"Oppress Life"

I want to share about different women’s life faced in our Ta’ang community. Most of the Ta’ang (Palaung) people live in northern Shan state. Approximately there are 500 households and around 2000 people living in only our village. The main work of Palaung people is to farm and grow tea.

We can see that men and women involve in different sectors based on our culture and traditions. However, it is not equal since men get higher positions of power and women behave in a humble way, because of different cultural traditions.

Although there are two brothers and two sisters in a family, those children do not get the same opportunity. The parents believe that the boys should be educated, sit in the high places and have to take the responsibility of looking after the parents. That’s why, the sons get the opportunity to complete the school, but the daughters only have a chance to study primary or middle school, then they have to quit. Most of the girls´ duties are cooking, cleaning, washing and to take care of the children. Additionally, the girls have to be polite and they cannot go outside the house at nighttime, sit at high places, speak loudly and they don’t need to study or complete high school or a degree. The girl´s husband will take the responsibility of looking after both of them when they get married. Neither should the girls find a job outside the village or the country or travel often, since the people in the community recognize that this girl is a prostitute if she goes outside and looks for a job. Most girls should only work in the village. 

That’s why the girls have to quit school when the family business gets any economical problem. Instead they have to find a job to help their parents to get an income for the family. The boys get opportunities to study until they get a degree and the parents do not allow them to quit school until they finish. Some children are forced to study by their parents, even if they are not interested in studying. We can see that women have to obey and often get oppressed by someone who rules over them whatever they work with. If the men earn (1000) kyat, women earn only (500) kyats for a day because most people believe that women are weak and men are strong.

If we review the educational sector, women are not only discriminated by society and teachers but they also get discriminated by the government. The society and the parents recognize that women do not need education since the girls are only guests in a family, but men have to be educated. The teachers also discriminate girls in school, they prefer the boys. If the boys make some mistake in the class anytime, they only blame the girls. It is easy for the boys to choose the subjects that they want, but it is difficult for the girls. E.g. if the girls want to study a medical subject, they have to get a higher score than the boys.  The government doesn’t want the girls to have a high score.

Ta’ang (Palaung) women take the responsibility for the domestic work. They also do other kinds of work outside in order to improve the conditions for the family. The development of a woman´s life can be delayed, if we only work without dignity in our village and society.

Our women´s life is upsetting and filled with sorrow as we face discrimination, limitation and pressure everywhere.  We have a lack of knowledge and no experience from outside. Some women become unbalanced and nervous as they have stayed at home fulltime. If she only stays at home all the time, she would not know anything from outside home or from society. She can be far away from society and her life will be isolated. As a result, the women are suppressed, and rely on someone else wherever they go, and they don´t get any self confidence. Moreover, they get afraid of speaking with other people in society. Then, most women want to rely on other people, so the community always considers that women cannot do anything or lack experience from outside. The women also recognize themselves like that. It should not become like this. 

If we review the current situation of women, we can say that the percentage of women participants increase in international activities, but the discrimination against them still remain as some discrimination comes from ancestor customs. As a Burmese proverb says;  “if women ascend, country wreck”. There are a lot of proverbs used to discriminate women. Also some men don´t support or recognize women´s work. So, women don’t have self confidence and are afraid to practice their rights.  

If we review some of our cultural customs and limitations, there are still some customs that discriminate women´s life. So, we have to change some of our customs.  It seems that we ignore and disrespect our customs if we say like that, but it means that we should change the customs that limit women´s opportunities. E.g. “women business are domestic work  ,they don’t need to be educated”.  Then, women themselves have to get involved and fight for their own rights in order to get equality. Practice your rights, don’t give up. The men should also cooperate, and empower women together. Please elevate women´s rights in every sector.

Written by Lway Hlar Reang! used by Palaung Women's Organization (PWO) in Burmese 2009 in Shwe Phi Oo Journal