"Fight against the military coup, fight for gender equality!"
Editor’s note: These posts are part of a collaboration between Tea Circle and Insight Myanmar to publish Report #3 by Real Stories Not Tale’s (RSNT). To read RSNT’s Report #1, visit Tea Circle’s posts here and Insight Myanmar’s posts here. The full RSNT Report #3 is available here. For all posts by RSNT featured on our site, check out the full list.
“Women can work more methodically; they think more before reacting, which can be very useful. Women are kinder; we have a heart that thinks about others.”
P'Nabi works with a women’s organization in Shan State. She belongs to one of the ethnic minorities in Shan State. She was interviewed on January 13th, 2022.
"Before February 1st last year, I officially worked for an organization for women from an ethnic minority in Shan State, but we had to stop our work right after the coup for a couple of months until we figured out how we could work safely—we started our programs again in June 2021. Meanwhile, like many others, I was involved in the movement and the protests. On the day of the coup, some colleagues came to wake me up and announce the news. After that, we had to burn a lot of our documentation in the office because it wasn’t safe for us. I felt so sorry this was happening; I had just started my career and wanted to get more experience. Us young people, have been severely affected by the coup. We used to empower youth and women in the communities, but now we can’t travel to different communities anymore. We can't even meet our friends in person any longer.
I moved to a village for safety and I am staying with my mum. I work online from my place. We are doing as much as we can to support the internally displaced people (IDPs) from Kayah State coming to Shan State, the human right defenders, and the CDMers. To support IDPs we try to provide for their basic needs and provide a sense of security, but there are so many people. It makes me feel bad to see all these people having to leave their homes and run away because of the military's violence and attacks on innocent civilians. If I have time and feel the risk is low enough, I try to go there and meet with them. We try to find enough stuff for them to sleep, cover basic needs for women, children and the elderly, and provide some food, medicine and warm clothes. There are thousands of people there, and more are arriving every day. Right now, we support around a hundred.
It isn't easy to go to the field as a woman these days. It used to be alright for women to travel alone, but not anymore. In our region, some EAOs are collaborating with the military, so we cannot rely on those groups for security, and with the coup, there is no more state police as they have turned against us. The political turmoil has created a lot of insecurity and has allowed dealers and the black market to prosper with impunity. Post-coup, there have been so many cases of women being raped. Some people have become mentally unstable; they take a lot of drugs and there is no one to arrest them if they commit a crime.
As we are a women’s organization, we have had some women coming to us to look for comfort and protection. I watched a video of a rape case in my area, and I have been in shock since. There is no chance I would travel alone at the moment. To fight for justice for the victim, we have approached the People’s Defense Force (PDF) in our area and have explained the abuse and crimes. They have told us they would handle the case and find the three criminals. Then, because all my colleagues are women, we have some male political activists helping us as volunteers. They help us bring all the supplies to the IDPs and go to the field if we cannot.
My family supports what I am doing and my commitment to help those in need. They are good to me. But because my parents are old, they can’t get involved. I also have one sister working with human rights defenders.
Since the coup started, I never felt limited because I was a woman; I always felt strong enough to adapt to the situation. Women can work more methodically; they think more before reacting, which can be very useful. Women are kinder; we have a heart that thinks about others. I have some friends who have been trained by armed groups in the jungle. Women can do whatever men can. I think men will believe women can do as much as they can after the revolution. Gender inequality will get better as women prove they can lead and participate a lot. Women have also been very active during the protests; some protest leaders are women in our region and elsewhere, including Mandalay and Yangon.
I have a very close friend who is in the PDF, and we chat a lot and meet online regularly. She says she is safe now. She is an activist, and she is happy she decided to join the armed resistance. There are lots of women there in the camps. She told me she would fight until the military failed. I don't think there is equality yet, but men have now realized that gender equality is essential, and people talk about it: "Fight against the military coup, fight for gender equality!" It is more common for people to understand gender equality in towns—it’s rarer in rural areas where people remain highly conservative and traditional.
To survive these difficult times, I join mental wellbeing sessions online. We are young, and we have lost sight of our future, but we need to stay strong and help each other. I also like talking with my friends; we encourage each other a lot. My family is also very supportive and very present.
There are so many ethnic minorities in Myanmar, and before the coup Burmanization was a real thing. Ethnic people have suffered from the loss and terror of civil war for many decades, and Bamar people didn’t know that; they used to believe it was military propaganda. After the revolution, I think Bamar people will understand the suffering of ethnic minorities and never trust military propaganda again. I wish for our country to become a federal democracy. We have been through over 70 years of civil war. We deserve so much better.
Without women, there is no peace. Women suffer more than men in civil war. They can get raped, are displaced, and go through so much suffering. Their opinion is crucial; women can speak up more, and their voices should be listened to. In the future federal democracy, we need gender equality. Women need to have more participation in political matters."
Real Stories Not Tales (RSNT) is a dedicated team in and out of Myanmar that aims to bring awareness to the reality of young people’s lives since the Myanmar military staged a coup on February 1st, 2021. Stories are collected through interviews with each protagonist by the team, either in Burmese or in English. Each character is drawn by a professional illustrator bringing a visual context to the story. RSNT is an anonymous name that is used by the group to guarantee security to all parties involved in the collection of the stories.