NOT A DAY FOR WOMEN IN BURMA

March 08, 2005 - (Irrawaddy) Today, while people around the world honor the role in their lives played by women,  as they mark the 30th annual International Women’s Day, spare a thought for one woman who remains alone and still under house arrest after many years: Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.   
 
Suu Kyi has been detained in her home for a total of nearly 10 years since she first got involved in politics in 1988, hoping to bring democracy to the military-ruled country. Although the best known, she is far from being the only woman to have fallen victim to Burma’s military rule. Since the democratic upheaval in1988, which ushered in the current military junta, dozens of women as well as men have been arrested and abused by the authorities for their involvement in anti-government political activities. 
 
By contrast, the region as a whole is considered to be doing rather well in terms of gender equality, with four female presidents and prime ministers currently running countries in the Asia Pacific region – the Philippines, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh. But take a look at Burma. Women do not occupy any leading roles in politics or indeed at any other level of Burmese society. 
 
Throughout Burma’s previous history, women have traditionally taken leading roles in everything from religion to social activities and politics. And looking back to the pre-independence era up to 1948, the role of female students was impressive.
 
Ludu Daw Amar, for example. She not only took part in the 1938 national independence movement against the British but went on to become the country’s most respected female political dissident and left-leaning journalist.
 
Women, however, have been barred from playing leading roles in society since military rule began in Burma in 1962.
 
Last Thursday, incredibly, the junta’s Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win said: “Myanmar [Burmese] women can be proud to be citizens of Myanmar, as throughout the nation’s history they have enjoyed rights equally with men.” To a certain extent that is right—but not during the last four decades of military rule.
 
The Prime Minister also said that women in Burma have plenty of opportunity to play important roles in society. But such talk is cheap: Just consider Suu Kyi, her colleagues and other ordinary women. Since 1988, there have been around 200 women political activists incarcerated in the junta’s prisons. Today, 58 female political prisoners are being detained in jails, according to the Thai-based Assistance Association of Political Prisoners – Burma. At the same time, thousands of Burmese women are forced to live in exile, along with male dissidents, because of their beliefs.
 
It’s clear that women’s rights are not respected in a country where there are not even basic human rights. If, however, the military would restrict itself to its proper role defending the country—an unlikely event in the foreseeable future— then rights, not only for women but for all, will once again blossom in Burma.

Taken from: http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=4449&z=152