Phyo Thiha Cho

‘Gender equality is crucial to a culture of peace’

NAYPYIDAW — A gender equality proposal, outlining a 30 percent women’s quota in the peace process, was submitted to the “political” breakout session of the just-concluded Union Peace Conference in the capital Naypyidaw. The conference ran 11-16 July and marked the third instalment since 2016 of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s “21st Century Panglong” series of conferences, which aim to inject life into a flagging peace process between the government and ethnic armed groups. Gender equality was also discussed in the “social” breakout session. Women made up 120 delegates out of 700 delegates at the conference, or 17 percent, up only 2 percent from the previous year’s conference. Daw Khin Ma Ma Myo, director of the Myanmar Institute of Gender Studies, was one of many conference participants who hope the peace process can lead ultimately to a re-drafting of the military-written 2008 Constitution, to allow greater equality across ethnic groups and across genders. Myanmar Now spoke to her on the sidelines: Is there anything special about the third ‘Panglong’ conference compared to the first two? A: Everyone is discussing national policy, and, this time, there are more observers and more women. How has the discussion on gender equality…