Women are the most affected by food insecurity - the majority of people who are malnourished are women and girls. In Myanmar the traditional role of women is to bear children and feed the family. When the food supply is inadequate, women reduce the quantity and quality of the food they eat, and hence are more prone to hunger and food insecurity. Myanmar’s women also have less access to technology, land, credit and markets than men, and can be subject to gender stereotypes, in particular the belief that women lack the essential capacities to be effective leaders. The QSEM 5 report illustrates that local institutions struggle to place women in leadership positions within villages. Additionally, while women spend nearly as much time as men engaged in agricultural labour they tend to receive only 75 per cent of the men’s daily wage. Accordingly, LIFT views gender equality as an important cross cutting issue that features in the implementation of its projects.
LIFT's Approach
In 2015 LIFT took steps to redefine its gender strategy, with a review scheduled for early 2016. The new strategy will look into practical, programme-oriented steps that LIFT can take to improve the situation for women and youth in Myanmar, and improve the tracking of gender impacts with clear gender-based objectives and results.
Notable policy success this year was achieved by partner the Gender Equality Network (GEN) who, along with other stakeholders, lobbyied National Land UsePolicy policymakers to include a gender sensitive lens in the policy, which has now been approved by the government. GEN’s study Behind the Silence: Violence against Women and their Resilience provided valuable evidence to support the drafting of the Protection of Violence against Women Law (for approval in 2016).
Women continue to face challenges in Myanmar. GEN’s report, Raising the Curtain, documents that unequal wages for men and women’s work were recorded in all of their study areas, despite the equal pay for equal work guaranteed in the 2008 constitution. Barriers also exist for women wanting loans and credit, especially for unmarried or widowed women, and the lack of women’s rights to inheritance in some communities poses serious problems for women’s livelihood opportunities.
At programme level, LIFT continues to support women with access to credit, with 93 per cent of LIFT’s microfinance clients being women. The situation with uneven pay for agricultural labour continues. However, LIFT insists that cash-for-work is paid equally, despite some reports of resistance at local level. In Chin State, after the summer flooding and landslides, LIFT worked with other development partners to decide a raised rate of MMK 5,000 per person per day, to help families get back on their feet. In the Tat Lan Programme, cash-for-work is paid at MMK 3,000 for both men and women.
LIFT’s new work in immigration is also designed to assist women. Family constraints dictate women’s options on migration, while migration of men in the household can increase the workload of women left behind. LIFT’s new work on nutrition is also specifically designed for women, as women often act as the ‘shock absorbers’ when there is insufficient food, feeding their family before themselves. LIFT’s maternal cash transfers will be given to women who are pregnant and have children under the age of two, to spend on more food, as well as more nutritious food.
Gender-related highlights from 2015
Areas of impact
LIFT actions in 2015
Research and advocacy
LIFT partner GEN produced two major research reports in 2015: Behind the Silence, Violence against Women and their Resilience, Myanmar and Raising the Curtain: Cultural Norms, Social Practices, and Gender Equality in Myanmar. They shared the reports with government officials, parliamentarians and civil society organisations. They also produced six briefing papers both in English and Myanmar languages. GEN has been using these papers to advocate for changes in Myanmar’s laws and policies that impede gender equality.
GEN worked with its civil society partners to advocate against the enactment of the four proposed Protection of Race and Religion Bills, which placed restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith marriage. Along with other key CSOs and interfaith group representatives, GEN met with parliamentarians four times in 2015 to give their perspectives on each of the bills.
GEN, together with Department of Social Welfare organised an orientation for department officials, military representatives, and CSOs regarding the proposed Protection of Violence Against Women Law. A draft version of the law is ready, but it has not yet been passed. This law would be the first law that bans violence against women.
Land
A woman’s right to own land is not always clear or secure in Myanmar. Many women are not aware that land must be registered. In some places, cultural norms prohibit women from owning land. GEN participated in several public consultation workshops organised by the National Scrutinizing Committee on Land Use and Land Allocating and submitted the report Towards Gender Equality in the National Land Use Policy to the government. GEN and other stakeholders were able to include a lens especially for women in the policy as a key success in 2015. The policy has been approved by government. LIFT partner, the Land Core Group is planning more research on gender and land.
Nutrition
Gender considerations are an intrinsic part of the LIFT-funded LEARN consortium, which has produced nutrition-related educational materials, including videos and radio announcements, for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. See the nutrition section earlier for details.
Vocational training
The LIFT-funded Socio Economic Development Network (SEDN) project, implemented by ActionAid, focuses on women’s economic rights and empowerment, access to public services, informal education, and the development of social networks. The project provides poor rural women in Magway with handicraft making and marketing skills. The project provided childcare in each training centre in 2015, enabling more women to participate in the training. In 2015, members of SEDN’s women producers’ groups, made up of women who have graduated from the training, earned an additional MMK 70,000 to 80,000 per woman per month. The project offered gender awareness sessions to both women and their husbands.
Social protection training
As another way of integrating gender into social protection projects, Lodestar is training local women as interns for its project in Sagaing. Training local interns to work on social protection pilot projects will enlarge the local human resources pool, and also help women improve their employment opportunities. Gender awareness sessions that include, for example, communication skills and community organising, are mainstreamed into the training courses.
LIFT's latest Gender strategy is available in English and Myanmar languages.
