---
title: "Women’s inclusion in Myanmar’s present and future"
description: "While working toward ending seven decades of conflict, women’s inclusion will increase the chances of peace in Myanmar."
url: "https://www.nrc.no/news/2018/august/womens-inclusion-in-myanmars-present-and-future"
language: "en"
published: "2018-08-15T09:13:43Z"
modified: "2018-08-15T09:13:43Z"
---

![Since 2012, NRC's teams have helped communities in need access official ID cards. Through our mobile offices, we have assisted more than 255,000 women in obtaining ID cards. These women are waiting to receive their cards in Alel Sa Khan, Tanintharyi Region. Photo: Jose Arraiza/NRC ](https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/images/countries/myanmar/icla-2018/img_5149.jpg)

# Women’s inclusion in Myanmar’s present and future

José Arraiza, NRC’s legal assistance adviser in Myanmar.|Published 15. Aug 2018

[Myanmar](https://www.nrc.no/themes?categoryId=85)

This article was first published more than 8 years ago

While working toward ending seven decades of conflict, women’s inclusion will increase the chances of peace in Myanmar.

“We need documents to live normal lives…When I didn’t have civil documents, I could not move around freely and my children would’ve had problems in the future,” said Dwa Mya, a widower in Myanmar’s Karen state.

Women’s rights are an important component of the ongoing peace process in Myanmar, a country that has been afflicted by internal ethnic conflicts since its independence in 1948.

A lack of civil documentation and citizenship keeps many women from accessing their rights and engaging in society.

Luckily, Daw Mya has now received an official ID card through the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) programme. Through our work with civil document procurement and land access services, we focus on women’s inclusion in decision making processes, including the ongoing peace process.

### “Why not me?”

The third session of the 21st Century Panglong Conference, the Myanmar peace process aiming to end seven decades of conflict, took place between July 11^th^ and 15^th^ of 2018. According to Myanmar’s official Framework for Political Dialogue, at least 30 per cent of participants in the country’s peace negotiations should be women. During the most recent session, only 22 per cent of representatives in the peace negotiations were women. This is a pressing concern to Myat Thiri Aung, our information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA) coordinator in Myanmar.

“We women should ask the question ‘why not me?’, if we are not present at social or political gatherings along with our male counterparts. We should not just shed tears and suffer from our losses in conflict, we should ask ourselves why can’t we, as women, work to stop the conflict and achieve peace?”

**Myanmar’s peace process**

The 21^st^ Century Panglong conference is an attempt by the government run by the National League for Democracy to end the country’s seven decade long civil wars between the central government and 19 ethnic armed groups. Ten of these groups have signed a nationwide ceasefire and five bilateral ceasefires, while four groups operating in Kachin and Northern Shan states have not signed either and continue their armed conflicts in these areas. The process is a continuation of the previous governments’ efforts, which culminated in the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) signed by the then president Thein Sein in October 2015.

The name of the new Panglong process evokes the 1947 Panglong Agreement, an accord meant to construct the new independent Burma, which recognised autonomy for the ethnic states, and which was signed in 1947 by General Aung San (father of Nobel laureate and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi) and ethnic Shan, Kachin and Chin leaders.

So far, there have been three sessions of the 21^st^ Panglong Conference. During the second session, in May of 2017, the designated representatives of the government, parliament, political parties, ethnic armed organisations and the army agreed that the land rights, citizenship recognition and structures enabling women to exercise their rights should be protected.

### Promoting women's rights

The reasons for strengthening women's rights in Myanmar are many.

A recent study by UNHCR, NRC and UN Women found that [women and children in conflict-affected areas often lack adequate identification documents and registration](https://www.nrc.no/resources/reports/a-gender-analysis-of-the-right-to-a-nationality-in-myanmar). Without documents, women cannot participate equally in the public sphere and exercise their entitled rights.

To combat this, our teams have, since 2012, [helped communities in need access official ID cards](https://www.nrc.no/news/2017/june/half-a-million-identities). Through our mobile offices, we have assisted more than 255,000 women in obtaining ID cards.

Women's rights in land governance is another high priority issue that features great obstacles under the current regime. If land is not registered in a woman's name, she is unable to participate in land governance decision-making, and women are often not adequately included in regular village meetings.

"When communities are able to exercise their rights, they see a direct benefit to the peace-process and are better included in discussions for an eventual peace agreement," says Prasant Naik, our country director in Myanmar. We provide information and counselling about women's house, land and property issues, which is essential to promote peace and lasting solutions in Myanmar.

"Therefore, a [fair restitution process](https://www.nrc.no/resources/reports/planting-the-seeds-for-housing-land-and-property-rights-protection-and-peace-in-myanmar) of land lost by displaced people should be designed with women's equal rights in mind," continues Naik.

### Inclusion crucial for peace accord

While the country works toward peace, displacement continues as a result of ongoing conflict, inter-communal violence, and frequent disasters. Forced displacement impacts women in catastrophic ways not faced by men, such as a higher likelihood of abuse and gender-based violence.

"Women have a clear interest in influencing how these issues are presented and addressed through the peace process," says Sara Davies, Associate Professor at Griffith University in Australia.

On 9 July 2018, in partnership with Australia's Monash and Griffith Universities, we conducted a one-day workshop with peace stakeholders in Mawlamyane, Mon state to discuss concrete steps to solve housing, land/property rights and citizenship issues which are essential for women's inclusion in the peace process. The workshop brought together local women's organisations, members of the Joint Monitoring Committees, government officials, UNHCR, UN Women, donors and academics Sara Davies and Maria Tanyag to develop useful approaches to these issues.

The participants delved into the issues at hand and learn more about the peace process itself.

"Whether people like it or not, gender inclusion is crucial for reaching a genuine peace accord. If we want to change the public perceptions of women's inclusion, we need to change ourselves first," one participant said. A sustainable peace that includes women's voices brings a dividend that reflects not just cost savings pertaining to the downing of arms, but the social inclusion that fosters a just society for the future.