‘We are warriors’: Women join forces in Myanmar’s military Military news

Before taking up arms against the military regime in July, Kabya May never wore trousers.

Like many women in Myanmar, the 23-year-old teacher from the Sagaing region was accustomed to wearing an ankle-length sarong called htamein. She is now a member of the Myaung Women Warriors team, the first publicly announced women’s wrestling team in Myanmar.

“I came in because I want to uproot the dogs,” Kabya May said, using the term contemptuous of the security forces in Myanmar. “The reason women are joining a single resistance group is to show that women can do what men can do.”

The number of women who have joined the armed resistance since the February 1 coup is growing Kabya May. The four women fighters told Al Jazeera that along with the destruction of the military dictatorship, they want to overthrow traditional gender norms and secure women. play the same role in building a new nation.

Al Jazeera is using nicknames for Kabya May and the other women featured in this article because of the risk of military reprisals.

Women have played a prominent role in the protest movement that emerged after Army leader Min Aung Hlaing took power.

Workers in garment factories were the first to take to the streets, and women continue to be on the front lines of pro-democracy demonstrations. They have also stood out in an ongoing Civil Disobedience Movement and in their advocacy for the rights of ethnic minorities.

Women have sometimes actively used their femininity as a tool of resistance. Faced with the alleged superstition of a man passing under a woman’s underwear or contacting them, the women waved flags with sarongs, put the image of coup leader Min Aung Hlaing on the pads on the estate and used sarongs, socks and health scarves to mock security forces on the streets and to humiliate and stop them.

Women have not been freed from repression by the army: the Political Prisoners’ Aid Association (Burma) told Al Jazeera that of the 1,260 people killed by security forces in the coup, at least 87 were women and more than 1,300 out of 12,000. convicted, imprisoned or accused have been women.

The participation of women in the armed resistance movements in Myanmar is not new. Some of the country’s largest ethnic armed organizations claim hundreds of women at their level, and Naw Zipporah Sein, Karen’s former vice president of the National Union, was the chief negotiator of ethnic armed organizations in the 2015 peace talks that brought a milestone. ceasefire agreement with the military.

But a study on women from ethnic armed organizations in Myanmar published by the Oslo Peace Research Institute in 2019 found that women have generally been subordinate, men’s leaders have ignored women’s abilities and ideas, and women have the power to help. The peace in Myanmar was “greatly underestimated”.

Fight for equality

The coup has led to a wide-ranging review of these rooted perspectives, and calls for a complete overhaul of the protest movement – especially youth-led – not only the flawed political system, but also social inequalities.

Women’s Warriors spokeswoman Amara Myaung told Al Jazeera that the group wants to address restrictive gender categorizations. “Society marks certain tasks for both men and women,” she said. “We are marching to break these stereotypes, and to show our shaking hands [baby] The hammock can also be part of the armed revolution. ”

Before the coup, Amara never thought he would be a revolutionary fighter. But witnessing the murders and violence around him forced him to take the necessary step.

“I only took up arms when I had no other choice,” he said. “I am just worried about what the risk will be for me … On the other hand, we have decided that we need to win this. We are preparing our mentality; we don’t feel normal, but we have to control ourselves. ‘

Myaung Women Warriors is one of hundreds of armed resistance groups, known as the National Defense Forces (PDF), which have been formed across the country since April.

“As the whole country is in revolution, we are fulfilling our role, and we are also promoting the role of women,” Amara said.

On October 29, they were part of a coalition of public defense forces that burned down a police house. Amara said the action was intended to prevent soldiers and police from using the station as a base to attack local people.

Women attend a PDF training session. Those who spoke to Al Jazeera said they had become harder as a result of their training and decided to show that they were as strong as men. [Supplied]

Photos of the operation have resonated on social media.

Seeing the support of the citizens has given Amara the strength to follow women, but they remain focused on their mission.

“We are women warriors, which means we are ready to fight anytime, anywhere. The warriors are brave, decisive and loyal … We are ready to fight for the people. ”

Kabya May, a former teacher, joined the armed resistance two months before the Myaung Women Warriors group was formed. Like many young people across Myanmar, he decided to take up arms in the face of growing difficulties, physical insecurity and an increasingly difficult future.

“Suddenly, nothing went well,” he said. “Young people feel like we’re wasting time. We cannot travel freely. When [military] dogs come, people are scared. I don’t want to see these things anymore. ‘

The eldest of five children, she graduated in early 2020 from a teaching course in the hope that her monthly salary will allow her father to retire from spraying pesticides on local farms.

But months later, schools across the country were closed due to the pandemic, and instead began working in a barbecue shop.

The coup led to massive strikes by teachers against working under military leadership, and was signed by Kabya May. When the barbecue he was working on closed his shop, he joined his father in spraying pesticides and taking on any other job he might find. “My family is big and we depend on daily wages,” he said. “If we don’t work one day, we have nothing to eat.”

When she learned that the people of her township were forming an armed resistance group, she wondered if women could join as well. In July, he started training.

It was not only the first time he had worn pants, it was the first time he had been in close contact with men outside his family.

“I felt shy when I first joined, but later, I felt comfortable and we became comrades,” he said. “When I trained with them [men], like push-ups, I tried to keep up the pace … I struggled with muscle and back pain, but I suffered. ”

Revolutionary life

In Kayah State and neighboring Shan State near the border in southeastern Myanmar, two young women told Al Jazeera that local armed resistance groups had joined pandemics and coups after destroying education plans, and forced them out of their homes to escalate the conflict.

Women practice physical training after joining a PDF. The struggle is not only against military rule but also to overthrow traditional attitudes towards women [Supplied}

Since May, PDFs in these areas have joined existing ethnic armed organisations to wage a formidable front against the military, which has responded with tactics including air attacks, arson and indiscriminate shelling. Some 165,000 people have been displaced across Myanmar’s southeast, out of 223,000 newly displaced across the country since February, according to the United Nations.

When clashes spread across Kayah State in May, Pale fled her village in Demoso township, running to the mountains with her family and others from her village.

“The weather was cold and water scarce. We didn’t bring sweaters or coats and we brought food for only one to two days,” said the 21-year-old, who had been attending university until the pandemic. “We had to come back under bullets and combat to collect necessities.”

As days turned to months, Pale’s hopes of a prompt return faded, and she began thinking about ways to support the resistance movement. In July, when a friend invited her to join the local people’s defence force, she agreed.

Assigned to be a medic, she is treating patients including those injured by the conflict. She also participates in physical conditioning and training, takes turns in the kitchen, and tends to farms abandoned by displaced villagers, giving them some of the crops in the camps where they are now living.

While some people cannot handle the rigorous demands or following orders, Pale says it has toughened her up. She has also become accustomed to the sounds of war.

“The first time I heard gunfire, I was so scared,” she said. “We have become used to it now because we hear it all the time. We believe that our lives are in God’s hands, and when our time comes, we will die … This is how we motivate each other to continue.”

Even though women and men at times take on different roles, Pale says that the experience of the hardships of revolutionary life together has fostered a sense of camaraderie and equity. “There are many roles women can play. Some women want to join, but their parents do not allow them because people see us women as soft and weak,” she said. “We need to show that we are able. We can do it.”

Weapons training for women at a training camp of the Demoso People’s Defence Force [Supplied]

The experience of the displacement prompted Nway Oo Pan to join the defense forces of the local people in his hometown of Moebye, Shan State.

“After the army mistreated people, I thought to myself,‘ Am I going to be abused like this, live as a displaced person, or am I going to fight? ’” The 20-year-old asked. who was also a college student before the pandemic.

She is now living and training with both men’s and women’s recruitment. “We have a lot of challenges. I have never lived in the woods; I have spent my whole life studying. In the sun and rain we have to climb mountains and hills up and down every day. I’ve got completely new experiences, ”he said.

“I no longer notice menstrual cramps because I have to train and travel a lot in the woods. First, every time I had menstrual cramps, I always stayed in bed. Now, I am in the woods and I live with others. I can’t stay like that anymore. ‘

He chose to be a fighter for Nway Oo Pan, where he worries that his life will be more of a burden to other fighters if he can’t continue. But day by day, he is gaining confidence.

“My mindset has become strong, that we can do what men do,” he said. “I want to achieve gender equality through this revolution.”

This article was supported by an ARTICLE 19 grant called Voices for Inclusion, a project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.