IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/eurjdr/v32y2020i2d10.1057_s41287-020-00266-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Political Change, Women’s Rights, and Public Opinion on Gender Equality in Myanmar

Author

Listed:
  • Mala Htun

    (University of New Mexico)

  • Francesca R. Jensenius

    (University of Oslo
    Norwegian Institute of International Affairs)

Abstract

Myanmar’s introduction of competitive elections after decades of military rule raised expectations for progress in economic and social development, including in the area of women’s rights. In this paper, we draw on data from two national surveys, interviews, and existing qualitative studies to explore public opinion on women’s rights and gender equality. Do Burmese people support gender equality? How are their views on gender related to other aspects of political culture, such as traditional values and views toward authoritarianism and democracy? Our objective is to gain better understanding of the opportunities and obstacles to egalitarian social change and democratic consolidation. Our analysis of survey data reveals that attitudes toward gender roles are conservative, traditional and anti-democratic beliefs are widespread, and these views are strongly associated. Our findings imply that tendencies in public opinion provide a resource for Burmese nationalist groups and politicians and an obstacle to activists seeking greater alignment with global norms on gender equality.

Suggested Citation

  • Mala Htun & Francesca R. Jensenius, 2020. "Political Change, Women’s Rights, and Public Opinion on Gender Equality in Myanmar," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(2), pages 457-481, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:32:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1057_s41287-020-00266-z
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-020-00266-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-020-00266-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41287-020-00266-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Melissa Crouch, 2015. "Constructing Religion by Law in Myanmar," The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Dreze, Jean & Sen, Amartya, 2002. "India: Development and Participation," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780199257492.
    3. Jacqueline Heinen & Stéphane Portet, 2010. "Reproductive Rights in Poland: when politicians fear the wrath of the Church," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 1007-1021.
    4. Matthew J. Walton & Melyn McKay & Daw Khin Mar Mar Kyi, 2015. "Women and Myanmar's “Religious Protection Laws”," The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 36-49, December.
    5. Tharaphi Than, 2015. "Nationalism, Religion, and Violence: Old and New Wunthanu Movements in Myanmar," The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 12-24, December.
    6. Shahra Razavi & Anne Jenichen, 2010. "The Unhappy Marriage of Religion and Politics: problems and pitfalls for gender equality," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 833-850.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xia Ling & Yanhong Liu, 2023. "The Coordination of Environmental Protection and Female Discrimination Based on the Concept of Affirmative Action," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-10, February.
    2. Elin Bjarnegård, 2020. "Introduction: Development Challenges in Myanmar: Political Development and Politics of Development Intertwined," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(2), pages 255-273, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Angus Deaton & Jean Dreze, 2008. "Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations," Working Papers 1071, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    2. Sripad Motiram & Lars Osberg, 2010. "Gender Inequalities in Tasks and Instruction Opportunities within Indian Families," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 141-167.
    3. Vizard, Polly, 2005. "The contributions of Professor Amartya Sen in the field of human rights," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6273, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Elena Baglioni, 2022. "The Making of Cheap Labour across Production and Reproduction: Control and Resistance in the Senegalese Horticultural Value Chain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(3), pages 445-464, June.
    5. Kristian Alm & David S. A. Guttormsen, 2023. "Enabling the Voices of Marginalized Groups of People in Theoretical Business Ethics Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(2), pages 303-320, January.
    6. Clots-Figueras, Irma, 2011. "Women in politics: Evidence from the Indian States," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 664-690, August.
    7. Lionel Kesztenbaum & Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, 2014. "Income versus Sanitation; Mortality Decline in Paris, 1880-1914," PSE Working Papers halshs-01018594, HAL.
    8. repec:kqi:journl:2018-2-1-2 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Gulati, Namrata & Ray, Tridip, 2016. "Inequality, neighbourhoods and welfare of the poor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 214-228.
    10. Cassan, Guilhem, 2019. "Affirmative action, education and gender: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 51-70.
    11. Teresa Bago d'Uva & Maarten Lindeboom & Owen O'Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2011. "Education‐related inequity in healthcare with heterogeneous reporting of health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 174(3), pages 639-664, July.
    12. Oyvat, Cem & Tekgüç, Hasan, 2019. "Ethnic fractionalization, conflict and educational development in Turkey," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 41-52.
    13. Prabir C. Bhattacharya, 2006. "Economic Development, Gender Inequality, and Demographic Outcomes: Evidence from India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 32(2), pages 263-292, June.
    14. M.A. Oommen, 2018. "Deepening Decentralised Governance in Rural India: Lessons from the People’s Plan Initiative of Kerala," Working Papers id:12519, eSocialSciences.
    15. Sandeep Sharma & Dora Marinova & Diana Bogueva, 2020. "Transitioning to Better Primary Education: The Role of an Expatriate Organisation in India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-21, August.
    16. Selin Çağatay, 2018. "Women’s Coalitions beyond the Laicism–Islamism Divide in Turkey: Towards an Inclusive Struggle for Gender Equality?," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 48-58.
    17. Senem Ertan, 2016. "How to Study Gender Equality Policy Cross-Nationally? Aggregate or Disaggregate Gender Equality Policy Indices?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 47-76, January.
    18. Sunit Singh & Rama Charan Tripathi, 2010. "Why Do the Bonded Fear Freedom?," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 22(2), pages 249-297, September.
    19. Gasper, D.R., 2006. "What is the capability approach?: its core, rationale, partners and dangers," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19187, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    20. Cheng, Chao-yo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2014. "Fuel stacking in India: Changes in the cooking and lighting mix, 1987–2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 306-317.
    21. David Cutler & Angus Deaton & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "The Determinants of Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 97-120, Summer.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:32:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1057_s41287-020-00266-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.