Post-coup feminist campaign

The coup, which ousted State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, not only threatens to reverse the progress made over the past decade to ensure that women in Myanmar have more opportunities, power, and influence in society but also places an unaccountable military with a history of gender-based violence in control of every aspect of government. Beyond the direct threat this poses to women’s physical safety, this rule—if left unchecked—will reinvigorate Myanmar’s long history of patriarchal oppression. Before the coup, things were finally looking up for women in Myanmar. By finding new openings within Myanmar’s nascent and quasi-democratic institutions, women’s civil society organizations, including the Gender Equality Network and Women’s League of Burma, had begun to dismantle the traditional social norms and stereotypes that impeded gender equality in the country. Their campaigns included leadership workshops, grassroots advocacy to change gender stereotypes and perceptions, and work within political parties to promote and elect women. The progress will come to a halt post-coup, since the institutional and societal changes necessary to dismantle pervasive gender discrimination will never take place under military rule. Simply put, the Myanmar military is a patriarchal political actor that views women as, at best, in need of protection, and, at worst, incapable of exercising decision-making power.