To travel here is to encounter men wear

PEOPLE OF MYANMAR (BURMA)

WOMEN IN MYANMAR

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Just as boys between the ages of fi ve and 20 usually undergo a pre-

puberty initiation as temporary novice monks, girls around the same

age participate in an initiatory ear-piercing ceremony (often called ‘ear-

boring’ in Burmese English). Some also become temporary nuns at this

age, but nuns are not as venerated in Myanmar as monks.

Saw Myat Yin, the insightful author of Culture Shock! Burma, express-

es a viewpoint common among Myanmar women, who see their role as

equal but ‘supportive and complementary...rather than in competition’,

and that ‘if they accept a role a step behind their menfolk, they do so

freely and willingly.’