Women’s Political Participation in Myanmar: Experiences of Women Parliamentarians 2011-2016

Abstract

Myanmar’s stated commitment to women’s role in public life is longstanding; women were granted the right to vote in 1935, one of the earliest countries in Asia to do so. Myanmar endorsed the Beijing Declaration in 1995 and became a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1997. The National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women 2013-2022 identified a key priority as ensuring women’s equal participation and leadership in governance at all levels of society. In practice, however, women’s ability to take part in Myanmar’s political life has been very limited, made even more so by more than 60 years of military rule. This dynamic began to change with the 2010 general elections which marked the historic transition from military rule to civilian government. Members were elected to both a new national bicameral parliament with an upper and lower house and 14 parliaments in the states and regions.