With fighting intensifying across Myanmar, innocent civilians remain at heightened risk of being injured or killed in the systematic and widespread attacks perpetrated by the military junta. The crisis presents a bleak situation for women, who make up the majority of the more than 3 million people who have been forcibly displaced. More than 70 women were killed in April alone.
Today, women face a myriad of challenges. Given that their roles as caregivers often extend beyond traditional home settings, into the local community and even onto the frontlines of battle, they encounter many obstacles related to the country’s restrictive gender norms. However, the fact that they have, in many cases, overcome these challenges should be acknowledged as a testament to their resilience and commitment to the creation of an inclusive federal, democratic state.
Despite the military’s brutality, the strength of women remains tested but unshaken. From a gender perspective, the landscape has changed: women in Myanmar today are more educated, more experienced, and increasingly seizing opportunities to resist.
They have also led, organized, and participated in dozens of training programs and initiated gender protection mechanisms across the country, contributing to the advancement of women in leadership at various levels. They have not only continued to challenge the gender stereotypes that have long been embedded in Myanmar’s patriarchal society, but they have also made tremendous strides in overcoming them.
The role women play in shaping Myanmar’s democratic future mustn’t be overlooked. They must be acknowledged for their resilience and ability to adapt to the deteriorating situation, rather than being viewed as victims without agency. Over the last four years, and throughout the many decades prior, women have clearly demonstrated their critical role in resistance.
In the early days following the failed coup, 60 percent of the protesters and between 70 and 80 percent of the movement’s leaders were women. In the borderlands, women also led the charge among the anti-military movement.
It’s important to recognize that women’s lived experiences in Myanmar’s ongoing conflict differ markedly from those of men. While men often face physical harm on the battlefield, women frequently bear a dual burden, suffering both physical and psychological trauma.
Since the 2021 coup, women have increasingly become victims of domestic violence. A lack of employment and economic opportunities has contributed to fractures in marriages and a breakdown of traditional roles, often exacerbating domestic violence and the cycle of suffering faced by women and children. Given the physical and emotional toll of conflict, the gendered constructs surrounding it require consideration by all stakeholders to ensure that any roadmap to federalism in Myanmar includes protections and safeguards for all people.
While women and girls are particularly vulnerable in the current conflict, given the prevalence of impunity for perpetrators, including repeat offenders, this reality must not rest on the assumption that women are not capable of holding leadership positions at the local and state levels. Meanwhile, Myanmar’s ethnic women face multiple battles, including the patriarchy, the military dictatorship and Burmanization.
However, this cycle is being disrupted through institutions of local governance, such as the Karenni Interim Executive Council, which says that it is “committed to respecting diverse political views, races, religions, gender identities, and other aspects of inclusivity.” The Karenni governance model, established in regions liberated from the military junta, also contains gender representation provisions, requiring a minimum of 30 percent of all positions to be held by women. This has been a long-standing call of local civil society organizations. The Women’s League of Burma has also urged substantive equity and gender equality to ensure ethnic people – and ethnic women – are included in the federal landscape of Myanmar.
The leaders of women-led civil society organizations consistently demonstrate a capacity to drive positive change, even in the most challenging conditions. For decades, local women’s groups have conducted awareness-raising efforts that directly challenge patriarchal norms and deeply rooted misogyny, helping to dismantle harmful beliefs. Across Myanmar and its border regions, women have been at the forefront of transforming and advancing social movements.
However, restrictions on women’s leadership are often justified by undermining their qualifications, even though, in reality, women in Myanmar outnumber men at every level of education. Yet, they continue to be politically and economically disadvantaged based on the assumption of what their gender represents. Attempts to silence their views have not been subtle. One recent report noted that many recent events, talks, and panel discussions on Myanmar, including one about female leadership, have featured no women speakers.
There is overwhelming evidence that suggests when women are granted the tools and resources to empower themselves, their communities benefit. Studies show that peace agreements with women’s participation are 20 percent more likely to last at least two years and 35 percent more likely to succeed for at least 15 years. Furthermore, peace negotiations that involve women result in more effective agreements to begin with. Ignoring and overlooking their potential and contributions only hinders the long-term development goals of a society.
There can be no genuine and meaningful progress towards a federal movement without the inclusion and participation of women. As resistance groups begin planning for the day when the military is defeated, the issue of gender should not be overlooked, especially given the structural challenges that have limited women’s participation up until now.
Likewise, women’s participation must not be undermined or limited in the current context, but rather seen as an opportunity to ensure their voices are heard and amplified in local, regional, and international advocacy. There is deep and unwavering strength in the adversity of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and sexual-gender-based violence who refuse to let their pain be the defining feature of their futures.
Leaders of women-led organizations have long been at the forefront of reshaping the discourse on inequality, demanding stronger protections and ensuring women’s visibility across every sphere of Myanmar’s democratic future.