缅甸的女性赋权

翻译:Dino

我对将为缅甸带来改变的两件事情有着极大的兴趣：全纳教育(Myanmar – inclusive education)和女性赋权(Empowerment of women)。我并不是自称为这两个问题的研究专家，而只是一个花费了29年从一手资料来研究这两个问题的终身学习者。

我20岁开始离开家到不同的大陆旅居，曾经在两个国家工作居住，并在几年前回到了缅甸。除了主要的基础设施发展以外，缅甸并没有发生太大的变化，性别不平等和性别歧视问题仍然在升温。与很多围绕女权主义的消极做法相反，倡导性别平等和女性赋权（或女权主义）的努力并不是怨恨男人的代名词。

教育中的性别偏见

教育中的性别偏见在缅甸的农村地区尤为常见，父母对儿子完成高中学业并继续接受高等教育的支持远大于对女儿的支持。这种情况同样存在于一些生活在城市中的家庭。在教育方面，女学生被要求获得比男同学更高的分数才能进入到同所大学。例如，我曾经读到过，男生考取459分即可考入医药大学，而女生则需要498分才能被录取。

沉默文化中的家庭暴力

我曾经读过一篇文章，作者提醒女性要特别小心偏僻的公交车站。他曾亲眼看到一位女性被殴打时，有几位男性熟视无睹，因为他们认定施暴的男人是她的丈夫。而事实证明，施暴男性只是一名佯装成她丈夫的抢劫者，而被施暴的女性因为被打的太重而无法出声求救。这个事件反映出，在缅甸，无论男性还是女性，都默认家庭暴力是社会的常态。

据我观察，在很多家庭中女性被男性殴打时，目击者通常不会报警。对于那些真的敢说出来的人来讲，在社会对性别问题缺乏责任意识时，法律也无能为力。这种情况对家庭暴力中的男性和女性受害者都一样。随着男性对家庭暴力的接受以及女性别无选择的逆来顺受，性别平等与缅甸目前的现实相去甚远。

自我歧视

从女性作家和一些在社会上有影响力的女性身上可以看到，缅甸女性有几分自我歧视。她们认为，在某些不成文的文化规范中，洗衣和做饭是女人的事，女人是生育工具，在权力和荣耀方面，男人比女人更胜一筹。一个女性的角色存在于她的家庭中，这个角色在进入社会后也无法改变。

例如，一位在Facebook上拥有7000名粉丝的深受欢迎的女性曾经发过一条状态叫做 “一位值得敬佩的缅甸女性所必须具备的理想品质”，其观点被越来越多的缅甸女性支持者分享：

“不管你受过怎样的教育，如果你不会做饭，那也白搭；不管你能赚多少钱，如果你不会清扫地板，那也白搭；不管你多有商业头脑，如果你不会清洗或熨烫衣服，那也白搭；不管你有多强的工作组织和管理能力，如果你不能处理好家务，那也是白搭。”

虽然这看上去似乎只是一位女性带有偏见的或是孤立的观点，但我确实也碰到过很多女性在工作、生活和家庭中共享这种不成文的规矩。

作为一位缅甸女性，我坚信这不仅仅是女性的议题，更是人类共同的议题。我们在家里如何教育我们的子女，会影响到未来数十年、数代人的面貌。

原文：

The Empowerment of Women in Myanmar

There are two things that I am fiercely passionate about bringing change in my country, Myanmar – inclusive education and empowerment of women. I’m not claiming to be an expert in any of these issues; I’m only a life-long learner who took 29 years of learning this first-hand.

I left home at 20 to travel to different continents, lived and worked in 2 countries and I relocated back to Myanmar a couple of years back. Not much has changed in the country – apart from major infrastructure developments: gender inequality and discrimination continue to be a growing issue. Contrary to much negativity that surround feminism, this fight for advocating change for gender equality and empowerment of women in Myanmar (or feminism) is not synonymous with man-hating.

Gender biases in education

This is especially in rural parts of Myanmar, parents support sons over daughters to complete high school and to continue for higher education. That also holds true for some living in cities. In education, female students are required to get higher marks in the matriculation exam than male students to enter top universities.

For example, I once read that male students are required to have 459 marks to get into the University of Medicine, whereas female students are required to have 498 marks. 

Domestic violence in a culture of silence

I read an article once where the author warned women to be careful especially at deserted bus stops. He witnessed a women being beaten up, with a few men witnessing the event who assumed that man was her husband.  It turned out he was a robber who pretended to be her husband, and the women was unable to speak out being beaten too hard. The take away was the fact that both Myanmar men and women think domestic abuse is a normality often accepted in the society. 

From what I’ve seen happening in many homes, nobody calls the police if they see a woman beaten up by a man. For those who do speak out, laws are redundant in the absence of social responsibility towards gender issues. This goes for domestic violence against both men and women actually. With the acceptance of domestic violence, by men and meekly by women who have no alternatives, gender equality is a far cry from reality in Myanmar.

Self-discrimination

Coming from women authors and some influential women in the society, women in Myanmar are somewhat self-discriminatory. They believe in certain unwritten cultural norms – laundry and cooking are women’s thing, women are instruments of reproduction, husbands are greater than wife in terms of ‘power and glory’, and the role of a woman is within her family and that role in the society can’t change.

For instance, a popular woman with 7,000 followers on Facebook once posted a piece, “Ideal qualities required of a respectable Myanmar woman”, whose viewpoints are shared by a growing number of Myanmar women supporters:

“No matter how educated you are, it means nothing if you can’t cook.”

“No matter how much money you make, it means nothing if you can’t sweep the floor proper.”

“No matter how good is your business acumen, it means nothing if you can’t even iron or do laundry.”

“No matter how good your organisation/management skills are at work, it means nothing, if you can’t manage your own household chores.”

It may seem like a bias, isolated viewpoint from one woman, but I have come across many women who share these unwritten rules in work, life and family.

As a Myanmar woman, I do believe this is not only a women’s issue, it is a human issue. What we teach our young daughters and sons at home is going to impact what’s to come in the next decades and generations.

Translated by Dino of 缅甸观察网 on March 17, 2016 from Sandy Aung’s article The Empowerment of Women in Myanmar

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