UN Women Myanmar
Myanmar is emerging from 60 years of isolation, authoritarian rule and protracted armed conflict, and has embarked on a historic process of peace, governance and economic reforms. In a population of 52 million, half of all women are not in the workforce. Their concentration in vulnerable employment, sectoral and occupational segmentation, gender pay gaps, poor skill levels and bearing the sole responsibility of care work are other concerns women face in Myanmar. Women occupy only 13 per cent of all seats (elected and appointed) in the Union Parliament, while conflict and recurring natural disasters have hit women the hardest. Violence against women and girls in every form is widespread and perpetuated by harmful gender stereotypes.
UN Women has been present in Myanmar as a project office since 2013. From early 2019, however, the office is transitioning into being a fully fledged country office, repositioning and better aligning its resources to be able to support Myanmar in its commitment to ensuring gender equality and women’s empowerment. The team is expanding, as is the office’s operational capacity, to ensure greater efficacy in delivering results in line with our mandates and corporate responsibilities.
News and Updates
Advocates convene to promote women’s right to a nationality in Myanmar
To strengthen joint action on nationality rights, UN Women and UNHCR convened key women’s civil society organizations (CSOs), gender equality networks and women’s empowerment advocates from across Myanmar, representing diverse states, ethnicities, religions, transgendered persons, sex workers, networks of women living with HIV and women with disabilities, philanthropists, faith-based leaders and celebrities... more
From where I stand: “They forced me to get pregnant”
[The broker] convinced my aunty that I could get a job in China. I had stopped school and was not doing anything, so I needed a job. She showed me a picture of a phone factory, and a shoe-making factory. But when I arrived in China in May 2017, they forced me to get pregnant. They gave me pills for 10 days to prepare the womb. Then I went for a medical checkup to see if my womb... more
Tackling human trafficking in Myanmar
Khawng Nu* was 22 years old when she was trafficked from the state of Kachin, northern Myanmar, to China. There are few job opportunities in the conflict affected and impoverished state, so when a woman from her village offered her work in a factory in China, Khawng Nu happily accepted. Upon arrival in China, she discovered that her womb would be the ‘factory’. “They give pills to women and inject them with sperm for them to carry babies for Chinese men... more
Marking the mid-term of the implementation of joint humanitarian and development projects aimed at benefitting all communities in Rakhine State, the Government of Japan and seven UN Agencies namely IOM, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNWOMEN and WFP, confirmed that the partnership, under the humanitarian-development nexus, has enabled the provision of substantial and vital support in Rakhine State including crisis affected areas. An agreement totaling 2.2 billion Yen... more
EU, ILO and UN Women join hands to end violence against women migrant workers in ASEAN/Myanmar
Today, EU, ILO and UN Women are organizing a national Consultative Dialogue on women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities. The consultation will introduce the new ILO and UN Women “Safe and Fair” Programme to key partners and identify activities which could be undertaken in Myanmar building on the on-going efforts by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Settlement to promote safe... more
Officials of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand recommend steps to protect migrant workers
Government officials of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand have jointly recommended steps to protect the millions of migrant workers in the region from exploitation and abuse. The officials from various ministries made the recommendations at a 24-25 May consultation that also included employers, civil society and international humanitarian organizations, and United Nations agencies - UN Women, International Organization for Migration... more
Publications
The crises in Kachin, Northern Shan and Rakhine, Myanmar, have different impacts on women, girls, boys and men among crisis-affected populations based on gender, age, disability, ethnicity, religion, citizenship status, sexual orientation and gender identity, and other diversities. The crises disproportionately affect women and girls, as well as the most vulnerable and marginalized population groups... more
Report: A Gender Analysis of the Right to a Nationality in Myanmar
In 2017, UNHCR and UN Women partnered to conduct a gender analysis of the right to a nationality in Myanmar. This was implemented by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), along with local CSO The Seagull, the Statelessness Network Asia Pacific (SNAP) and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI). The report was launched on 7 March 2018 as part of a series of events celebrating International Women’s Day. Conducted in Mawlamyine, Mandalay and Yangon... more
Women and girls in Kachin State are born to experience the nature of earth’s beauty, and to contribute peace, harmony and well-being in their families, communities, overall society and the nation to shape the process for sustainable development for all. On June 9, 2011, human-made armed conflict emerged in Kachin State, and has since then resulted in extensive loss of life, damage to infrastructures, destruction of livelihoods and protracted and continuous displacement... more
The importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment and leadership as a central element of humanitarian action, and across the humanitarian-peace-development nexus, has been recognized in international normative frameworks to which the Government of Myanmar is a signatory. These include the World Humanitarian Summit Agenda for Humanity and the Grand Bargain, the Sustainable Development Goals... more
Why Gender Matters in Conflict and Peace: Perspectives from Mon and Kayin States
In Myanmar, as in many other parts of the world, politics, conflict and peace negotiations are considered “male domains.”1 With some exceptions,2 women’s experiences of armed conflict and contributions to peace are largely unrecognized, undocumented and unaccounted for. But many women who have had distinct experiences of armed conflict are engaging within their communities in creative strategies to mitigate the impact of conflict, make and build enduring peace... more
