Equality as ‘birthright’ in Myanmar

In September, the junta that has ruled Myanmar since a 2021 coup began to draft young women into the army. That may seem like an embrace of equality. It is not. The military top brass still reflects deep patriarchal traditions. The coup leader has criticized women for wearing pants during past protests for democracy.

Women account for nearly 1 in 5 of those killed by the junta since the coup. About a fifth of political dissidents in detention are women, notably Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose elected government was overthrown nearly four years ago.

The military is drafting women out of desperation for new soldiers. Young men are fleeing a widening net of forced conscription, or soldiers are defecting from the ranks. One reason: The civil war is slowly being won by armed militias of a pro-democracy coalition formed after the coup. The military now controls fewer than 100 of Myanmar’s 350 towns.

Yet another reason may be that one of the world’s longest-running violent conflicts is focused on civic equality. The promise – and lately the reality – of equal treatment for women has proved to be a great motivator in the fight for a civilian-run democracy.

“A young generation, particularly women, are at the forefront of Myanmar’s armed and non-violent resistance,” stated the International Crisis Group in a report earlier this year, “challenging longstanding age and gender norms and hierarchies.” The war’s outcome may be uncertain, the report found, but “Changing norms within the anti-military resistance may well shape politics and society more broadly.”

Whether women operate in all-female militias or in support roles, their participation in the pro-democracy groups governing much of the country is unprecedented in Myanmar’s history. Gender discrimination is still evident in much of the resistance. Only about a fifth of the Cabinet members in the National Unity Government that controls parts of liberated territory are women. Still, “Norms have been challenged and women feel more empowered to take part in politics,” one woman in the Bamar People’s Liberation Army told Crisis Group.

Radio Free Asia reports that many women have taken up arms because they “could no longer tolerate the unlawful killings and arrests of their gender.” One young woman killed during the postcoup protests in 2021 – in which an estimated 60% of demonstrators were women – was Kyal Sin, also known as Angel. For some reason, Angel wore a T-shirt on the day she was shot that read, “Everything will be OK.” The phrase has since become a motto in the pro-democracy movement.

In a public tribute to Angel last year, activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi of the group Sisters 2 Sisters asked rhetorically if this phrase was just naive optimism. “Not necessarily,” she said. Angel knew that all things change. “This is the wisdom of a young person. We know that we will change, and we are determined to have a political system that allows us to breathe and thrive.

“When we hear a young person say, ‘Everything will be ok,’ let us listen to them, let us hear their voice, and let us help them gain the representation that is their birthright.”