Women’s political representation in a democratizing Myanmar | |
| Author | Yin Yin Min |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-16-01 |
| Subject(s) | Women in politics--Myanmar Women politicians--Myanmar Democratization--Myanmar |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ;no.GD-16-01 |
| Abstract | In the 2015 election 148 Myanmar women became parliamentarians; this brought the proportion of women elected to 13%, doubling up from the last parliamentarian term at 4.6%. There is a strong belief in Myanmar that leadership is a male domain derived from an institutionalized tradition of men in the political sphere enhanced by the all malemilitary junta, spanning almost sixty years. However, recent political events led to a more democratic system, and in theory the increasing levels of freedom should also improve women’s access to political positions. The study aims to examine the situation of women’s political representation in a democratizing Myanmar. The study is based on interviews with a total of twenty-five women candidates in the 2015 General Election from eleven political parties. This qualitative study aims to shed light on women’s representation in the political system by presenting characteristics, experiences and perspectives of women candidates as well as the constraining and supporting factors they have encountered to become political representatives, an finally how they have influenced the policy agenda and policy-making process. The study results suggest there are some main similarities and differences among the women interviewed and some key constraining/supporting factors. The pool of women candidates faced intense scrutiny under the existing gender norms and stereotypes, including negative attitudes towards women leadership, women accessing economic resources, and the perceptions by male colleagues. Yet women share three entry points into politics: through participation in political movement, through family kinship, or as outsiders. Women who have been representatives before suggest that some influence on gender sensitive policy agenda and policy-making process is happening but limited, considering that the proportion of women parliamentarians is still far from the benchmark set within critical mass theory. It was concluded that women can raise their voices in legislation and policy development but their substantive presence remains a question in terms of achieving gender equality in the country. |
| Year | 2016 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Doneys, Philippe; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Kusakabe, Kyoko;Grunbuhel, Clemens; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2016 |