud of having greater or lesser responsibility in service. If the work is going well I will be satisfied. CINT 197

Although many women take pride in supporting their husbands and others in their communities as their contribution to “the revolution,” the demands on them often take a personal toll, sometimes on their

My house is always full of guests. Some students do not want to rent a house and they come and stay with us. So, the house owner said to us, “You have too many guests, more than your family by about three times!,” and now the house owner is asking us to leave soon during this month. Today, we just went to look for a new house. CINT 198 My husband was much older than me. During the 1988 demonstrations, my husband was an opposition leader, and he participated in leadership and so he had to run away. The MI’s were after him. He went underground. The MI’s knew that he ran away to —. So the MI’s and police and soldiers tried to arrest me. So I came to my husband. I had many difficult experiences. I don’t know if I can tell all to you. First, there are many dangers, many enemies. When I rented a house here, my husband’s rebel group came and stayed at my house. They had nowhere else to stay. They ate whatever we had. So it was difficult to feed them. If they faced any problem, we had to help them. That’s why my husband and I had many problems. If I wanted friends, there was also danger. I couldn’t trust them. They could be sent from the Burmese army. I had to think about these things. He had to travel for training, and he came back sometimes. But he didn’t stay very long and we met only for a short time. And so it wasn’t a pleasant marriage. We didn’t agree on things. It was complicated. We had children, but we didn’t have much contact. Things were difficult for commuting. It was not possible for me to go join my husband because I took care of the kids. So we got divorced. Now as a single woman with two children, I still face a lot of hardship. CINT 100

CONSEQUENCES OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY

Direct or indirect participation in political activity carries the threat of harsh punishment, and concern about possible consequences is a constant presence in the lives of those with political connections.

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CEASE-FIRES The cease-fire was mostly about commercial agreements and commercial issues. They didn’t talk about politics. CINT 112

The Burmese military regime have signed cease-fires with 16 of the armed groups opposing the central government, as they are fond of pointing out in the state-controlled media and at international fora. Mutinies by Wa and Kokang factions leading to the internal collapse of the Communist Party of Burma in 1989 paved the way for cease-fires between the SLORC and the CPB, as well as other northern-based groups, such as the Shan State Army and the Palaung National Army. In 1992 and 1993, the SLORC extended the olive branch to the members of the Democratic Alliance of Burma, on the proviso that they would only negotiate with individual groups and not with the alliance as a whole. The Kachin Independence Organization was the first to sign an agreement in September 1993. It was followed by the New Mon State Party in 1995. While the Karenni National Progressive Party signed a ceasefire with the SLORC in 1995, the agreement broke within three months of signing. Civilians who have borne the terrible toll in lives taken by armed conflict have welcomed cease-fires. However, on the whole, ceasefires have failed to offer political settlements addressing the roots of conflict. Without independent monitoring, it is not possible to say to what extent human rights abuses continue in cease-fire areas. At present, opposition forces claim that as many as 12 armed groups continue to fight in different parts of the country. The ongoing conflict within Burma is one of the greatest obstacles in women’s path to political equality. As politicians the world over have long been aware, the everyday concerns of a nation tend to pale to insignificance when defense issues are at hand. Peaceful settlements are paramount to the advancement of women’s political presence. Yet, with the discrimination that prevents women from reaching the higher echelons of central government or opposition politics, women for the most part have not been included in cease-fire talks. Although civilians usually take a strong interest in the progression of talks, they are often allowed only partial understanding of what was agreed after negotiations have been completed. The lack of female presence at such crucial moments indicates that women’s concerns may not be properly addressed, and the problems that existed previously will be carried over into the cease-fire period and beyond. In some cases, political organizations believe that women’s groups do not have a legitimate need to concern themselves with negotiations. I remember when I first arrived in Thailand, I explained my experiences in Kachin State to people in a women’s meeting. One young boy came to listen to the meeting just for a few minutes while I was explaining about what happened when the KIA made a cease-fire agreement with the SLORC… That boy went back and told his leaders about what he heard in the women’s meeting. The leaders said, “How is it that the [women’s organization] meeting can be concerned with the cease-fire?” CINT 274

With the varied conditions in different areas, experiences in areas under cease-fire diverge widely. These are some of the views that women we spoke with shared about the process of cease-fires and life after agreements had been signed. During the discussions with the SLORC, members of the KIO leadership would go to the villages and talk about the cease-fire. There were usually only one or two who would oppose the cease-fire because they still wanted to fight with the Burmese authority. But an overwhelming majority agreed with the cease-fire because the Chairman explained the situation to them, and he said the leaders would be responsible for giving autonomy to the Kachin people at the table [during discussions]. So he said that the public, the civilians will suffer less now because there will be no fighting. There will be less suffering. The Chairman told us that the Kachin public doesn’t have to fear or run away from war as we did before. That’s why you don’t need to be afraid of anything. Just do the best you can with

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the things you need to do. The chairman told us that we must be alert all the time, because the cease-fire might not last. The Chairman said, “Don’t think that with the ceasefire we have already gained autonomy.” That’s what he said….The Burmese military government said we could negotiate later with a more permanent government. I don’t know what kind of deception this is. Looking back, it seems like the SLORC had no intention of giving us autonomy. The first that I heard of the promises made by the SLORC was during the cease-fire discussions. They offered the Central Committee members houses, cars, money, and said they would give higher education to their children, but only if they completely surrendered to the Burmese. Only Central Committee members. And for the children who didn’t complete high school, they would give them grades to pass high school. They’d give them all these benefits if they agreed to surrender. But the central committee members said that they were in a revolution not for all these personal gains, but because they wanted the Kachin people to have their rights. In the household, there is still no peace. We don’t feel peace. Even though our KIO leaders made peace, we don’t feel peace in our households because of the difficult living conditions. For women soldiers, the conditions after the cease-fire are the same. They still recruit women. But I think we now play lesser roles than before because there is no war, where we had to take care of sending supplies to the soldiers. Before the Kachin Women’s Association members were extremely busy here sending supplies to the battlefield because there were continuous battles. So they had to find money to buy cigarettes for the forces, and to make rations, to prepare rations. After the cease-fire, we didn’t do this any more. Now the soldiers just stay at their posts and do whatever they need to do. A lot of the soldiers now are involved in development work, including plantations. Soldiers are involved in repairing roads and bridges, so now the Kachin Women’s Association doesn’t have as many responsibilities… CINT 111 In Mon area there are more women than men, sometimes three women to every one man. We want to encourage women to take leadership positions but we need to improve our level of education. The Mon Women’s Organization are trying to provide many kinds of training, including leadership training for women, and nursery schools, which free up women’s time, in order to get more women participating. In addition to more education, we need more experience. We don’t have experience in management and administration. Also sometimes the community is not supportive of women who are interested in politics. Actually we have a lot of problems like this. The men want us to become involved in development, but not in politics. We believe that if women become interested in politics, they will start to get involved, and will gradually learn more and more until they come to know more about politics, and this will allow us to play a more important role. So the first step is encouraging women to become involved and teaching them. The Mon Women’s Organization communicate with the New Mon State Party, who are now in communication with the SPDC. But still women’s concerns may not be discussed much. We believe our leaders are starting to understand about women’s rights, because we are trying very hard to get our leaders to understand. Now women are standing for election and playing a more important role in things. Last election, two women lost by only three votes. Before the cease-fire, the only thing people thought about was fighting. That was the focus of everything. Now women can do a lot more in terms of organization. Before, all the priority was given to fighting the war. Now women’s roles in the community are more important. For example, now we are able to have trainings inside our area, and women are included in elections and other conferences. Our women’s organization now gets a lot more chances to learn and help women, because we can give and attend more trainings. CINT 288

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The ruling military are often ruthless in their allocation of retribution. If they cannot punish the offender directly, anyone connected with him or her is at risk of punishment because of their association. Women are particularly sensitive to this form of retaliation. Burmese society greatly fears rape and sexual harassment of women. The military often capitalizes on the fear that the threat of such violence carries. Accounts of arrest, torture and rape have been well documented, and many women have had to suffer harsh penalties as a result of their political allegiance. Arrest & Fear of Sexual Abuse (See also Violence against Women and Women & the Law) As with rape in conflict, rape as a means of suppressing and rooting out political opposition has long been hidden— both because sexual attacks on women are not viewed as political and because such abuse often is carried out by the only authorities in a position to provide remedies… It routinely serves a strategic function and acts as a tool for achieving specific military or political objectives. Like other human rights abuses, rape serves as a means of harming, intimidating and punishing individual women. Further, rape almost always occurs in connection with other forms of violence or abuse against women or their families.17 Women don’t dare [take part in politics] because if the government arrests them, soldiers rape them. When they arrest men, they arrest and punish them. Women, they rape. CINT 286 The Committee expresses its concern about the situation of women in custody, especially with regard to their being subject to sexual violence. - Concluding Observations and Recommendations of the CEDAW Committee

Exploitation of the fear of abuse, particularly sexual abuse, works to strongly discourage women’s participation in political movements, or direct it into different areas from men’s participation. Both women and their families greatly fear custodial rape and other forms of sexual harassment. The SPDC maintains that all women prisoners are guaranteed the right to fair treatment during incarceration under the terms of the Prison Manual, which provides for maternity and women’s health needs. Testimonies of former prisoners indicate that women political prisoners are often tortured and that the nature of torture is often sexual.

Gathering Strength

Actually parents are more worried that their daughters will get involved in politics. They can’t imagine how women and girls might be treated if they’re arrested. They really fear for their daughters being sexually harassed by men or raped by authorities, as there have been so many stories about these cases in jails and prisons. It doesn’t matter so much for boys, because it’s not important whether men are virgins or not, but for girls, it’s their whole lives. CINT 77 I think for torture, female students were mostly made to feel shameful. [The authorities] humiliate them... women are vulnerable in a sexual way. For men it is physical pain – to hit them and beat them. For women, it is to take off their longyis. One girl I knew had a hood put over her head so she couldn’t see and was asked many questions. She refused to confess. She heard many male voices but the one that asked her questions directly was a woman. For women, the interrogators are women. She could not sleep for many nights, and one guy said he was her boyfriend and talked to her. He kept harassing her and kept telling her abusive and humiliating things. They put many words in her mouth — this is very abusive in Burmese. At that time, her longyi was taken off and she was intimidated — she thought she was going to be raped. She almost confessed. She was very sad and could not speak after that... This happened in 1996. Recently, they really beat the female students. They force women to sit up and down, a form of torture. CINT 85

As she relates in the book Tortured Voices, about experiences of political prisoners in Burma, Su Su Mon was interrogated in 1991 by the military intelligence for her activities during the student uprising. On the first night’s interrogation she was forced to squat for hours with her arms in the air while the officers hit her on the nipples and hips with a bamboo stick, until finally she was beaten unconscious. After being detained for two weeks, she was interrogated again. One officer threatened that if I refused to confess, I would lose my virginity. I was so frightened that I couldn’t eat or sleep. I couldn’t decide what to do. I was in an impossible situation and I nearly went mad.18

After three days, she was sent to Insein Prison where she was kept for two years. Detention & Imprisonment

Even when they do not face sexual violence, women political prisoners may be subjected to torture, intimidation and physical abuse during interrogation,

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POLITICAL PRISONERS

Many of Burma’s most famous women are also among the country’s best known political prisoners. Thida, a prominent writer known for her short stories and a doctor at a charitable hospital, was arrested in August 1993. She was a close friend of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s. She was charged under the Emergency Law for distributing copies of Khit Pyaing, a newspaper produced by pro-democracy activists in Thailand, in Rangoon. She was in her late twenties at the time. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Despite repeated appeals by overseas groups for her release, she was held virtually incommunicado until 1999, when she was unexpectedly released.19 Writer San San Nweh was Burma’s first woman to receive training as a journalist. Author of 12 novels, over 500 short stories and approximately 100 poems, she also served as an editor of two women’s magazines. As a member of the NLD, she became a close associate of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She was arrested in August 1994 and sentenced under the Emergency Act in October of the same year to ten years in prison, for “producing and distributing information harmful to the state” to foreign journalists and the UN Special Rapporteur on Burma. At the time she was 49. Subsequently, all her writings, including her previously published works, were censored and made no longer available in Burma. During her imprisonment, she suffered from high blood pressure, kidney infection and thrombocytopenia (an abnormal number of platelets in the blood), contributing to liver and eye problems. Daw San San Nweh was incarcerated in Insein and Tharrawaddy prisons, where she was tortured. In 1999, the international organization Reporters San Frontieres awarded her their annual prize.20 In April 2001, she was allowed outside for the first time since her arrest to visit with her family for three hours. She was released on 18 July 2001 with 10 other NLD members, an action believed to be a result of the ongoing negotiations between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the military regime. Kyi Kyi, who died in June 2001 at the age of 82, was arrested and imprisoned perhaps more consistently than any other woman in Burma’s history. Wife of the Communist Party of Burma’s illustrious Thakin Zin, she was a powerful political actor in her own right. Elected to the executive of the Burmese Women’s Congress in 1946, she went underground with her husband in 1948 to join the armed struggle. She had four children in the jungle, and when she was arrested for her activities in 1959, they spent two years with her in prison. Charged again in 1967 under the Emergency Security Act, she spent five more years in prison. Her annual remembrance services commemorating the death of her husband in 1975 served as regular opportunities for anti-government forces to meet, and in 1987 she was again jailed for refusing to put an end to them. Released in 1988, she was accused within a year of plotting with the CPB to overthrow the government and sentenced to 20 years in jail. Her sentence was commuted to 10 years and she was released in June 1999, but reportedly she never recovered from the effects of her last period of incarceration.21

and sometimes throughout their incarceration. Often they are held without trial or charges for months, and are subject to extortion, paying exorbitant sums of money to jailers to exempt them from hard labour or to secure their release. This Chin woman, who was a member of the NLD and had the township NLD office in her house, was detained for over a month in 1997. In the month of May 1996, I had gone to Rangoon and met

with Aung San Suu Kyi. I took one set of Chin clothes and we took pictures of her wearing them and made a calendar, 250 copies, and also a cassette tape, ten copies of the cassette tape of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech, and I took them to Thantlan. One day, a member of the CNF bought something from my shop, and the authorities accused me of supporting the CNF and arrested me. [Although they didn’t know about my trip to Rangoon], the authorities knew that we had these things, and they asked about the tape. “You have the tape,” they said, “you must give it to us.”

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KHIN MYINT YEE, 49 In 1992, at the beginning of June, when my husband left from here, everyone who helped him was arrested. There were six of us, relatives from both our families. The SLORC authorities accused us of stealing and absconding with stolen things. Really they asked us only about how my husband escaped to India, but the pretext they used to keep us in jail was this accusation of being involved in robbery. When they took me, the authorities didn’t tell my three children who were left in the house where I had gone. So they didn’t know what had happened to me at first. Only when I was released did I know what we had been accused of – theft, under article 380 of the Penal Code. I was accused of stealing a bicycle. They put me in jail and they used to take me for interrogation at l0:00 p.m. and then send me back to the jail at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. At first they were very rude, then after the first two or three days they became more polite. I said to the military intelligence; “You can consider me as my husband’s wife. When my husband faces difficulties, I must help my husband. If you faced difficulties, also your wife would do the same as me.” The place where they kept me, they also kept some prostitutes. We had to use everything together. We had a clay pot that we had to use as a toilet. We had a 6 by 10-foot room and 15 people. It wasn’t easy to sleep. We have to lie on our sides with our feet on top of each other. Some girls had some kinds of wounds in their vaginas. Three girls were always bleeding. But they didn’t have any medicine. They were ethnic, some were Naga, they couldn’t speak Burmese, and some were Chin, totally five or six that couldn’t speak Burmese. They had this disease, but they had no medical treatment. In that room, I had to stay in the corner for five days. There was no light, the ants came all the time, and when it rained the wall was really wet. I hated it there, also the mosquitoes bit me, and the jailers said, “This is where you have to stay, this is the right place for you.” And they told everyone I was the leader of the prostitutes, that’s why I had to stay with them. But they told the women inside the room, “She came from intelligence to investigate the jail, so don’t tell anything to her.” I explained that that wasn’t true. And they came to know that. They didn’t tell my family, and I got just raw fish paste and rice and a little water. It wasn’t that I couldn’t eat it, but I didn’t eat because I didn’t want to eat. I remembered my children. I told them I would eat when they informed my family, only then. Even though I didn’t eat, it was no problem for me, because I could meditate, I used to meditate without eating, but not drinking water was a problem. I don’t know what they did to the water, but it was strange, the color was grey. But whether I wanted to or not, it was the only water we had so I had to drink it. When I was released and I finally saw myself, my skin looked bluish-grey and my face was puffy. After I arrived back, it got better. They tortured a lot of people. But they didn’t torture me physically. I don’t know if that was because I was old or because they had another idea. At that time, my eyes became really red, like all the little blood vessels inside broke, so when the MI saw this, they asked me to sign a paper saying it was not because they had tortured me. I said fine, I know you didn’t torture me physically but I can say you gave me a lot of mental suffering, that’s for sure! This I told them. And they were scared that I would say my eyes were red from being tortured. I was released at the end of one month. Then in November, the SLORC came and closed down our two clinic buildings and our house itself. They said that it was because my husband had opposed the government from his home, using the money from the clinics, so they closed down the whole compound and locked it up. We left the area where my husband had been elected an MP and moved to Monywa. We had to rent another house. The SLORC told people that if anyone rented a house to us, it would be closed just as our previous house was. We had no place to stay and my children were in school. But we had very good friends and they said, “Even if the authorities want to come and lock our house, we don’t care. You can stay here.” I think they helped us because they really wanted to help the cause of the revolution, so I didn’t need to pay for the house. After they locked our house, the SLORC came to ask me for 250,000 kyats for the possessions they had seized. I told them, I have no money to get the things back. However, those things will come back to me as they were justly procured through our efforts. After that, once a week, I had to go to the Yawata (local LORC) office and sign (my name) to show that I was still there. I felt like a criminal after I got out of jail. CINT 91

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SALLY HTOO, 24 I was studying at Botataung College in Rangoon in 1996. When the students’ demonstration took place I was a student leader. The demonstration started on 10th of November, and we were arrested on 15th November. That day was the day our three regional colleges, the main university and Dagon college joined together to demonstrate. We started to march from school, and the police started to chase us from Thein Pyu Road. At the beginning of the demonstration, they beat us with wooden sticks and fired tear gas at us. Then they arrested us at Anawyahta Road and we were taken to the Bar Road police station. They arrested students from our school and other schools as well. About 300 students from Botataung college joined in the demonstration, and 50 of them were arrested and sent to Bar Road police station. And then the police interrogated us. “Why do you want to go against our military government?” they asked, and we argued with them. We kept repeating our demands. They told us not to. I was held in detention for nine days altogether. As we refused to sign the things they gave us, they tortured us by beating us with belts and slapping us. They gave food once in three days. On the third day they tried again to get us to sign the bail sheets, but we refused. On the seventh day they started to torture us with electric shock, and I lost consciousness when I got the third electric shock. When I regained my memory I was in a cell. I was kept in detention for another two days, but since I was becoming weak and delirious, the authorities called my relatives to come to the police station and sign on my behalf, and I was released. What they signed said that I would not take part in such activities again, and if I did all my relatives would be arrested. I was barred from university forever. When I heard that the school would re-open in August 1998, I came back to Rangoon to continue my studies, but I was told that I had been barred for being involved in the demonstration, and I wasn’t allowed to register. CINT 267

THIDA AUNG, 39 My husband was a Central Executive Committee member of the Arakan People’s Democratic Front, which was banned at the time of the 1990 elections. After my husband left, the SLORC came to me and asked me questions about my husband, what he was doing, where he was. The M.I. interrogated me and then tortured me for two days in the police station in Sittwe. They tortured me in various ways. They said, “Go to see your husband. If you don’t we will kill you.” During the night they didn’t allow me to sleep. “Get up! Get up!” they shouted. Then they threatened me and interrogated me again. They hit me with a stick. They pulled my hair. They pushed me down onto the wooden floor. Sometimes they let me rest while they were torturing another person. Then they came back to me again. When they arrested me I was the only woman. The next day, I heard that they were also interrogating and torturing other women. These women also had husbands who were involved in politics. We were kept separately, so I could not see and hear exactly what happened to them. At the police station, some of the police had been students of my father. They favoured me, because my father is an important person in Sittwe. That is why they didn’t torture me too much. But the other women were tortured in a very bad way. Maybe some of them were raped. I heard that they forced them to remove their clothes in the police station. The police and the soldiers are Burmese, so they like to harass [Arakanese] women. Thanks to my father I got released after 2 days. Then for two months they used to come all the time to my house. They watched me carefully and followed me constantly to see where I was going, whom I was contacting, etc. They kept asking me to call my husband, but I replied: “I can’t call him, because I do not know where he is!” I had to quit my teaching job, because I was suffering mentally. The military was always threatening me and I had no courage to teach. My parents helped me and my children. When my father retired from his job, I made the decision to join my husband. Without my father working, it would have been too difficult to support my children. CINT 175

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They tortured me badly. They tied my hands behind me, and blindfolded me for three nights and three days, and questioned me without stopping…. They kept me tied up and held a pistol on me while they questioned me. They beat me about the head until I became unconscious, and they sent me to hospital. I think they were afraid I would die in jail so they put me on a drip. The person who tortured me was Bureau of Special Investigations Capt. Ye Myint. The reason they gave me that drip was that I was a woman, and if I died in their hands, it would cause a lot of problems for them….

we were university students and the police did not want problems with students. CINT 18

They put me in jail for one month. Every day they asked many questions, but I didn’t want to tell them anything, so I just kept telling them I don’t know, I don’t know. I was sure that if I told them anything at all, I would be sent to Monywa jail, so I just didn’t answer the questions. Finally, they didn’t know what to do so they asked me to pay 500,000 kyat. They knew I had done something, but they couldn’t find what it was, and they had no evidence from me that I had done anything wrong, so they had to release me, so all they could do was ask money from me. Before they released me, I was forced to sign a paper promising that I would not talk about CNF and I would not support them, and that I would withdraw from the NLD, and I would destroy all the NLD documents I had, and I would take down the NLD signboard. They forced me to sign that. And I wanted very much to get out of jail, which was why I signed the paper. CINT 92

WOMEN’S POLITICAL ACTIVITIES IN EXILE

Punishment of Association

In the camps, women can be part of the women’s organizations, and they are also the teachers, the nurses, and members of the youth organizations. CINT 286

While fear of incarceration may dampen women’s participation in politics, those who are not directly involved are sometimes equally at risk of arrest. When they are unable to find the principal actors they seek, the authorities sometimes resort to punishing relatives who are likely to have assisted them. Thus women have been arrested not only for their own activities, but also because of those of family members. My sister was involved in the pro-democracy movement, including the 1988 demonstrations. When I was attending university, the police would follow me around, both on and off campus. One day, in 1997, a letter arrived from my sister. In Burma, the police read all the letters, so they knew that my sister had written to me. I was taken into custody and questioned by the police. They wanted to know how I had contacted my sister and all sorts of other information. They told me that if I had any further contact with my sister they would arrest me. Two of my friends were also questioned at the same time. They didn’t assault us physically as

Wives of politicians or members of the opposition are often seized instead of their husbands and held as bait or punished in their stead. In 1998, during crackdowns on the NLD, many wives of MPs who had gone into hiding or fled to other countries were taken into detention without trial or sentence for periods of months as “guests at government resthouses.”

Right now women are most concerned about acting only at a community level, not at a country level. CINT 286

As a result of political repression, many women from Burma and their families have fled the country, and are now living in exile, sometimes in refugee camps. In part because their energies are focussed on the welfare of their families and communities, women are often in an ideal position to identify the most pressing concerns of ordinary people. Excluded from working in the upper echelons of the political system, many female refugees have taken advantage of their “inferior” positions to exert their influence, with immediate impact, among the grass roots.

As in many parts of the world when women are marginalized in mainstream politics or participation in other community affairs, they have started their own organizations. Some organizations, such as the Karen Women’s Organization and the Tavoyan Women’s Union began years ago inside the country. Others like the Karenni National Women’s Organization, the Shan Women’s Action Network and the Women’s Rights and Welfare Association of Burma were started in refugee camps, migrant and exile communities. Most of the women’s organizations espouse developmental aims, including skills acquisition for income generation and mother and child health programs. In addition to implementing projects aimed at promoting women’s rights at a local level, for example on domestic violence, these groups are also engaged in working with the international women’s human rights movement. Many have grown increasingly more political in their attempts to expand women’s roles in leadership and decision-

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FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION ON POLITICAL WORK IN REFUGEE CAMPS 1st woman: Politics is freedom for all people. In Burma, all nationalities must participate in politics for freedom. 2nd woman: When we stay in the camp, we have to be nervous about our connection to politics. For example, we may need water, and the NGO will ask us, “Are you a political organization?” If we say yes, they will not give us water. Outside the camps, political work is related to all women, and women like to participate. Women are oppressed, and we need to have energy to work in politics…. I used to be a soldier in Burma. When the Burmese government came to fight us, there were not very many women. Women’s organizations have to help the situation, and I came to work here. This is participation in another way. We need support from NGOs. For example, we need food, and projects like income generation. If the basic needs of the family are taken care of, women can participate in politics. If we request help from our government in Burma, there is no way we will get help. We have to let the world know about us. We have to participate because our government never gives us help…. It is a big difficulty, even if we have enough food. Our husbands say, “There is no need for you to participate. It is not related to you.” Men talk like that. Women feel disappointed when they hear things like that. Even if they are strong women, they get discouraged. Men say, “You can do nothing. You are very weak.” 3rd woman: Only some women have education, and those women are working as teachers, or in the hospitals. When the camp committee is selected, the women who don’t have jobs can’t be on it because of their low level of education. Women with education are already working…. 2nd woman: Before voting, we need to educate people. Many men vote, and many men win. We need to let women know they can give their votes to women. Now some women do vote, but they don’t vote for women. We have to invite women to vote…. Women who do political work have to work in the day and night. They work together with men. Men say that women’s work needs to be in the house. They say bad things about political women because they go together with men. They might get pregnant, or have a bad situation. 3rd woman: Our work [in the women’s organization] is political, but we can’t say that in front of NGOs or the Thai government. We work, but we can’t say we are political. 4th woman: Sometimes the Thai government asks, “Is your work political?” If we say yes, we are afraid they will say, “Go back to your country.” But if we say “No,” we are afraid they will say, “You have stayed in our country for a long time and you don’t do anything.” CINT 287

A WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION MEMBER ON CRITICISM FROM COMMUNITY MEN We found after we formed the [women’s organization] that men didn’t think highly of us when we undertook our own activities. We sometimes didn’t have chances to make our own decisions, but anyway we organized our work by ourselves. But some men told us, “You can’t do this, just do that,” and it sounded like they wanted to influence us. That caused a lot of problems between our group and the men. We always had to argue with them. We told them we were working on our own issues, and we would do our work in our own ways. For example, we opened a shop to raise

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funds. Whenever we selected what we would sell in our shop, the men would criticize us and tell us things like, “You shouldn’t do this, you should do that. You may be wrong if you do this. You are bloody fools - you women are never united,” on and on. So we felt they didn’t recognize what we did. Even though there were some women soldiers in the camp, they could not afford to highlight women’s issues, so nobody knew what things we women were really capable of. Actually, although there were camp meetings, only men could attend the meetings, even though we were serving under the same military command. For instance, if there was a meeting on recent political changes, only male soldiers from each squad, platoon and so on could attend the meeting but not women. A woman representative couldn’t attend the meeting unless she was a head of a department, like the Education Department or something like that. In every meeting we could see far fewer women than men representatives, so women began to lose their interest in organizational affairs. Since women weren’t included in any decision-making, they felt these things weren’t their concerns. The women wouldn’t know what decisions were made in the meeting, what the purpose of the meeting was, and they probably even forgot to ask people about the meeting afterwards. The men made the women work as the cooks, that’s all. So they ended up just cooking for their husbands and doing domestic work at home. Their political knowledge and motivation decreased. At first, we all decided to do our utmost for the revolution but since we have had less chance to be involved in political affairs, we gradually became dull and bored with politics, and now we’re told by the men that we only know to eat, drink and go. All of us, including myself, ignored everything except themselves and their family. At first, I decided to fight a revolution against the SLORC because I was really disappointed with the government. But later I began to feel that I came to make a revolution, only to end up sitting around and eating other people’s rice. I felt that I no longer had responsibilities that I carried out for the people, and I wasn’t even interested in my own battalion’s affairs. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. But I was encouraged again and became aware that women could do many things after the [women’s organization] was formed. We still face problems. For example, in our [women’s organization] meeting, if we talk about or even just mention any political term, that is a big problem. The men say things like “How much can women really understand about politics? How do they think they can talk about that?” and “At the [women’s organization] meeting, the women are just talking about things beyond their ideas and concerns.” They think that at the [women’s organization] meetings, we must solely talk about selling things for income generation and other welfare concerns, like children’s problems. Actually men still have this idea about women. They only know that women can talk about things like weaving, sewing, selling things and setting up kindergarten schools in their meetings. They also presume that any women should not be talking about either politics or revolution, and that these issues are not women’s work. Even though we are in the [women’s organization], the men always told us, “You would do better to work for the prostitutes and the Burmese women who are in Thailand, providing social assistance for them.” These are the only things they think we can do. In order to get more women’s involvement in politics, we have tried to contact and join hands with other women’s organizations, but the men don’t see this as any special kind of work. They always urge the [women’s organization] to help migrant women workers, and they always ask to us if we can do something for those women. They presume that this is the only work for us to do. But we also need to educate women in our community to have self-confidence in themselves. We need to approach this step by step. You can’t forcibly educate people about equal rights. It is actually more difficult for us with Burma, because the discrimination is not the same as, for example, in some Muslim countries. If we faced very overt discrimination, it would be easier to fight. But we are mostly facing subtle cultural discrimination from the people in our community. For example, our elders, who love us very much, are the ones who don’t permit us to go other places. CINT 274

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making and to empower women to take part in community life. Groups that are currently active include, among others, the Karen Women’s Organization, the Mon Womens’ Organization, the Karenni National Women’s Organization, the Shan Women’s Action Network, the Pa-O Women’s Union, the Burmese Women’s Union, the Women’s Rights and Welfare Association of Burma, the Chin Women’s Organization, the Lahu Women’s Organization, the All Burma Lushaine Democratic Women’s Organization, the Kachin Women’s Organization, the Rakhine Women’s Union, the Tavoyan Women’s Union, the Muslim Women’s Organization, and the NLD Women’s Wing (inside Burma and Liberated Area). In 1999, the Women’s League of Burma, an umbrella group comprising eleven of these women’s organizations working in exile, was formed. Despite the often extraordinary achievements of these organizations over the past several years, they still face considerable obstacles in working towards their goals.

tivities. Many say that they need more education and confidence-building experiences to enable them to work in formal leadership roles, but that community perceptions of women’s capabilities must change first, before this is likely to be possible. While there are now women serving on virtually all of the refugee camp administrative committees, they are far fewer in number than men. Election procedures vary from camp to camp, but the main obstacle to having more female representatives appears to be camp members are not used to having women on the committee.

Women don’t always have the experience and the training that they need to be involved effectively. So even the women’s organizations sometimes have to rely on men to help them draft their constitutions and the like. So even in these organizations, the ideas are mostly the men’s because they know how to write these things. CINT 15

What about the camp leadership? Still women are less, we are lower than men. Men think that all women have less education and lower positions, so even when women have the opportunity to stand over men, the men feel bad and don’t like it… In the camp committee, which is 15 people, two are women. The accountant is a woman and there is one Women’s Affairs representative. CINT 235

It is not possible to do everything at once, I think. We will need to take time. Each of us must support or teach others in our respective communities as well as we can. It is better to do this in a group or association…. Having an organization is much better than trying to work individually, because the organization supports its people, and if we work through the organization we have more dignity and confidence. We will be inspired in our work. CINT 279

Only three or four women are on the camp committee [out of a total 12 members]. One is the teacher’s representative of the camp committee, and the other two are teachers. We tried to have an election to re-elect the committee, but the MOI said they saw no reason to vote in new people, that we should just let the same people continue their work. CINT 219

Moreover, making sure that women’s issues are addressed or included in the decision-making agenda is not a simple product of women’s presence in camp committees or other administrative bodies. Those who are able to participate are not always the most gender-aware women; in fact, they may be chosen to be on committees especially because they are not likely to threaten the status quo. When women are One problem is that some men do not understand why sensitive to gender issues, their fear of being rejected women have our own organization. They say we have equal by their male counterparts or the community at large rights, so why do we need our own organization? We have may prevent them from advocating for the immedito explain a lot, because as far as I see it, we don’t have ate implementation of programs, policies or deciequal rights. CINT 286 sions pertaining to women’s needs. In spite of these potential pitfalls, including women in decision-makIn refugee camps and opposition communities, women ing bodies is generally seen as a positive first step cite many of the same reasons that prevent them from towards a more regular female presence in commuparticipating in government and opposition politics for nity affairs. their diminished presence in local decision-making bodies. Since women are usually responsible for most 1st woman: When women participate in decision-making of the housework and childcare as well as income-gen- about the community, or schools, or health issues, they may erating work, few have opportunities to take on out- not always think specifically about what is important for side responsibilities. Women working with women’s women or girls. There are no limitations that women cannot organizations to change this have also encountered participate in camp committees here. Whenever the camp hostility from men, including their husbands, in their ac- committee makes decisions they consider people who are in

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need. They do not undertake any special consideration for children or women…. In some camps, they have drafted a rule that there should be a minimum of two female members for every 10 committee members. This is good. But now it is like a test to those women who are part of the committee, because they have just begun to participate. So they cannot do everything as they wish yet. They need to prove their capabilities, and when people have enough confidence in their abilities, they can make more decisions by themselves. They need to try to gain credibility slowly and steadily…. Before we got the opportunity to choose two women in the committee, it was quite difficult for women to come up. Now we’ve got it and we have to keep climbing step by step…. We can adapt in work while working. We can know nothing if we don’t do it. That is the main thing.

government, in turn, has an obligation to heed the voices of the country’s women.

2nd woman: If a committee contains only men we cannot know anything about their plans. Even though if we ask them, “What did you decide at the meeting?” they usually say “Don’t try to know about that.” Since women can participate in the committee now, we can access whatever is discussed in meetings, and we can tell or explain about these plans to others. So it is easier for the women. CINT 279

2nd woman: Another important issue is that after the fall of the dictatorship, an appropriate new government able to tackle the country’s problems and bring benefit must be formed soon. There will be a problem if the new government is not good, like the former government. The newly formed government will be tired because it will have to implement rehabilitation programs to solve the troubles the country has suffered both economically and politically. They should have patience regarding the advancement of women in society because this has been lacking for a long time. So this coming government needs to be open to the will of the people. And the people also need to take responsibility to inform themselves about their government. CINT 279

WOMEN IN BURMA’S POLITICAL FUTURE

At the time of writing, the political future in Burma remains nebulous. After several years of deteriorating relations between the NLD and the ruling junta and apparent political stalemate, in late 2000, to the surprise of both the domestic and international communities, it was announced that preliminary dialogue would be held between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Secretary 1 Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt. As a part of confidence-building measures, both sides have refrained from releasing any information about the state of the discussion. Concurrently, the military halted their daily attacks in the state-controlled press on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, and the NLD suspended their public criticism of the military in the form of statements or press releases. The SPDC have also released nearly 200 political prisoners and allowed the NLD to reopen many of its branch offices in Rangoon that were forcibly closed prior to the talks. While it is too early to predict the outcome of the present talks, hopes are high on all sides that they may lead at the least to some provisional solutions to the country’s problems. Women in exile recognize that the process of political reconciliation may still be long and slow, but that women have a critical role to play in it, and any future

1st woman: [Women’s diminished presence in the political sphere] is a result of dictatorship and the presence of the ruling junta and the absence of freedoms for the people. After the dictatorship is eliminated and democracy is achieved in the country, there will be an opportunity for organizations to form independently. And then if people are able to think independently, the position of women can rise and women’s involvement in politics will increase.... The ratio of women participating in politics will increase when democracy is achieved in our country. The two main obstacles are the dictatorship and the very conservative ideas of some people.

With particular respect to representation in government, many women felt that appropriate temporary special measures need to be put in place to allow women a greater chance to be heard in policymaking. One possibility suggested for increasing the number of women in positions of power was the use of a quota system reserving seats for women in national elections. In order to give women opportunities to participate in politics, the government should create a procedure for women in the constitution or in law providing for a certain percentage of seats for us in parliament, like in India. CINT 279 In Bangladesh, there is a quota for women. That is good. In our revolution too, we wanted our leaders to involve women and use the women’s ideas. How many women are included in the NCGUB government? None… We also have qualities, the same qualities like the ministers… Is that not correct? We are also educated. The ministers are also educated. They must use the ideas of women. Because all over the world, women represent 60% of the population,

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and men only 40%. So why don’t they want to use women’s talents? They must use women’s abilities. NCGUB, NDF, and DAB must include women. ALP also. I am fighting for that. The revolution will never be achieved if they leave women out. In Burma too, we need a special quota for women. At least 30%. 70% are men, OK, but they must give 30% for women in Burma, and in Arakan State too. Women should also be able to become President or Prime Minister. Especially, Arakan State is underdeveloped and the 60% of women are not educated. They must upgrade women’s education everywhere. Now they are hiding the women in the house. Like this, the community will go down. If 60% of the people are down, the country will be down. CINT 106

Women also believe that concrete programs must be implemented to provide women with the skills and knowledge they need to participate in politics, so that this representation is not merely token. demolish gender stereotypes, the process of empowering women must involve men as active participants Q: What do you need to participate in politics? and supporters. Group: Women need many things to participate in politics: confidence, accessible information, education, a good knowledge of many things. You must try hard, and participate in work in the community. You have to read lots of books, listen to the radio, read the newspaper. You have to listen to people’s needs and be a good listener. We need encouragement too. One woman: Another thing we need to implement is trainings so that women can manage organizations. Men have to share power, and give encouragement to women to participate at every level. Men have to share. CINT 286

While women noted that discrimination takes place in many different situations, not only in the public sphere, their thoughts about women’s rights to equality with men generally were often framed in discussions about political participation. Some women commented that as change does not happen by itself, programs for women must be implemented at a governmental level, and in order that these plans are made, women who understand what is needed must be in positions to make them. In terms of programs required, women included not only those aimed at increasing female political participation, but also broad awareness-raising campaigns on human rights education and gender, and affirmative action in a wide range of areas, including education and employment. Women also voiced the conviction that, in addition to raising men’s awareness and working to

1st woman: The government itself needs to legislate relevant regulations for women’s development or form a legitimate women’s association to help women in the community. The other NGOs also must participate in this as much as they can, and we ourselves must take responsibility to teach others. If all this is done at the same time, we can achieve things much more quickly. But we know that it will take time still to really achieve equality. It’s not something we can do in a short time. It is also important to include men who are encouraging and supportive in our women’s development activities. Some men are really sympathetic, and they want to participate with women activists. So we must use them in the right place as well. Sometimes, even when we cannot organize some of the women, we can organize men. We should approach men, and let them organize others to participate in our activities. It can also be very useful for us to use men’s ideas and their participation. Since superstitious ideas have rooted in people’s minds for long time, we cannot clear out these ideas all at once. So if we organize other people to be aware or understand our aim, it is going to take a long time. We should start to organize our husbands first. If we can organize them then we will be able to do 50% of our activities. We could achieve our goals when they support and participate with us. Step by step we could extend this process to our neighbors and they could organize their husbands as well. If we could do this, our husbands and our community will accept or understand more about our aims, and they themselves also will

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organize other men, and the whole country will accept our activities. Single women can organize their fathers, brothers and their boyfriends as well. 2nd woman: Then afterwards we can demand the law or whatever is appropriate to ensure women rights to participate in government. If we demand the government recognize the rights of women to participate immediately, our demands will be rejected by men. If we can manage to organize our husbands, and then organize our neighbors and others in our community step by step from bottom up every man shall understand our objectives. CINT 279

FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Under Article 7 of the CEDAW, governments agree to eliminate discrimination against women in political and public life. In securing women’s representation, states must take steps to promote women’s rights to vote and hold public office, to participate in policy formation at all levels of government and to participate in non-governmental organizations. Article 8 obliges governments to ensure women’s participation at the international level by affording them opportunities to represent their government and to take part in international organizations.

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commonly understood that engaging in political activities threatens women’s safety. According to consistent reports, those incarcerated receive inadequate food and medical treatment, and are harassed and tortured. Political prisoners who have been subjected to physical, psychological or sexual violence deserve appropriate counseling and compensation for injuries suffered and loss of income during their imprisonment. The SPDC should also promote women’s political participation by allowing the free formation of NGOs and interest groups, capable of lobbying for changes in policy. Under the current climate, where civil society is all but stifled, women have almost no opportunities to meet, discuss, organize, or form platforms for political action. Restrictions on freedom of association and the formation of NGOs must be lifted to allow women at the grassroots level to play more roles in their own communities. In recognition that women are sometimes timid or reticent to become involved in community issues for fear they will be criticized, means need to be found to include them in planning, particularly on development issues that directly impact their lives.

Even during periods of democratic rule in the past, few women have been elected to parliament, implying that they are not encouraged to see themselves as political actors. As in some neighbouring countries, temporary reservation of a portion of seats in the Pyitthu Hluttaw (parliament) would help to accelerate women’s participation until a time when such measures are deemed unnecessary. It is hoped that under democratic rule, such affirmative action plans will be implemented. At the local level, women should be encouraged to take part in village meetings and stand for election as village heads and on village councils. Given that many women lack the confidence and experience to partake in political activities, women’s organizations and other groups should be allowed to give trainings on leadership and team-building, and workshops on political concepts. Women’s groups should encourage women to vote for female candidates, but also to make sure that women who are elected are gender-sensitive and fulThe SPDC should also immediately cease incar- fill promises made to their female constituents. cerating and physically and sexually abusing politically active women and female relatives of po- Opposition political parties should recognize women’s litical activists, and should release all political pris- strengths and abilities. Women, like men, are capable oners currently held. As a direct result of of deciding for themselves what risks they are willing government mistreatment of political activists, it is to take in public life. Fear of reprisal for political acAs long as the government in Burma remains under military control, women will be marginalized in decision-making, and denied the opportunity to formulate policies or enact laws on issues that directly concern them. In order to encourage women’s individual and collective participation in government, and to increase the number of women at higher levels, the current regime must move towards democratic rule, an aim it claimed to espouse at the CEDAW Committee meeting. It is hoped that the current dialogue between Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will continue, and that significant progress can be made towards transition. In the meantime, in order to build confidence in that the military is acting in good faith, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be released from house arrest, her privacy respected and her personal security guaranteed.

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tivities should not be used to discourage women’s active participation. Ethnic and pro-democracy opposition groups should promote women’s membership and active contribution broadly, and take special measures where needed, such as consultations with women’s organizations, to include them at a decision-making level. Opposition organizations should also consider affirmative action within their own Central Committees or other governing bodies to hasten women’s opportunities for participation. Women’s voices need to be heard in refugee camp committees, particularly given that the decisions made there affect them directly. Women also have a vital role to play in cease-fires. Opposition organizations must recognize the contribution women have made in struggles for autonomy and democracy, inside and outside Burma, and the expertise they often have in conflict resolution. More efforts should be made to include women on negotiating teams and apprise women in the population at large and in women’s groups of ceasefire terms, realizing that any agreements signed will impact the female population equally with the male. In some nations, the terms of nationwide cease-fires have demanded that a national-level body of women elected from women’s organizations play a consultative role in the future government. Given the important roles women in other parts of the Asia-Pacific region and the world have played at the bargaining table and in reconstruction, efforts should be made to learn from and make use of experiences from other countries. At international fora on women’s issues, women working on these issues should be given priority to attend and freely share their knowledge, rather than male military personnel who often have little experience to contribute to discussion. Greater female participation in ministries and NGOs would afford women more opportunities to share their views and experiences at regional and international meetings. The number of female embassy and consular staff should be increased to allow women greater chance to benefit from experiences of living overseas and represent their country internationally. Under the present repressive political atmosphere, much is needed to amplify women’s public voices, and very little space exists in which to work. Without more popular participation in government at all levels, any attempts to include women’s representation will remain superficial and perfunctory, unlikely to effect significant

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change. Women cannot be empowered in other areas unless they can influence and define national priorities, plan government spending, oversee programs, and make decisions for their communities. The government actions required in awareness-raising, training, implementation of counseling programs and women’s shelters, affirmative action, educational and health spending, rural development, budget reallocation, legal revision and other areas mentioned in the previous chapters are unlikely to be undertaken until women are present in administrative bodies to push for them. At the same time, restructuring at the highest echelons will be unproductive if women at a local level are not consulted and their views, situations and particular needs included in policymaking. Broad-based reform may take time to implement, but initiatives need to be undertaken as soon as possible. The great strides that have been made by exiled women’s organizations over a very short period of time are evidence that women working together can achieve their own opportunities for change. NOTES 1. Myanmar National Committee for Women’s Affairs, “Myanmar National Plan for the Advancement of Women,” August 1997, p. 1. 2. United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, “Initial report of States parties, Myanmar” (CEDAW/C/MMR/1), p. 14. 3. Sources referred to include May Pyone Aung, “Unsung Heroes in an Unfinished Struggle,” in The Burmese Women’s Union, White Dove, No. 2/98, September 1998, p. 32- 35; Kalaya Nee, “Cultural Restraint or Political Restriction,” Burma: More Womens’ Voices (Bangkok: Alternative Asean Network on Burma [Altsean], June 2000, p. 66-70, Bertil Lintner, Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency since 1948 (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1994). 4. Letter from the Ambassador of the Myanmar Embassy of the United States to the Washington Post, 29 July, 1998. 5. Pamphlets with cartoons of Suu Kyi labeled “genocidal prostitute” and “Call your bastard foreigner and buzz off now” were found in a Directorate of Defense Services Institute van during the 1988 uprising. See Bertil Lintner, Outrage (London

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& Bangkok: White Lotus, 1990), p. 121. 6. Many of the regime’s defamatory statements are also racist. One leaflet distributed in the early 1990s in English, under the name of an “International Correspondent” but widely believed to have been printed by military intelligence asked, “Will it be acceptable to the people of the United Kingdom if the Queen of England was married to a black West Indian, or if the President of the United States of America were married to a black Muslim lady?” See the Venerable Ashin Khaymar Sarra, Hitting Below the Belt: Principle Tactics of the SLORC (Author: Chiangmai, August 1997), p. 6. 7. ABSDF, To Stand and Be Counted (Bangkok: ABSDF, June 1998) p. 21 - 22. 8. “General Hails Role of ‘Brilliant’ Myanmar Women,” Burma Courier, Jan. 27, 2001. 9. Burma Lawyers Council, Burma: The Military and its Constitution (Bangkok: BLC, 1999), p. 45. 10. Janelle Diller, The National Convention in (Burma) Myanmar: An Impediment to the Restoration of Democracy (New York: International League for Human Rights), 1998, p. 21. 11. Naoki Aoki, “Than Shwe hints at possible role for Suu Kyi in Myanmar,” Kyodo, 5 November 2001. 11. See Myanmar National Committee for Women’s Affairs, “Myanmar National Plan for the Advancement of Women.” 12. This date is given in some government literature, however in other places, the organization is said to have been reformed in 1997. 13. UNICEF, “Situation Analysis of Children and Women in Myanmar,” Yangon, August 1999, p. 23. 14. Zunetta Liddell, “No Room to Move: Legal Constraints on Civil Society in Burma,” in Burma Center Netherlands and Transnational Institute, Strengthening Civil Society in Burma (Chiangmai: Silkworm Books, 1999), p. 62. 15. See Bertil Lintner, Outrage. 16. Many of the parties that registered in the national election did so in order to get extra gasoline and other rations. It was not uncommon for parties to form separately to campaign in a particular area but to try to rally support for the National League for Democracy. 17. Human Rights Watch, “Rape as a Weapon of War and a Tool of Political Repression,” www.hrw.org. 18. Su Su Mon, “At the Mercy of the Beast,” Tortured Voices (Bangkok: ABSDF, July 1998), p. 29. 19. Burma Information Group, Women in Politics (Bangkok: BIG, July 1994), p. 11. 20. Press release: Reporters Sans Frontieres, “Daw

San San Nweh (Burma) wins 1999 Reporters Sans Fronti res’ Fondation de France Prize,” 10 December 1999. 21. Min Zin, “Daw Kyi Kyi Passes Away,” The Irrawaddy On-line, June 2001, http:// www.irrawaddy.org.