PEOPLE OF MYANMAR (BURMA)WOMEN IN MYANMAR313a few groups continue a guerrilla-style confl ict in the mountains near
Thailand.
Other Peoples
Apart from the Wa (see p 311 ), Myanmar’s constitution has set aside ‘self-
administered zones’ for the Naga, Danu, Pa-O, Palaung and Kokang.
Figures from the 1983 census also show there were 233,470 Chinese,
428,428 Indians, 567,985 Bangladeshis and 42,140 Pakistanis living in
Myanmar. This data is sure to be grossly inaccurate today, especially with
regard to the Chinese. In recent years there’s been a massive infl ux of
Chinese people into northern Burma, evident in Mandalay and certainly
in border towns such as Mong La, where the yuan is the local currency.
Women in Myanmar
In Letters From Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi writes that a baby girl is as
equally celebrated as a baby boy, as they’re believed to be ‘more dutiful
and loving than sons’. Girls are educated alongside boys and, by univer-
sity age, women outnumber men in university and college enrolment.
Most white-collar professions grant women six weeks paid maternity
leave before birth and one or two months afterwards.
Myanmar women enjoy equal legal rights to those of men, can own
property, do not traditionally change any portion of their names upon
marriage and, in the event of divorce, are legally entitled to half of all
property accumulated during the marriage. Inheritance rights are also
equally shared.
Rights on paper, however, don’t always translate into reality. In the
current parliament only 20 out of 659 members are women, and it’s rare
that you’ll fi nd women in other positions of power in Myanmar includ-
ing, crucially, in the military. As the author Nu Nu Yi said in an interview
with The Irrawaddyy on the occasion of International Women’s Day in
2011, men in Myanmar ‘don’t want to give important decision-making
positions to women.’
When it comes to religion, women certainly take a back seat. Many
people in Myanmar – women as well as men – believe the birth of a
girl indicates less religious merit than the birth of a boy, and that only
males can attain nibbanaa (for a woman to do so, she fi rst has to come
back as a man!) A few Buddhist shrines, including Mandalay’s Maha-
muni Paya, have small areas around the main holy image that are off
limits to women.
THE NAGAThe Naga are mainly settled in a mountainous region of eastern India known as Naga-
land, but signifi cant numbers live in the western Sagaing Region between the Indian
border and the Chindwin River.
When the British arrived in the mid-19th century, the Naga were a fragmented but
fearsome collection of tribes. Headhunting was a tradition among them and for many
decades they resisted British rule, though a lack of cooperation between the tribes hin-
dered their eff orts to remain independent. After nearly 17,000 Naga fought in WWI in Eu-
rope, a feeling of unity grew, which led to an organised Naga independence movement.
The Naga sport one of the world’s most exotic traditional costumes. Naga men at
festival time wear striking ceremonial headdresses made of feathers, tufts of hair and
cowry shells, and carry wickedly sharp spears.
The only way to visit the Naga in Myanmar is on a government-organised trip during
the Naga new year in January. It’s easier, and more rewarding, to visit on the Indian side
of the border, where the majority of Naga live.In Andrew Mar-
shall’s The Trou-
ser People the
intrepid author
goes in search of
the Wa’s crea-
tion myth lake of
Nawng Hkeo.White Lotus Press
(www.whitelo
tuspress.com)
publishes books
in English on the
various people of
Myanmar.