Editor’s Note: Stimson’s Myanmar Project seeks a variety of analytical perspectives on issues relating to Myanmar’s civil war, domestic politics, foreign relations, and other topics. Isabella Aung is a Research Fellow with the Myanmar Policy and Community Knowledge Hub at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto. She is a Juris Doctor Candidate at the University of Ottawa and is an expert on women’s political participation and Women, Peace, and Security.
By Pamela Kennedy, Deputy Director, East Asia Program
War is closely associated with men across different societies. Even today, most warring parties and traditional powerbrokers are men. Women’s participation in peace and security remains elusive, as they make up only 12% of personnel in the army, 15% in the air force, and 14% in the navy globally. As of 2022, 97% of senior defense officials worldwide were men. In 2023, women comprised only 9.6% of negotiators and 13.7% of mediators involved in peace processes.
The severe underrepresentation of women across all aspects of conflict raises concerns about women’s safety and empowerment. Due to the male-dominated nature of war, women are routinely excluded from decision-making processes. This exclusion has dangerous gendered outcomes. Women and girls experience armed conflict in different ways compared to their male counterparts. Yet, their voices and lived experiences are not considered by wartime policymakers, resulting in the marginalization of women’s issues. Women in Myanmar are not exempt from this gendered marginalization.
Entering the sixth year after the 2021 coup, the resistance movement against the Burmese junta requires as many participants as possible to sustain its momentum. As tens of thousands of men continue to flee the country to evade mandatory conscription, women’s participation in the anti-authoritarian resistance becomes increasingly important. This article aims to provide an overview of the state of women’s rights in post-coup Myanmar, emphasizing the urgent need to address gendered issues affecting women’s livelihoods. If the alarming deterioration of women’s rights continues to be ignored, civic resistance risks losing women’s support and participation.
Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV)
Myanmar has been in a nationwide civil war since the military coup on February 1, 2021. Five years later, the women, peace, and security (WPS) situation in Myanmar remains bleak. Myanmar is an incredibly diverse country, with 135 officially recognized ethnic groups and more than 100 spoken languages. However, political power has historically lain in the hands of the Bamar majority while ethnic minority states formed the periphery of the country. The Burmese military is infamous for its long-time use of rape as a weapon of war against minority women.
Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has escalated dramatically since the coup. It has now spread to Bamar-majority regions such as Sagaing, Mandalay, and Magway, where there are high levels of civic resistance against the military regime. Such patterns of CRSV have previously not been recorded in these regions. However, following the 2021 coup, the junta has deliberately employed “extensive, coordinated, and systematic sexual violence as a tool of terror and collective punishment” across the country.
Today, women and girls from all ethnic and religious backgrounds are at risk of CRSV under the military regime. The junta arbitrarily arrests and detains women and girls for their political activism and commits sexual violence to instill fear among them. These women and girls are subject to physical and sexual abuse by the soldiers, including but not limited to beatings, torture, intrusive strip searches, and denial of adequate healthcare, such as prenatal and postnatal care, sexual and reproductive healthcare, and menstrual products.
Perpetrators of CRSV against women are not exclusively from the Burmese military. Equality Myanmar reports that People’s Defense Force (PDF) and Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAO) soldiers also commit CRSV. The National Unity Government (NUG) has acknowledged some CRSV cases within the revolution while remaining silent on others. For instance, the NUG acknowledged in a May 2023 statement that seven victims, including five minors, were unlawfully killed by resistance fighters in Sagaing. However, the same statement failed to address that three of the four female victims were raped before being killed.
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) through Policy and Practice
Compounding the sexual violence Myanmar’s women face, both from the junta and the revolutionary forces, are gendered laws and policies enacted post-coup and gendered practices within the resistance. The conscription law enforced in February 2024 is one example. Although women have traditionally been excluded from military service, they are now required to serve in the Burmese military. Under the mandatory conscription law, single women aged 18 to 27 must serve. In some regions, married women without children are being told by the authorities that they would have to serve in the military regardless of their ineligibility under the law.
While the regime forces women to serve in the military against their will, women freedom fighters who wish to participate in armed resistance are facing gendered barriers that prevent them from fighting at the front lines. In the immediate aftermath of the coup, many young women were at the forefront of peaceful protests against the military takeover of the country. As the protests were met with lethal repression by the Burmese junta, women started to recognize the need for armed resistance against the brutal military regime. As a result, many young women have left the comfort of their homes to join PDF and EAO branches across the country. However, they have often been relegated by the armed branches to traditionally feminine support roles such as cooking, caretaking, healthcare, and sewing. Barred from the front lines despite their capabilities, many PDF women struggle to gain meaningful leadership roles or a say in traditional military matters such as command and control due to sexism and misogyny within the Spring Revolution.
A recent policy targeted at women is the menstrual product ban expansion implemented by the military regime. According to Sisters2Sisters Myanmar, the ban has already been in place in Sagaing and Magway regions since 2021. As of April 2026, the junta has expanded the territories covered by the ban on the distribution of menstrual products, claiming that these items are being used to provide wound care to resistance fighters. Women activists on the ground state that by prohibiting the transport of menstrual products across the Sagaing bridge, the ban targets and adversely affects female fighters in the revolution and women in IDP camps, limiting their freedom of movement.
The ban has resulted in an extreme inflation of menstrual product prices, with most displaced women being priced out of these necessary items. The junta has put this extreme measure in place without regard for the health and safety of Myanmar’s women, who made up 50.2%
of the country’s total population as of 2024. It is likely that women now constitute a higher percentage of Myanmar’s population as tens of thousands of young men fled the country to avoid the mandatory conscription enacted in 2024.
Adverse Gendered Policy Effects Impacting Myanmar’s Women
In addition to policies specifically targeted at women, even seemingly gender-neutral political decisions can have gendered effects in times of conflict. The military regime’s implementation of internet shutdowns is a good example. While appearing gender-neutral, internet shutdowns have multiple gendered consequences, such as the widening of the gender digital divide, deepening existing inequality, and deterring women’s economic development. In Myanmar, where many women operate small online businesses, internet shutdowns can threaten their financial freedom. The internet provides women with a flexible work environment that enables them to balance their caretaking duties with business tasks. Amid heightened CRSV following the 2021 coup, informal e-commerce also offers women an opportunity to work in the relative safety of their homes without physically entering active conflict zones.
Another ostensibly gender-neutral measure that is primarily wielded against women in practice in Myanmar is Section 33(a) of the Electronic Transactions Law. The section uses gender-neutral language, stating that anyone who acts in a manner detrimental to the national culture can be punished with a term of seven to fifteen years’ imprisonment and may also be liable to a fine. The junta has used this law to persecute well-known pro-democracy women such as Thinzar Wint Kyaw and Nang Mwe San. Although the regime cited provocative or “sexually explicit content” as the reason behind these two women’s arrests, it does not detain women supporters of the military or men in the entertainment industry who dress or act in a provocative or sexual manner.
Non-Enforcement Encourages Violence
As the junta continues to engage in the legalized repression of women’s rights and activism, its non-enforcement of labor laws adds another layer of wartime violence against women. Under Min Aung Hlaing’s regime, Myanmar has rapidly become a hub of illicit operations such as trafficking, scam centers, unregulated resource extraction, and drug production. The recent rise in trafficking particularly affects displaced women and girls in ethnic minority states, making them vulnerable to different forms of sex trafficking, including commercial sex work in massage parlors near mining sites, forced concubinage, forced marriages, and forced childbearing. Recently, many foreigners have become victims of human trafficking connected to illegal scam operations in Myanmar as well.
The Path Forward to Peace and Security Requires Women’s Equal Participation
Myanmar’s women continue to fight for not only their country’s freedom but also their rights as Myanmar enters its sixth year after the coup. The gender-based violence they face is complex and stems from various sources within and outside of the Spring Revolution. Despite the dire decay of women’s rights during conflict, there has not been enough international action addressing women, peace, and security in Myanmar. Increased attention to WPS in Myanmar is becoming more critical now than ever, as it is unrealistic to expect women’s continued participation in the resistance without their access to equal rights, respect, and dignity.
To strengthen the support for women’s rights and activism in Myanmar, international actors should consider the following policy recommendations.
Implement Localization in Humanitarian Aid Distribution Practices
To effectively support women and girls affected by CRSV and GBV in Myanmar, international organizations must prioritize their unique needs in the distribution of humanitarian assistance. Priority should be given to women-led local organizations working directly with communities on the ground, both in Myanmar and its neighboring countries, rather than channels affiliated with the military junta. By collaborating with these organizations, international donors will gain a more accurate understanding of basic necessities and activities related to fundamental human rights such as healthcare and education in war-torn Myanmar, as conflicts force women to organize to safeguard urgent community needs. The knowledge and lived expertise of women activists can guide donors in using funds effectively without worrying about exorbitant overheads or government corruption.
Provide Gender-Sensitive Aid to Women and Girls
A few international actors, such as the United Nations and the Government of Canada, currently run humanitarian aid projects supporting vulnerable women. However, the somber reality is that a staggering 9.7 million women and girls in Myanmar are in need of humanitarian assistance. Yet, only 0.68% of official development assistance goes to women’s rights organizations. More international aid is needed to address the pressing challenges women and girls face, such as the menstrual product ban, various forms of sexual violence, and inadequate gender-sensitive healthcare. Donation items should include feminine hygiene products, birth control, rape kits, STD medications, maternity products, and medication for women’s health issues.
Encourage ASEAN Leaders and Civil Society to Take Immediate Action
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched its Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security (RPA-WPS) in December 2022. The organization promises to work towards gender equality and the full protection of women’s rights within its member states, creating an opportunity for global actors to call for immediate action to improve women’s rights in Myanmar. The Philippines’ 2026 ASEAN chairmanship might provide more international engagement opportunities focused on WPS in Myanmar, as the Philippines is one of the first ASEAN countries to adopt its own National Action Plan (NAP) on WPS, recognizing the importance of gender-responsive comprehensive peace processes.
Create Platforms where Women Can Safely Share Their Lived Experiences
As high-ranking authorities in the junta, the NUG, and the numerous Spring Revolution groups remain highly male-dominated, women’s voices continue to be suppressed. By creating safe, confidential virtual venues where women with lived experiences of war and displacement can express their concerns, international supporters can gain a better understanding of the gendered realities on the ground and connect affected women with relevant support resources, as well as collaborate to create effective policies and practices.
Header image: Protest in Myanmar against Military Coup. By MgHla
Southeast Asia
War is closely associated with men across different societies. Even today, most warring parties and traditional powerbrokers are men. Women’s participation in peace and security remains elusive, as they make up only 12% of personnel in the army, 15% in the air force, and 14% in the navy globally. As of 2022, 97% of senior defense officials worldwide were men. In 2023, women comprised only 9.6% of negotiators and 13.7% of mediators involved in peace processes.
The severe underrepresentation of women across all aspects of conflict raises concerns about women’s safety and empowerment. Due to the male-dominated nature of war, women are routinely excluded from decision-making processes. This exclusion has dangerous gendered outcomes. Women and girls experience armed conflict in different ways compared to their male counterparts. Yet, their voices and lived experiences are not considered by wartime policymakers, resulting in the marginalization of women’s issues. Women in Myanmar are not exempt from this gendered marginalization.
Entering the sixth year after the 2021 coup, the resistance movement against the Burmese junta requires as many participants as possible to sustain its momentum. As tens of thousands of men continue to flee the country to evade mandatory conscription, women’s participation in the anti-authoritarian resistance becomes increasingly important. This article aims to provide an overview of the state of women’s rights in post-coup Myanmar, emphasizing the urgent need to address gendered issues affecting women’s livelihoods. If the alarming deterioration of women’s rights continues to be ignored, civic resistance risks losing women’s support and participation.
Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV)
Myanmar has been in a nationwide civil war since the military coup on February 1, 2021. Five years later, the women, peace, and security (WPS) situation in Myanmar remains bleak. Myanmar is an incredibly diverse country, with 135 officially recognized ethnic groups and more than 100 spoken languages. However, political power has historically lain in the hands of the Bamar majority while ethnic minority states formed the periphery of the country. The Burmese military is infamous for its long-time use of rape as a weapon of war against minority women.
Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has escalated dramatically since the coup. It has now spread to Bamar-majority regions such as Sagaing, Mandalay, and Magway, where there are high levels of civic resistance against the military regime. Such patterns of CRSV have previously not been recorded in these regions. However, following the 2021 coup, the junta has deliberately employed “extensive, coordinated, and systematic sexual violence as a tool of terror and collective punishment” across the country.
Today, women and girls from all ethnic and religious backgrounds are at risk of CRSV under the military regime. The junta arbitrarily arrests and detains women and girls for their political activism and commits sexual violence to instill fear among them. These women and girls are subject to physical and sexual abuse by the soldiers, including but not limited to beatings, torture, intrusive strip searches, and denial of adequate healthcare, such as prenatal and postnatal care, sexual and reproductive healthcare, and menstrual products.
Perpetrators of CRSV against women are not exclusively from the Burmese military. Equality Myanmar reports that People’s Defense Force (PDF) and Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAO) soldiers also commit CRSV. The National Unity Government (NUG) has acknowledged some CRSV cases within the revolution while remaining silent on others. For instance, the NUG acknowledged in a May 2023 statement that seven victims, including five minors, were unlawfully killed by resistance fighters in Sagaing. However, the same statement failed to address that three of the four female victims were raped before being killed.
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) through Policy and Practice
Compounding the sexual violence Myanmar’s women face, both from the junta and the revolutionary forces, are gendered laws and policies enacted post-coup and gendered practices within the resistance. The conscription law enforced in February 2024 is one example. Although women have traditionally been excluded from military service, they are now required to serve in the Burmese military. Under the mandatory conscription law, single women aged 18 to 27 must serve. In some regions, married women without children are being told by the authorities that they would have to serve in the military regardless of their ineligibility under the law.
While the regime forces women to serve in the military against their will, women freedom fighters who wish to participate in armed resistance are facing gendered barriers that prevent them from fighting at the front lines. In the immediate aftermath of the coup, many young women were at the forefront of peaceful protests against the military takeover of the country. As the protests were met with lethal repression by the Burmese junta, women started to recognize the need for armed resistance against the brutal military regime. As a result, many young women have left the comfort of their homes to join PDF and EAO branches across the country. However, they have often been relegated by the armed branches to traditionally feminine support roles such as cooking, caretaking, healthcare, and sewing. Barred from the front lines despite their capabilities, many PDF women struggle to gain meaningful leadership roles or a say in traditional military matters such as command and control due to sexism and misogyny within the Spring Revolution.
A recent policy targeted at women is the menstrual product ban expansion implemented by the military regime. According to Sisters2Sisters Myanmar, the ban has already been in place in Sagaing and Magway regions since 2021. As of April 2026, the junta has expanded the territories covered by the ban on the distribution of menstrual products, claiming that these items are being used to provide wound care to resistance fighters. Women activists on the ground state that by prohibiting the transport of menstrual products across the Sagaing bridge, the ban targets and adversely affects female fighters in the revolution and women in IDP camps, limiting their freedom of movement.
The ban has resulted in an extreme inflation of menstrual product prices, with most displaced women being priced out of these necessary items. The junta has put this extreme measure in place without regard for the health and safety of Myanmar’s women, who made up 50.2%
of the country’s total population as of 2024. It is likely that women now constitute a higher percentage of Myanmar’s population as tens of thousands of young men fled the country to avoid the mandatory conscription enacted in 2024.
Adverse Gendered Policy Effects Impacting Myanmar’s Women
In addition to policies specifically targeted at women, even seemingly gender-neutral political decisions can have gendered effects in times of conflict. The military regime’s implementation of internet shutdowns is a good example. While appearing gender-neutral, internet shutdowns have multiple gendered consequences, such as the widening of the gender digital divide, deepening existing inequality, and deterring women’s economic development. In Myanmar, where many women operate small online businesses, internet shutdowns can threaten their financial freedom. The internet provides women with a flexible work environment that enables them to balance their caretaking duties with business tasks. Amid heightened CRSV following the 2021 coup, informal e-commerce also offers women an opportunity to work in the relative safety of their homes without physically entering active conflict zones.
Another ostensibly gender-neutral measure that is primarily wielded against women in practice in Myanmar is Section 33(a) of the Electronic Transactions Law. The section uses gender-neutral language, stating that anyone who acts in a manner detrimental to the national culture can be punished with a term of seven to fifteen years’ imprisonment and may also be liable to a fine. The junta has used this law to persecute well-known pro-democracy women such as Thinzar Wint Kyaw and Nang Mwe San. Although the regime cited provocative or “sexually explicit content” as the reason behind these two women’s arrests, it does not detain women supporters of the military or men in the entertainment industry who dress or act in a provocative or sexual manner.
Non-Enforcement Encourages Violence
As the junta continues to engage in the legalized repression of women’s rights and activism, its non-enforcement of labor laws adds another layer of wartime violence against women. Under Min Aung Hlaing’s regime, Myanmar has rapidly become a hub of illicit operations such as trafficking, scam centers, unregulated resource extraction, and drug production. The recent rise in trafficking particularly affects displaced women and girls in ethnic minority states, making them vulnerable to different forms of sex trafficking, including commercial sex work in massage parlors near mining sites, forced concubinage, forced marriages, and forced childbearing. Recently, many foreigners have become victims of human trafficking connected to illegal scam operations in Myanmar as well.
The Path Forward to Peace and Security Requires Women’s Equal Participation
Myanmar’s women continue to fight for not only their country’s freedom but also their rights as Myanmar enters its sixth year after the coup. The gender-based violence they face is complex and stems from various sources within and outside of the Spring Revolution. Despite the dire decay of women’s rights during conflict, there has not been enough international action addressing women, peace, and security in Myanmar. Increased attention to WPS in Myanmar is becoming more critical now than ever, as it is unrealistic to expect women’s continued participation in the resistance without their access to equal rights, respect, and dignity.
To strengthen the support for women’s rights and activism in Myanmar, international actors should consider the following policy recommendations.
Implement Localization in Humanitarian Aid Distribution Practices
To effectively support women and girls affected by CRSV and GBV in Myanmar, international organizations must prioritize their unique needs in the distribution of humanitarian assistance. Priority should be given to women-led local organizations working directly with communities on the ground, both in Myanmar and its neighboring countries, rather than channels affiliated with the military junta. By collaborating with these organizations, international donors will gain a more accurate understanding of basic necessities and activities related to fundamental human rights such as healthcare and education in war-torn Myanmar, as conflicts force women to organize to safeguard urgent community needs. The knowledge and lived expertise of women activists can guide donors in using funds effectively without worrying about exorbitant overheads or government corruption.
Provide Gender-Sensitive Aid to Women and Girls
A few international actors, such as the United Nations and the Government of Canada, currently run humanitarian aid projects supporting vulnerable women. However, the somber reality is that a staggering 9.7 million women and girls in Myanmar are in need of humanitarian assistance. Yet, only 0.68% of official development assistance goes to women’s rights organizations. More international aid is needed to address the pressing challenges women and girls face, such as the menstrual product ban, various forms of sexual violence, and inadequate gender-sensitive healthcare. Donation items should include feminine hygiene products, birth control, rape kits, STD medications, maternity products, and medication for women’s health issues.
Encourage ASEAN Leaders and Civil Society to Take Immediate Action
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched its Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security (RPA-WPS) in December 2022. The organization promises to work towards gender equality and the full protection of women’s rights within its member states, creating an opportunity for global actors to call for immediate action to improve women’s rights in Myanmar. The Philippines’ 2026 ASEAN chairmanship might provide more international engagement opportunities focused on WPS in Myanmar, as the Philippines is one of the first ASEAN countries to adopt its own National Action Plan (NAP) on WPS, recognizing the importance of gender-responsive comprehensive peace processes.
Create Platforms where Women Can Safely Share Their Lived Experiences
As high-ranking authorities in the junta, the NUG, and the numerous Spring Revolution groups remain highly male-dominated, women’s voices continue to be suppressed. By creating safe, confidential virtual venues where women with lived experiences of war and displacement can express their concerns, international supporters can gain a better understanding of the gendered realities on the ground and connect affected women with relevant support resources, as well as collaborate to create effective policies and practices.
Header image: Protest in Myanmar against Military Coup. By MgHla
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