International Women’s Day Statement
“For equality, end patriarchy!”
Date: March 8, 2022
Today, on International Women’s Day 2022, the Women’s League of Burma condemns the coup d'etat committed by the militaristic Tatmadaw that obstructs our efforts to achieve our equality objectives by actively reinforcing the patriarchy.
On February 1, 2021, the Tatmadaw staged a coup to revitalize military dictatorship, and coup has not only violated democratic principle, but it has also taken away the opportunities to promote the participation and leadership role of women in politics as well as in every other level of decision-making. Furthermore, the institutionalization of male dominance is not only strengthening the systems that favor men and traditional practices that treat women as a subordinate class who are weak and dependent, but it is also leading to an increase in violence against and oppression of women.
With the intention to aggravate fear among the public, the Tatmadaw has been using different forms of sexual violence including rape as weapons of war in non-Bamar ethnic areas for more than 70 years. Since the military coup, the strategic use of sexual violence has been rising substantially. Women have become targets of gender-based human rights violations and war crimes including murder, unlawful detention, imprisonment, and hostage-taking since the coup. And the military’s continued commitment of these crimes with impunity have led to a total of 107 women killed and 1527 women imprisoned.
So long as the Tatmadaw remains in power and continues to bolster the entrenchment of patriarchy, they will continue to enjoy impunity for committing war crimes. Therefore, we, the Women’s League of Burma, would like to reiterate that now is a crucial time to eradicate the Tatmadaw and all the other institutions that are based on patriarchy.
Therefore, to build a peaceful federal union in which we want to reside, Women’s League of Burma hereby urge young people, women and all revolutionary forces including Spring Revolution forces to join our efforts in collectively abolishing not only the military dictatorship but all forms of dictatorship that are underpinned by patriarchy alongside the slogan, “For equality, end patriarchy”.
Women’s League of Burma