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globalpolicyreview.org hello@globalpolicyreview.org The Sarong Revolution Women fight to overthrow Myanmar’s Misogynistic Military By Lottie Leigh New Developments Team London 24 June 2021 Women holding flowers and protest signs demonstrate against the military coup in Myanmar. Source: Flickr.
Myanmar women are protesting the military coup that ousted their
female head of state Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Many have died
fighting to drive out the military forces that have a long history of
inflicting sexual violence on Myanmar women, particularly those from
ethnic minority groups. A sea of sarongs have been held up by protestors
in an attempt to shine a light on the institutionalised violence against
women perpetrated by the Tatmadaw Army. However, women’s protests
have prompted a violent backlash with reports of sexual harassment in
custody and deadly attacks on hundreds of female protestors emerging.
The violence in Myanmar has to be brought to an end and democracy
needs to be restored immediately. International governments should
impose sanctions on Myanmar’s military leaders and enforce international
human rights. However, the restoration of democracy will not
automatically dismantle the systems of patriarchy and the culture of
militarism that facilitates such a high prevalence of gender-based and
sexual violence in Myanmar. Those who have perpetrated these crimes
must be held accountable and denied future access to political power.
- Lottie Leigh
2 IWI BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IWI: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S INITIATIVE
Naypyidaw, 24 May 2021 - Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in court in Naypyidaw, marking her first public appearance since being placed under house arrest by the military leaders that overthrew her elected government at the beginning of February. Myanmar’s top general Min Aung Hlaing ousted the female head of state after her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won Myanmar’s elections in November and was about to start a new term. Many women are protesting the military coup in what has been dubbed the ‘Sarong Revolution’. An advocacy group monitoring protests has recorded 873 deaths and 5,045 arrests since February. Women have also been sexually assaulted after being arrested for protesting. In spite of this violent backlash, the feeling on the ground is that the misogynistic military must be removed from power immanently or even worse systematic sexual violence and patriarchal oppression will follow. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE Myanmar women are fearful for their lives and human rights after the misogynistic Tatmadaw military, known for its institutionalised sexual violence against women, deposed the matriarchal ‘Mother of the Nation’, as Aung San Suu Kyi is also known. Before 2011, the country was ruled by the junta (a government led by leaders from the military) which entrenched a culture of militarisation, patriarchy and hyper-masculinity at the highest levels of Myanmar society. Under the military regime, the national army was encouraged to rape and forcibly marry Rohingya and other ethnic minority women in order to promote ‘Burmanisation’. Sexual violence was a recurrent feature of the military’s activities during the 2011 to 2015 ‘transition era’ and under Aung San Suu Kyi’s government from 2015 to January 2021. Violence against female civilians has been a hallmark of the Tatmadaw’s operations since 2011 in the Western state of Rakhine and Northeastern states, Kachin and Shan, where the majority of victims of rape and sexual violence have been Rohingya women and girls. In the latter two states, human trafficking has been a significant danger to local women and girls, as well as those who managed to flee the genocide in Myanmar and settle in Bangladeshi refugee camps. The military remained a powerful force in politics under Aung San Suu Kyi, largely because it retained the power to assign 25 percent of parliamentary seats. As women were only allowed to join the military in support roles from 2014, the percentage of women in the institution remains very low. Thus, in the 2015 elections, only two women were chosen among the 166 military appointees. The hyper-masculine culture of the army therefore dominated parliamentary politics and allowed the military to block key constitutional votes that served to offset the increased representation of women in politics under Aung San Suu Kyi. 3 IWI BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IWI: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S INITIATIVE
In 2019, the UN Secretary General deemed that the Tatmadaw was 'credibly suspected of committing or
being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence’. Yet, no senior Tatmadaw officer
has been held accountable for the widespread sexual and gender-based violence committed against
Rohingya women and girls during the 2016 and 2017 national military ‘clearance operations’ designed to
terrorise the community. While many in Myanmar regarded Aung San Suu Kyi an ‘icon of democracy’,
her failure to prevent or condemn the Rohingya genocide perpetrated by the military has tainted her
reputation as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Despite her government’s efforts to address conflict-related
sexual violence via, for instance, the establishment of a national committee in 2018 to monitor, analyse
and report incidents of violence against civilians as well as the 2013 National Strategic Plan for the
Advancement of Women, institutional and political arrangements have been unable to protect vulnerable
women from sexual abuse at the hands of the military.
A bill on the prevention of violence against women drafted in March 2013 was about to be adopted by
parliament when the coup broke out in 2021. The steady gains for women’s representation in politics
under Aung San Suu Kyi have, in addition, been reversed by the insurgent government’s decision to
remove women from office at national, regional and local levels. The military ‘celebrated’ International
Women’s Day on 8 March 2021 by honouring military wives’ ‘participation’ in politics as subordinates to
their husbands, signalling a return to the patriarchal governance of the pre-2011 era.
Actress Phone Thiri Kyaw joins women at the frontline of protests in Yangon on May 15, 2021. Source: Unsplash.
4 IWI BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IWI: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S INITIATIVETHE SARONG REVOLUTION
International Women’s Day signalled a very different sentiment on the ground as women in Yangon,
Kachin, Chin and Shan raised their sarongs, known as htamein in Burmese, in protest of the new
patriarchal order. As Director of the Gender Equality Network in Myanmar May Sabe Phyu explained:
‘This year women are actively taking part in the anti-military protests and we decided to use our
sarongs as flags of the column.’
The skirts have been tied together to block roads and humiliate soldiers who pass through. It is regarded
as shameful for men to walk under the htamein according to Buddhist belief. Sad Khin Ohmar, a female
protestor and women’s rights activist, told Equal Times in May 2021:
‘Men think they have special powers just for being men and they believe that walking underneath a
piece of women’s clothing will make them lose their special powers.’
The skirts have become a symbol of empowerment for Myanmar women, who have been ‘the first people
to take to the streets’ and ‘the ones leading the movement’ according to Wah Khu Shee, Director of the
Karen Peace Support Network.
The first casualty in the 2021 protests was a 20 year old woman named May Thwe Thwe Khaing who
was shot in the head while demonstrating in the capital Naypyidaw on 9 February and died in hospital 10
days later. On 3 March, a second victim was murdered by the military. The Chinese teenager Ma Kyal
Sin’s death became the focal point of national anger when soldiers dug up her grave and removed her
body. The phrase ‘Everything will be ok’, which was emblazoned on the 19-year-old’s t-shirt the day she
was shot in Mandalay, has become a message of solidarity and hope for the anti-military movement in
Myanmar. Murders have continued over the past three months, with the junta’s latest known victim being
a 64-year-old mother who was beaten to death by armed forces in the Yangon township of North
Okkalapa on 3 May.
The Gender Equality Network estimates that women have made up approximately 60 percent of front-line
protest leaders and 70-80 percent of leaders in broader civil disobedience movements currently fighting
against the military in Myanmar. Women also accounted for about 30 percent of arrested protestors as of
March 2021. 29-year-old school teacher Daisy explained why she protested to Al-Jazeera in April:
‘As women, we are the most at risk under the military but however large or small, our place is in the
revolution.’
5 IWI BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IWI: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S INITIATIVEA 19-year-old student protestor reported that there were ‘underaged kids and a lot of girls’ among those
arrested by the junta. Many are being held at Insein prison and have been denied access to lawyers. The
UN reported that female protestors have been sexually assaulted by security forces whilst in custody.
Sexual violence is a significant risk for those protesting as military divisions, which have been previously
implicated in acts of gender-based violence and rape in ethnic minority states, are deployed to suppress
demonstrations. However, the alternative to protesting, accepting governance by the junta, is even more
terrifying for Myanmar women. UN Women has warned that military rule could have life-threatening
consequences for them, as the crisis could disrupt essential services which support safe pregnancies
and childbirth, particularly in vulnerable and disadvantaged communities which already suffer
disproportionately from trafficking risks, poverty and gender based violence. One female protester,
Nandar, told Foreign Policy in March that:
‘Women would rather speak up and face the consequences than not change. It sets the record that
women matter, and our voices matter. And that’s very empowering to witness.’
Women and men gather in Yangon to protest the military on March 12, 2021. Source: Unsplash.
6 IWI BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IWI: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S INITIATIVELOOKING FORWARD
The violence in Myanmar has to be brought to an end and democracy needs to be restored immediately.
International governments should impose sanctions on Myanmar’s military leaders and enforce
international human rights. However, the restoration of democracy will not automatically dismantle the
systems of patriarchy and the culture of militarism that facilitates such a high prevalence of gender-based
and sexual violence in Myanmar. Those who have perpetrated these crimes must be held accountable
and denied future access to political power. The recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women and the National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women must
be realised. As Wah Khu Shee explains, many in Myanmar fear that the increased participation of women
in politics during this time of crisis might not last as:
‘When there is conflict and men are afraid, women are welcome. But when peace is restored, it’s
back to the usual gender discrimination.’
There must be a concerted effort to ensure this is not the case. Myanmar must continue to increase
women’s representation at all levels of government in order to break the vicious cycle of patriarchal
backsliding and prevent future abuse of power. It is important that ethnic minority women and girls,
especially from the Rohingya community, are protected from violence and their voices are heard in
national politics. As Aung San Suu Kyi has shown, female leadership is not necessarily feminist
leadership when certain groups of women are excluded. Ethnic minority women can no longer be
marginalised and silenced in Myanmar’s fight for freedom against the misogynistic military. Myanmar’s
feminist revolution will have to be intersectional if all women are to be safe from abuse and injustice.
7 IWI BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IWI: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S INITIATIVENOTES: (References) [[1] Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Available at: https://aappb.org [Accessed 21 June 2021] [2] UN Women ‘Statement on Myanmar by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women’. March 12 2021. Available at: https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/news-and- events/stories/2021/03/statement-on-myanmar-by-phumzile-mlambo-ngcuka [Accessed 22 May 2021] [3] Wheeler, S. (2018) ‘Sexual Violence by the Burmese Military Against Ethnic Minorities’ Human Rights Watch. July 25 2018. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/25/sexual-violence-burmese-military- against-ethnic-minorities [Accessed 24 May 2021] [4] United Nations Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Myanmar and the Gendered Impact of Its Ethnic Conflicts (2019) Available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/sexual-and-gender-based-violence- myanmar-and-gendered-impact-its-ethnic-conflicts [Accessed 24 May 2021] [5] Bardall, G. and E. Bjarnegård (2021) ‘The Exclusion of Women in Myanmar politics helped to fuel the military coup’ The Conversation. 19 February 2021. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-exclusion-of- women-in-myanmar-politics-helped-fuel-the-military-coup-154701 [Accessed 24 May 2021] [6] United Nations (2019) ‘Conflict Related Sexual Violence: report of the United Nations Secretary-General’ Available at: https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/report/conflict-related- sexual-violence-report-of-the-united-nations-secretary-general/2019-SG-Report.pdf [Accessed 23 May 2021] [7] Onello, M. (2021), ‘Myanmar's Coup Is a Huge Setback for Women's Rights' Foreign Policy. 23 March 2021. Available at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/23/myanmar-coup-women-human-rights-violence- military/ [Accessed 23 May 2021] [8] Eckert, P. (2021) ‘With Myanmar’s Most Famous Woman in Custody, Many Others Step up to Take on Junta’ Radio Free Asia. 8 March 2021. Available at: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/iwd- aungsansuukyi-03082021164419.html [Accessed 24 May 2021] [9] Villadiego, L. (2021) ‘The women’s revolution: what the coup means for gender equality in Myanmar’ Equal Times. 7 May 2021 Available at: https://www.equaltimes.org/the-women-s-revolution-what-the? lang=en#.YKTUuS9Q1-U [Accessed 24 May 2021] [10] Khan, U. (2021) ‘The women of Myanmar: ‘Our place is in the revolution”Al Jazeera. 25 April 2021. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/4/25/women-of-myanmar-stand-resilient-against-the- military-coup [Accessed 24 May 2021] [11] Nachemson, A. (2021) ‘Fears grow for hundreds of students arrested in Myanmar protests’ Al Jazeera. 12 March 2021. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/12/fears-grow-for-hundreds-of-students- arrested-in-myanmar-protests [Accessed 24 May 2021] [12] Statement on Myanmar by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Friday. 12 March 2021. Available at: https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/news-and- events/stories/2021/03/statement-on-myanmar-by-phumzile-mlambo-ngcuka [Accessed 24 May 2021] [13] Rodriguez, L. (2021) ‘UN Condemns Violence Against Women Amid Myanmar Protests’ Global Citizen. 12 March 2021. Available at: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/un-women-condems-violence-women- myanmar-protests/ [Accessed 22 May 2021] [14] Lau, J. (2021) 'Myanmar’s Women Are on the Front Lines Against the Junta’ Foreign Policy. 12 March 2021. Available at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/12/myanmar-women-protest-junta-patriarchy-feminism/ [Accessed 24 May 2021] 8 IWI BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IWI: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S INITIATIVE
[15] ‘Funeral planned for Sunday as Mya Thwe Thwe Khine passes away’ Myanmar Now. 19 February 2021. Available at: https://www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/funeral-planned-for-sunday-as-mya-thwe-thwe-khine-passes-away [Accessed 24 May 2021] [16] ‘Mother, 64, Beaten and Seized by Myanmar Junta Forces’ The Irrawaddy. 3 May 2021. Available at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/mother-64-beaten-seized-myanmar-junta-forces.html [Accessed 24 May 2021] 9 IWI BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IWI: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S INITIATIVE
GLOBAL POLICY REVIEW The Sarong Revolution Women fight to overthrow Myanmar’s Misogynistic Military Published 24 June 2021 BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IWI: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S INITIATIVE
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