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Gender & Development
ISSN: 1355-2074 (Print) 1364-9221 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cgde20
Reinvigorating resilience: violence against women,
land rights, and the women's peace movement in
Myanmar
Hilary Faxon, Roisin Furlong & May Sabe Phyu
To cite this article: Hilary Faxon, Roisin Furlong & May Sabe Phyu (2015) Reinvigorating
resilience: violence against women, land rights, and the women's peace movement in Myanmar,
Gender & Development, 23:3, 463-479, DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2015.1095559
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2015.1095559
Published online: 13 Nov 2015.
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Reinvigorating resilience: violence against
women, land rights, and the women’s peace
movement in Myanmar
Hilary Faxon, Roisin Furlong and May Sabe Phyu
In Myanmar, movements for gender justice strive to foster personal and collective
security, vibrant livelihoods, and political engagement during a period of rapid and
uncertain transition. This article draws from the experience of the Gender Equality
Network (GEN), a coalition of over 100 organisations in Myanmar. It examines three
cases in which GEN sought to document existing forms of resilience and expand these
mechanisms through national-level advocacy. The first describes current attempts to
publicise, and eventually eliminate, violence against women (VAW). VAW is a
fundamental threat to personal safety, but also to the principle of societal
accountability –that is, the extent to which society upholds the interests and rights of
women and girls. The second focuses on women’s (lack of) access to natural resources
and economic decision-making, drawing on gender-focused input into the National
Land Use Policy. Finally, we examine the impacts of conflict on women’s resilience,
and women’s increasing participation in the peace process. In all three cases, effective
mobilisation and networking not only increased female political voice, but also enabled
creation of a more resilient democracy by modelling effective policy, research,
advocacy, and communication strategies.
Durante el actual periodo vivido en Myanmar, de rápida e incierta transición, los
movimientos en pro de la justicia de género se esfuerzan por fortalecer la seguridad
personal y colectiva, obtener medios de vida dinámicos e impulsar la participación
política. El presente artículo se apoya en la experiencia de la Red de Igualdad de
Género (GEN por sus siglas en inglés), coalición en la que participan más de cien
organizaciones de este país. Al respecto, se analizan tres casos en que GEN se propuso
documentar varios mecanismos de resiliencia existentes y extenderlos a través de la
incidencia a nivel nacional. El primer caso da cuenta de los intentos de concientizar
sobre la violencia contra las mujeres (VCM) para luego eliminarla (1). La VCM es
una amenaza fundamental para la seguridad personal y para el principio de
responsabilidad social, esto es, la medida en que una sociedad protege los intereses y
los derechos de las mujeres y las niñas. El segundo caso se centra en el acceso (o falta
de acceso) a los recursos naturales y a la toma de decisiones económicas de las
mujeres, apoyándose en el contenido con base de género incorporado a la Política
Nacional de Ordenación del Territorio. En el tercer caso, las autoras examinan los
impactos del conflicto en la resiliencia de las mujeres y la creciente participación de
Gender & Development, 2015
Vol. 23, No. 3, 463–479, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2015.1095559
© Oxfam GB 2015
463
estas en el proceso de paz. En los tres casos, la eficaz movilización y ampliación de redes
no solo logró que las opiniones políticas de las mujeres tuvieran mayor impacto, sino que
también permitió crear una democracia más resiliente mediante la creación de estrategias
más eficaces en las áreas de políticas públicas, investigación, incidencia y comunicación.
Au Myanmar, les mouvements en faveur de la justice de genre cherchent à favoriser la
sécurité personnelle et collective, des moyens de subsistance dynamiques et la
mobilisation politique en cette période de transition rapide et incertaine. Cet article
s’inspire de l’expérience du Gender Equality Network (GEN), une coalition de plus de
100 organisations au Myanmar. Il examine trois cas dans lesquels le GEN a tenté de
documenter les formes existantes de résilience et d’élargir ces mécanismes grâce à des
activités de plaidoyer au niveau national. Le premier décrit les tentatives actuelles
pour parler de la violence à l’égard des femmes (VEF) et en fin de compte l’éliminer
(1). La VEF est une menace fondamentale pour la sécurité personnelle, mais aussi
pour le principe de redevabilité sociétale —c’est-à-dire la mesure dans laquelle la
société fait valoir les intérêts et les droits des femmes et des filles. Le deuxième se
concentre sur le (manque d’) accès des femmes aux ressources naturelles et à la prise
de décisions économiques, en s’inspirant des contributions basées sur le genre à la
Politique nationale relative à l’utilisation des terres. Enfin, nous nous penchons sur
les impacts des conflits sur la résilience des femmes, et sur la participation croissante
des femmes au processus de paix. Dans les trois cas, la mobilisation et le réseautage
efficaces non seulement ont amplifié la voix politique des femmes, mais ont aussi
permis la création d’une démocratie plus résiliente en présentant des stratégies
efficaces en matière de politiques générales, de recherches, de plaidoyer et de
communication
Key words: gender; resilience; violence against women (VAW); gender-based violence; land
rights; peace; conflict; Myanmar; Burma
Introduction
Myanmar
1
is in a moment of uncertain transition, during which old, predominantly
male, forms of military and economic power seem to be loosening their grip. Myanmar’s
recent history has been marked by civil war and political oppression, but since 2011 civil
society, media, and business have been afforded new, though still limited, freedoms
((UN) Yanghee Lee 2015). In the recent flood of international aid and attention, internal
social supports and capacities of Myanmar communities are often overlooked.
2
This
transitional context provides a pivotal moment to simultaneously advocate for gender
equality, and enhance personal, economic, and societal resilience.
In this article, we describe some of the ways in which our network –the Gender
Equality Network (GEN) –and the wider women’s movement in Myanmar with
which it is associated, have recognised and built the resilience of Myanmar women.
We focus primarily on two aspects: work to document and share women’s existing
Reinvigorating resilience
464 Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015
resilience through research, and advocacy to expand women’s resilience through law,
policy, and peace-making processes. Both types of resilience-building are particularly
important given new and uncertain political opportunities, and widespread lack of
knowledge about the social support available to women.
The three cases discussed below –the Prevention (and Protection) of Violence
Against Women law, the National Land Use Policy, and the Nationwide Ceasefire Agree-
ment –are critical ongoing projects. Gender-focused engagement with these issues there-
fore plays an important role in advancing the resilience of all Myanmar’s people.
The voices of women we quote in this article came from our research and programme
experience, which is discussed at more length in three reports (GEN 2013,2015a,2015b).
This article provides a shorter summary. In both the original reports and this article, the
women are anonymised for purposes of confidentiality.
Gender inequality in Myanmar
Whenever we talk about gender inequality, people say that we have no problem with gender
issues. In my opinion, the problem is there because people are not seeing the problem as a problem
…even if people are seeing inequality between women and men within society, they usually use
culture and religion as excuses ‘It is not inequality …this is our religious practice or this is our
social practice.’(Interview with senior woman leader)
Despite pervasive denial of gender discrimination, being born a woman in Myanmar
generally limits opportunity. Social and cultural norms that dictate what is considered
possible and appropriate strongly emphasise women’s modesty and domesticity, and
discourage public leadership or challenging the status quo. Myanmar’s ongoing civil
war has resulted in militarisation and an almost completely male government –at the
national level, only 30 of 664 parliamentary seats and two ministerial positions are
held by women (Phan Tee Eain and GEN forthcoming). Women are even more poorly
represented at sub-national levels, with low participation in decision-making at district,
township, and village levels (Minoletti 2014).
As Myanmar seeks to make the transition to a more open economy and transparent
democracy, our research shows that women face particular challenges including gender-
based violence, lower wages than men, inadequate health care and information, and
stereotypes socialised through the educational system and media (GEN 2015a).
GEN was founded in 2008 as the Women’s Technical Protection Working Group, to
advocate for gender-responsive humanitarian assistance in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.
Over the past seven years, GEN has grown into a diverse network of over 120 local and
international non-government organisations (NGOs) and technical resource persons com-
mitted to advancing gender equality in Myanmar. GEN’s recent priorities have focused on
policy and law reform, social practices and cultural norms, women’s leadership, violence
against women (VAW),
3
and strengthening the capacity of the network and its members.
Hilary Faxon et al.
Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015 465
GEN’s work and successes are the result of strategic collective action across its broad
member base, and in its strong partnerships forged with other active networks and
groups in the wider women’s movement both within and beyond Myanmar’s borders.
One of GEN’s early achievements was to advocate for and support the drafting of a
National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women (NSPAW), to run from 2013 to
2022. NSPAW identifies necessary actions in 12 priority areas based on the United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW), to which Myanmar acceded in 1997, and the Beijing Platform for
Action. While NSPAW launched in October 2013, implementation has been stalled by
lack of political will and the difficulties of collaboration across different sectors of gov-
ernment and civil society. In the absence of coherent or effective government and inter-
national efforts, Myanmar civil society leaders, including GEN members and partners,
have continued to push for recognition of gender inequality, and progress towards
equality, across a range of sectors.
The cases below exemplify these efforts to recognise and build resilience by targeting
violence against women, land rights, and the peace process.
Violence against women
My friends taught me to speak out and talk back [to defend myself]. Now I understand that I
cannot stay quiet always. I suffered because I stayed quiet. (Interview with woman who had
experienced intimate partner violence)
Freedom from physical, sexual, emotional, and economic violence is fundamental to
personal resilience. GEN’s recent work on VAW includes the first specific research study
on this topic in Myanmar, released in February 2015, and continuous drafting and advo-
cacy to enact a Prevention (and Protection) of Violence Against Women (PoVAW) law.
These efforts aim to document and create awareness around what is traditionally
regarded as a private issue, and to create a legal framework to promote future efforts
to address the impacts and root causes of VAW.
Behind the Silence: documenting experiences of and responses to violence
GEN’s(2015b) report, Behind the Silence: Violence Against Women and Their Resilience,
Myanmar documents the causes, consequences, and coping mechanisms related to inti-
mate partner violence and sexual harassment and assault. While research in Myanmar
had documented the use of sexual violence as a weapon in conflict (cf. Women’s
League of Burma 2014a,2014b), Behind the Silence broke new ground in demonstrating
the day-to-day impacts of VAW on Myanmar women. The study consisted of interviews
with 38 women in the districts of Yangon and Mawlamyine who had experienced some
form of intimate partner violence, as well as focus group discussions in seven sites
around the country and key informant interviews. The research’s design, training,
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466 Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015
analysis, and peer review followed international protocol on violence against women
and girls (VAWG), and GEN collaborated with the government’s Department of Social
Welfare (DSW) and received official ethical approval. The sensitivity of the subject
matter, scope, and methodology of the study, and communication with government,
all represent major achievements in the nascent field of Myanmar research.
Behind the Silence charted overlapping incidences of various forms of violence.
Psychological intimidation and verbal abuse, as well as economic violence through steal-
ing or withholding money, often existed alongside the more visible physical violations.
Marital rape, which at present remains legally unacknowledged unless the victim is
under 14, was commonly tied to men’s sense of sexual entitlement. Although this
study did not purposefully sample for experiences of sexual harassment outside the
home, almost half of the participants had experienced public abuse ranging from
groping on public transportation to stranger rape.
A Myanmar proverb says, ‘If you beat your wife until her bones are broken, she will
love you more’–but the findings of GEN’sBehind the Silence research demonstrated quite
the opposite. Women in the study experienced mental, physical, and sexual health con-
sequences, including blurred vision, broken bones, stress, depression, and social iso-
lation, and encountered substantial challenges to avoiding and addressing these
impacts. For example, none of the participants received medical assistance for sexual
or reproductive health problems that resulted from violence. Similarly, no participants
were able to negotiate successfully for condom use, sometimes resulting in STI or HIV
transmittal from a husband’s extramarital relations. Myanmar’s almost complete lack
of services to address VAW left women with few options for external support. Very
few sought police, legal, or medical assistance. Even when services were available, con-
cerns about time and cost, as well as overt blocks by their partners, prevented women
from obtaining outside help.
Despite these challenges, many women demonstrated their resilience through internal
coping strategies, such as praying or taking quiet time to relax. Others defended themselves
physically or hit back. About half of the women interviewed had discussed violence with
family and friends, who often provided clothing, food, protection, shelter, or emotional
support. In order to strengthen these mechanisms and provide additional support,
Behind the Silence provides sector-specific recommendations to disrupt the pathways into
violence and address its consequences. The policy brief and report were launched with
media events in Yangon, and a government workshop was held in Nay Pyi Taw in
order to spread the findings, recommendations, and build greater awareness of VAW.
Prevention (and Protection) of Violence Against Women (PoVAW): drafting a law
The findings outlined above demonstrate a clear need for legal protection for women, as
well as for services and information on the ground. Existing Myanmar laws, including
the 2008 Constitution, the 1860 Penal Code, and recent laws, neither adequately
Hilary Faxon et al.
Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015 467
protect women nor ensure penalties for offenders and services for women who experi-
ence violence (GEN 2013). GEN has sought to address these gaps through a collaborative
process to draft the PoVAW law.
GEN first identified PoVAW legislation as a main objective in its 2012 strategic plan-
ning process. In 2013, GEN members conducted over 50 consultation workshops in
States and Regions throughout the country, speaking about VAW and a potential law
with a diverse range of participants from different ethnic groups including community
leaders, civil society leaders, sex workers, political parties, Muslim women’s groups,
internally displaced people (IDPs), Christians, disabled people, adolescents, and HIV-
positive women. Comments were consolidated into a briefing paper to advocate for
and be considered in law development.
GEN worked closely with Government and with representatives of the United
Nations (UN) through the UN Gender Theme Group (UNGTG), throughout the drafting
process. GEN, UNGTG, and DSW held two consultations in Myanmar’s capital of Nay
Pyi Taw in 2013, the first with Parliamentarians, and the second with civil service repre-
sentatives from over 30 ministries and departments. These workshops aimed to raise
awareness about VAW in Myanmar; provide orientation on Myanmar’s current laws,
their gender sensitivity and compatibility with CEDAW; discuss the need for PoVAW
legislation and steps taken to date; and seek inputs for future drafting. By the end of
2013, GEN, along with representatives from the UN and DSW, had created a drafting
roadmap, established a Steering Committee, a Technical Advisory Committee, and a
Law Drafting Working Group, and agreed upon a framework for the proposed law.
Throughout 2014, the Law Drafting Working Group met to draft, review, and revise
the 19 chapters of the PoVAW law. These chapters were accompanied by 14 briefs, detail-
ing relevant issues such as marital rape, stalking, and technology-related VAW in order
to provide background information for non-specialists and the upcoming public consul-
tations. Resilience on our own part was imperative, in the face of ongoing challenges to
the drafting process, including lengthy translation and back-translation between
Myanmar and English, to ensure that all clauses and concepts in the law met with inter-
national legal standards. It was a six-hour drive from Yangon to Nay Pyi Taw for co-ordi-
nation and drafting meetings with the DSW.
By the end of 2014, a full draft of the law had been developed, but public consultation
and Parliamentary review were delayed by a number of factors. First, in December 2014
a set of four draft ‘Protection of Race and Religion Bills’arrived for debate in Parliament.
These controversial bills restrict a Buddhist women’s right to marry a non-Buddhist
partner, enable enforced birth-spacing, restrict religious conversion, and outlaw polyg-
amy (already illegal in Myanmar). These bills came with the backing of a powerful con-
servative Buddhist movement. At the end of August 2015, all four had been signed into
law. These bills, and the PoVAW bill, have caused confusion among Parliamentarians,
government, and civil society because of their similar titles. Clarifying that PoVAW’s
conception of ‘protection’was very different from the restrictions advocated in these
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468 Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015
four draft bills demanded an energetic response from the gender equality movement,
slowing the PoVAW law process.
A second factor contributing to delay is the newness of collaboration. Government and
civil society have rarely communicated directly or effectively, and there is no blueprint for
public consultation. Many in government are unfamiliar with relevant international best
practices and with frank discussion on the topics covered in the law, such as ‘incest’and
‘consent’. GEN continues to advocate for specific language on these controversial topics,
despite linguistic and cultural challenges. In July, GEN worked with the UN and DSW to
train members to facilitate public consultations, which aim to raise awareness and support
for the law and ensure that key duty bearers and stakeholders understand what the
PoVAW law has to offer, and how it can be used.
Behind the Silence and the PoVAW law process have already succeeded in bringing
some of women’s secret and pervasive threats to resilience out into public debate,
and engaging government stakeholders on these issues. Complimentary GEN activi-
ties, such as 16 Days of Activism campaigns in Yangon, regional towns, and on
social media, have further increased attention to this taboo topic. Raising awareness
and recognition of VAW, its impact, and existing and potential coping mechanisms is
a first step to create policy and services to better address its causes and
consequences.
GEN will continue to work towards passage of the PoVAW law, and to build
women’s opportunities for resilience by ensuring its enactment on the ground. Beyond
the law itself, it is clear from our research that additional efforts, including legal aid,
accessible medical and psychological care, and special (or at least more effective and
fair) courts to try VAW cases will be essential to assuring women’s freedom from, and
resilience in the face of, violence.
Women’s access to land
[Customary] laws are now changing. Before, only sons could inherit, but now land can be given
to both sons and daughters. In our family there are only daughters, and my father said he would
give the land to the youngest daughter. When he tried to change the title to the daughter’s name,
the government wouldn’t put her name on the title. [They] only [put] his, though he picked her.
(Participant describing barriers to land access in a workshop with indigenous women,
Yangon)
Access to productive resources, especially land, is key to economic wellbeing, social
identity and status, and environmental health. Land enhances resilience by providing a
base for agriculture and family life, as well as a safety net in times of hardship. Land can
enable additional livelihood options through access to credit and agricultural extension
and transform social relations by giving women additional voice within their household
and community (Agarwal 1994).
Hilary Faxon et al.
Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015 469
In Myanmar, women’s ability inherit, register, and manage land is limited by custom-
ary and statutory law, as well as by social structures and expectation. GEN’s advocacy
around the creation of a new National Land Use Policy (NLUP) has aimed to sensitise
a broad array of actors to barriers in women’s access to land, and contribute to a
policy that enables full land rights for women and men.
Mapping women’s land rights
Myanmar’s various ecologies and ethnic groups have different systems of land tenure
and use, and current legislation is both confusing and inadequate to clarify and
protect land rights, particularly for small farmers. Displacements due to war, military
land confiscations, agribusiness expansion, hydropower dams, and mining have
created thousands of cases of land conflict (Eleven Myanmar 2014). Disputes over
land often occur in rural communities, which make up 70 per cent of Myanmar’s popu-
lation (Department of Population 2015). In this context, the Government of Myanmar
began the process of creating a new NLUP to serve as a guiding framework for all
laws and regulations relating to land. NLUP was drafted by an inter-ministerial commit-
tee and supported by technical advisers and donors, and released in fifth draft for public
consultation in October 2014.
Although the majority of Myanmar people currently experience land insecurity, women
often hold weaker claims than men in law, custom, and practice. These inequalities go
largely undocumented, and are ignored in most land administration and activism. In prep-
aration for the government’s NLUP consultation process, GEN’s Gender & Environment
Working Group organised three workshops in Mandalay and Yangon to discuss existing
challenges related to land and review gender in the current draft policy. A total of 77
women attended, representing various ethnicities and hailing from across the country.
While women from certain ethnicities described more patriarchal systems of inheri-
tance, management, and dispute resolution, many barriers to land access were universal.
For example, standard practice in Myanmar is to list men as Head of Household, with
women automatically relegated to the status of ‘dependent’. This categorisation
results in only male names on most Land User Certificates. Even if women wanted to
apply for independent or joint title, they reported that men dominated local government
authorities, and land administration offices were inaccessible male spaces. Women were
also often uncomfortable or unable to engage in village-level discussion and decision-
making and agricultural extension trainings. Widows were particularly vulnerable to
loss of land, as titles rarely included their names and, in some customs, in-laws had
rights over a deceased son’s land. Participants described how lack of land rights con-
nected to other rural inequalities –lower wages, lack of education, little decision-
making authority –decreased their capacity for resilience.
Table 1 lists some of the broad categories of barriers reported by women in these
workshops.
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470 Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015
GEN documented the barriers and policy feedback raised in these workshops, and
included them in a comprehensive gendered analysis of NLUP. By featuring
Myanmar women’s voices alongside international standards, and undertaking thorough
legal analysis, GEN sought to call attention to gender-based barriers, and their impli-
cations for the resilience of Myanmar women and their families, in the policy debates.
Gender advocacy in the policy process
The first publicly available draft of NLUP contained limited attention and support to
women’s rights to land. Part 8 of the policy, a single paragraph, invoked CEDAW and
rights to inherit, succeed, allocate, and represent in dispute resolution and land acqui-
sition procedures. However, while the English translation of the draft contained
vague statements of support for equal rights of men and women to land, it failed to
explain or specify adequately which land rights should be granted to women, and
how existing inequalities would be overcome. In the Burmese version of the policy,
the word ‘women’was absent from most sections, and clear language in support of
gender equality was absent.
GEN submitted a report on gender equality in NLUP to the government at the end of
2014, and presented its findings and recommendations in Nay Pyi Taw in late January
2015. GEN also participated in four subsequent meetings with various sectors of govern-
ment and NGOs to advocate for the inclusion of clear gender equality language,
Table 1: Reported barriers for women to exercise land rights and participate in land issues
1. Social and cultural norms, stigmas, and practices including customary law and institutions that
exclude, oppress, and discriminate against women.
2. Low legal literacy –because of limited access to education and information, rural women are
unable to study, understand, and apply land laws.
3. Courts, land dispute resolution committees, and administration mechanisms are unfriendly for
women, and rural women rarely enter government offices.
4. The 2012 Farmland Law does not directly discriminate against women, but does not consider
or seek to accommodate women’s situations, therefore preventing women from registering
land.
5. Women are under-represented in administrations and decision-making groups from village to
the township and national level.
6. Women lack confidence to speak up and give their views and recommendations. Women
empowerment programmes and training are rarely available in rural areas. Domestic work and
child care also create barriers to participation.
7. Men’s lack of awareness and engagement to encouraged female participation and
representation.
8. Potential security problems –long travel to registration office can be burdensome or unsafe for
women and children.
9. Difficulty obtaining agricultural loans for women, as land is usually registered under the
husband’s name.
10. Unequal farm labour wages between men and women –women are paid less for a day of work.
Hilary Faxon et al.
Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015 471
principles, and commitments within the policy. For many members of the government’s
drafting committee, drawn from the Ministry of Forests and Environmental Conserva-
tion, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, and others, GEN’s advocacy marked
the first time women’s issues were discussed in resource management. Many civil
society organisations engaged in the consultations were also often new to gender
issues; one of the greatest achievements of this process was increasing gender awareness
and advocacy among a diverse range of organisations and individuals.
GEN’s response was successful in raising the issue of gender within civil society and
government discussions on land and natural resources, and providing concrete rec-
ommendations for the policy and considerations for future laws and programmes.
The sixth draft NLUP, released in early June 2015, incorporated much more clear
language about equal rights of men and women to land in both the basic principles
section, and a short chapter addressing the issue specifically. However, gender consider-
ations are still absent from other sections such as those on the formation of a National
Land Use Council and monitoring and evaluation, demonstrating that work remains
to truly integrate gender into this policy, the upcoming National Land Law, and forth-
coming rules and procedures.
GEN’s engagement with the NLUP process entailed entering new territory, expand-
ing beyond DSW and gender-focused civil society to make the case for gender equality
within additional Government ministries and activist networks. Rapid research to docu-
ment barriers in women’s land access was combined with critical and collaborative
policy analysis and continued advocacy at the national level to improve the NLUP
and earn gender issues a place in land and environmental debates. Understanding bar-
riers and recognising women’s equal rights to land in national policy is a foundational
element of enhancing rural resilience on the ground.
Women and peace
When they were asked how they feel about living in the camps, most of the women cried painfully.
As the other organisations do not arrange this kind of discussion, they talked about their difficul-
ties, feelings, and sufferings openly. (Observation by Field Volunteer, Kachin)
Since achieving independence in 1948, Myanmar has been engaged in various civil
wars, fought between ethnic militias and the central government (as outlined in the
Notes section). As of mid-2015, 13 ethnic armed organisations had signed ceasefires
with the Union Government, but conflict continued in Kachin, Northern Shan, and
Rakhine States. The first half of 2015 has been marked by fierce fighting with ethnic
Chinese in the Kokang region, as well as the fourth anniversary of the broken ceasefire
with the Kachin Independence Army, which has resulted in 120,000 IDPs to date. While
the government and a confederation of ethnic groups known as the United National-
ities Federal Council (UNFC) seek to negotiate a national ceasefire, regions that have
Reinvigorating resilience
472 Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015
already achieved an agreement, often only oral, struggle to cope with war’s
aftershocks.
Wom en’s experience of conflict and post-conflict challenges differ from those of men.
During conflict, Myanmar women are at risk of targeted sexual violence, trafficking, and
gender-based impacts of displacement. GEN’s roots in promoting gender-sensitive
humanitarian response during Cyclone Nargis (Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
2009; Oxfam 2009) led into the network’s documentation of needs of female IDPs in
Kachin State in order to advocate for greater attention to women’s challenges in domestic
and international aid. At negotiations and after ceasefire, women’s concerns are often
sidelined. Despite the barriers to participation, a small number of women have
managed to secure a place alongside male negotiators. Attention to women’s needs
and women’s leadership in the peace process is key to resilient and sustainable peace.
Assessing needs of female IDPs
Female IDPs face specific challenges related to health, livelihoods, and security that have
often been ignored in the humanitarian response (Kachin Women’s Peace Network
(KWPN) and GEN 2013). Outside the official negotiation process, GEN has worked
with partners to document the challenges female IDPs face in Kachin camps, and help
to raise awareness on the gendered impacts of conflict-related displacement.
A joint assessment undertaken by the KWPN in collaboration with GEN in 2012
explored the situation for women in 17 camps in four townships in Kachin State, with
a population totalling over 30,000 IDPs. The analysis was based on the responses of
83 focus groups and six key informants totalling 849 respondents (men, women, and
youths). Major unmet needs for women in IDP camps were identified in most sectors,
including: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); Non-Food Items (NFIs); Education;
Nutrition; Shelter; Health (including psychosocial aspects); Livelihoods; and Camp Co-
ordination and Management. Worryingly, violence against women and girls emerged as
one of the most critical concerns, connecting also with the serious inadequacies found in
several of the aforementioned sectors, particularly WASH, Shelter, Health, and Liveli-
hoods. The findings echoed other anecdotal reports regarding women’s needs in IDP
camps in a number of locations throughout the State.
Women reported their most important overall concerns as relating to clean water,
electricity, nutritious food, and safe bedrooms, bathrooms and toilets. Consistent with
global evidence, poor design and unsafe shelter and WASH facilities were found to be
major enablers of violence against women and girls in the IDP camps assessed.
Here, as echoed in other sections of this paper, women were found to prioritise family
needs at the expense of their own health and wellbeing and were generally reluctant to
seek help for their own personal concerns, instead working to contribute to the overall
well-being of the camps. When asked what coping strategies they employed, women
talked about praying and sharing frustrations with neighbours, family, and friends
Hilary Faxon et al.
Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015 473
who provided important peer support. Day-to-day resilience and coping on a case-by-
case basis seemed to be the main tactic for women to survive the challenges of living
a life entirely uprooted by conflict.
The report recommended urgent attention to women’s unmet needs in the IDP camps,
and called on all actors to advocate for, and to ensure increased funding and access to meet
the vast humanitarian requirements amongst IDP populations across Kachin State.
Key recommendations from the report included: immediate measures to ensure the
safety of women and children in all IDP camps from violence, trafficking, and other
abuses; increased service provision and monitoring of reproductive health needs in all
areas; gender mainstreaming into all aspects of camp management to ensure women’s
and girls’needs are met; and increased funding and backstopping to local organisations,
particularly women’s organisations, to continue and expand their response to identified
women’s needs. Many of these needs remain unmet, and these recommendations remain
relevant today on the fourth anniversary of the resumption of conflict in Kachin. Recent
funding cuts to camps make these issues even more salient, and will challenge yet again
the resilience of female IDPs.
A growing number of women from Kachin State are working strategically to push for
improvement of the lives of Kachin women and children and to respond to women’s
peace and security primarily in the Kachin context. Two such notable bodies are the
aforementioned KWPN, and the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT). The
KWAT was established in the late 1990s with the aim of empowering Kachin women
based in Thailand, and over the years has expanded its programmes to include
women living inside Kachin State. The KWPN focuses specifically on issues of
women, peace, and security. With sound technical knowledge, and a deep understand-
ing of the context, the language, culture, and customs, and the complexities of the Kachin
conflict, women leaders of the KWPN have been able to work with and overcome resist-
ance from key members of the Kachin Independence Organization, and sound trusted
relationships have emerged.
Earning a seat at the (negotiation) table
Women have historically been absent from the peace process, which was conducted by a
military regime behind closed doors until 2010. In 2011, President Thein Sein issued an
official invitation for peace talks, and created two peace delegations of 12 men and no
women. Subsequent committees were also male-dominated: the Union Peace Making
Central Committee formed in May 2012 had 11 men and no women, and the Union
Peace Making Working Committee (UPWC) consisted of 52 parliamentarians, only
two female (Ja Nan Lahtaw and Nang Raw 2012). Women hold only 2 per cent of pos-
itions across the three primary Union Government institutions related to peacebuilding,
and only three ethnic armed groups have female negotiators, and there is only one
female member of the National Ceasefire Coordination Team (Hedström 2015a).
Reinvigorating resilience
474 Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015
Peace negotiations, and conflict and political issues generally, are considered the
domain of men. Cultural norms of male leadership and women’s domesticity have
made it extremely challenging for women to participate in these talks. However, a
few women have made progress in earning seats at the negotiation table, often
through trans-ethnic alliances aimed at gender equality within the peace process
(Hedström 2015b). National and international female observers, including the
Women’s League of Burma, have served as observers for ethnic negotiations. The
female General Secretary Zipporah Sein of the powerful Karen National Union has
ensured that at least three women are included on the negotiation team in each round
of talks (Ja Nan Lahtaw and Nang Raw 2012). Female experts have provided technical
support to various ethnic armed groups throughout the renewed peace process.
As a result of this advocacy, in early June 2015 at a UNFC summit, the ethnic groups
agreed to a quota of 30 per cent women participants in the peace process. While this rep-
resented a major victory for women’s representation, further challenges lay just ahead.
At the most recent (August 2015) meeting of the UPWC and senior delegation of the
ethnic armed groups, the quota was raised and verbally agreed upon, but did not
appear in the draft National Ceasefire Agreement text arising from this meeting.
Whilst senior delegates from the ethnic armed groups are continuing to advocate for
the inclusion of the quota, it remains clear that women will need to continue to work
to achieve genuine leadership in the negotiations.
Genuine peacebuilding is much larger than ceasefire negotiation. Women’s margin-
alisation from local governance and planning pose a challenge to their engagement with
larger peace processes. The Alliance for Gender Inclusion in the Peace Processes (AGIPP)
is a newly formed coalition of three women’s networks and two NGOs that focuses on
advancing women’s concerns during and post-conflict. GEN’s Director and former
Co-Chair serve on the AGIPP Steering Committee, which is now drafting a strategic
plan and establishing a secretariat. Going forward, AGIPP aims to produce briefing
papers and awareness-raising materials, and to connect with all key stakeholders to
advocate for inclusion of women at all stages of the peace process.
Persistent advocacy across ethnic lines has raised gender concerns in conflict and
post-conflict contexts and enabled women’s participation in the ongoing peace
process. Acknowledging and addressing gendered impacts of conflict and creating sus-
tainable structures for peace that incorporate women’s concerns are critical to the resili-
ence of conflict-impacted communities, and to the integrity of the nation.
Building resilience: next steps
Here, we consider how GEN’s work contributes to both the resilience of individuals and
to society as a whole by understanding and strengthening women’s ability to live free of
violence, access productive resources, and make their concerns heard during and post-
Hilary Faxon et al.
Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015 475
conflict. Resilience within these areas is particularly important in the face of rapid social,
political, and economic upheaval.
While these cases represent unique scenarios with varying constraints, several strategies
are proving successful in strengthening resilience in all three areas. Evidence-based advo-
cacy has enabled GEN to raise issues that have previously been sidelined, such as VAW
orthechallengesoffemaleIDPs.Persistentengagement with a multitude of stakeholders,
including Union Government, ethnic armed groups, and other NGOs has raised gender
concerns within new spheres. Specificity is not only important in research findings, but
also in drafting and negotiation, for example the NLUP consultations and ceasefire talks.
Pervasive social and cultural norms that enforce gender inequality represent major
barriers, but media outreach and increasing use of email and social media in
Myanmar present new opportunities to overcome these prejudices and broadcast posi-
tive gender messaging. Going forward, GEN will construct a website to further take
advantage of the new communications opportunities brought by the recent relaxation
of censorship and arrival of modern telecommunications.
Over the past seven years, GEN’s strength as a network has grown. Due to restric-
tions on freedom of association, and concerns over government surveillance, until
recently formal operation and registration was limited for many NGOs within
Myanmar, making the day-to-day running of initiatives and advancing programmes
challenging (Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business 2014). Despite this, and particu-
larly since Cyclone Nargis in 2008, new and pre-existing civil society groups have been
working together to advance various causes towards social justice. While still young,
GEN represents one of the more mature civil society networks. Through its first strategic
plan from 2012 to 2015, and its current review and planning process, GEN is piloting
new methods of organisation and collaboration that can be adapted by other groups.
For example, with GEN’s 16 Days of Activism Campaign, members have supported
each other over the past three years, building a dynamic and effective campaign with
an ever-greater reach that strengthens not only the message on the elimination of
VAW, but also campaign strategy that can be used for other issues in Myanmar.
GEN’s Working Groups allow members and fellow activists to come together to work
towards a common goal, learn from each other, benefit from shared knowledge and
resources, and test out new methods of advocacy. These Working Groups also
broaden GEN’s reach, for example enabling engagement with the NLUP process that
helped to bring gender concerns to new areas of government and public debate. A
recent joint initiative between GEN and the Women’s Organizations Network focused
on mapping both networks’members and their efforts related to the National Strategic
Plan for Advancement of Women. This exercise produced new understanding of the
diverse geographic and sectoral foci of groups working for gender equality throughout
the country (Nang Phyu Phyu Lin 2015). GEN hopes that these results can be used to
identify strengths and gaps and enhance collaboration in the future, contributing to
the resilience of individual activists and the women’s rights movement as a whole.
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476 Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015
VAW, land, and peace are not the only areas in which GEN members seek to build
resilience –efforts around health, education, engaging men in gender equality, and
the media are also critical to this work. However, the efforts to document and expand
resilience in these three cases illuminate some of the common challenges and successful
strategies of Myanmar’s gender equality movement. In the past three years, an unprece-
dented space for advocacy and campaigning on women’s rights and gender equality has
opened up. Within an extremely short time, the women’s movement in Myanmar, and
beyond its borders, has risen up to capitalise on this space and use every available
inch. A resilience has grown across this movement in the face of countless threats,
obstacles, and challenges, echoing the resilience referred to throughout this paper of
women across Myanmar. By bringing attention to the existing strengths and adaptation
of Myanmar women and advocating for expanded rights, services, and opportunities,
GEN seeks to help shape Myanmar’s transition towards a peaceful, just, and resilient
society.
Hilary Faxon was technical advisor to GEN from June 2014 to July 2015 and is currently a PhD
candidate at Cornell University. Postal address: Cornell University, Kahin Center, 640 Stewart
Ave, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA. Email: hilary.oliva.faxon@gmail.com
Roisin Furlong is an advisor to GEN. She is a social psychologist, specialising in gender and
social justice. Postal address: Gender Equality Network, No. 48, 6/A. 6th Floor, New University
Avenue Road, Bahan Township, Yangon, Myanmar. Email: gen.roisinf@gmail.com
May Sabe Phyu is the Director of GEN, and co-founder and Coordinator of the Kachin Women
Peace Network and Kachin Peace Network. Email: gen.phyuphyu@gmail.com
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank their colleagues at GEN, and members across the network,
for their hard work and inspiration, and particularly Dr. Kaythi Myint Thein for her ideas and
review of this article. Thanks are also due for the support of the Peter & Patricia Gruber
Program of Yale Law School. Most importantly, we wish to express our gratitude to and
admiration for the women of Myanmar.
Notes
1Formerly known as Burma, the government changed the country’s name to Myanmar in
1989. Outside the country, the former title is still popular. Here, and in all GEN publi-
cations, we refer to the current legal name. (For more on Myanmar’s history, see
Charney 2009.)
Hilary Faxon et al.
Gender & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, 2015 477
2For example, recent research by the Social Policy & Poverty Research Group documented
extensive social protection schemes at the village level, with an average of four different
programmes per village. These programmes included health and education initiatives,
free funeral services, and general social welfare organisations, and distributed benefits
in cash, labour, and kind averaging several thousand US dollars per village. None of
the 39 villages sampled lacked a social protection scheme. These local support services
are often disregarded in international assessments, but represent a major source of com-
munity resilience.
3GEN generally uses the term violence against women (VAW) in its publications, rather
than violence against women and girls (VAWG). The general focus of GEN’s research
and policy work to date has centred on VAW. However, both GEN’s research on violence
against women, and GEN’s work on the Prevention and Protection of Violence Against
Women law touch upon and relate to incidents of and the need for prevention and pro-
tection from violence for girls as well as women.
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