In a joint Op-ED by the Representatives of UNFPA and UN Women in Myanmar, co-chairs of the United Nations Country Team Gender Theme Group, on the occasion of Myanmar National Women’s Day, published by ReliefWeb, the call is to give women the chance to make the country stronger in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The writers recognize the work of women as part of the national response to the COVID-19 crisis.
“In the past few months, COVID-19 has changed the world and affected us all. However, the impact of the crisis has been particularly significant for women. This is true globally and this is true here in Myanmar.
“Nearly 60 per cent of women globally work in the informal economy, earning less and at greater risk of falling into poverty. As markets fall and businesses close, millions of women’s jobs have disappeared.
“In Myanmar, women represent 60 per cent of the employee engaged in the food and accommodation services and over 90 per cent of garment workers, two sectors which have been particularly hit by the crisis. Close to 800,000 Myanmar women migrant workers are working overseas and particularly vulnerable in the current context.
“We all know that in normal circumstances, when schools and daycares are open, women already bear the brunt of unpaid care work due to discriminatory social norms which make people think that care work, cooking, cleaning, child rearing is a woman’s work. Unpaid care work limits women’s ability to participate in the economy as well as in other public spheres including political and peace-building processes.”
As the writers point out, the COVID-19 crisis has made this worse.
Currently, more than 700 million children are out of school in the Asia Pacific region due to school closures. This has forced families to find alternative solutions. And it is no surprise that the additional burden of childcare and home schooling has fallen on women, most of the time with little to no help from male family members. In Myanmar evidence is starting to emerge that one of the reasons that women small and medium entrepreneurs have been more affected by the crisis is because they have had no choice but to abandon their businesses in order to care for their children during these times.
As the writers say, Myanmar National Women’s Day provides an important platform to recognize the specific needs of Myanmar women in the COVID-19 crisis, celebrate their leadership and contribution to the response and to commit to placing women at the center of the national recovery efforts, including the Country Economic Relief Plan.
Myanmar Women’s Day is an annual holiday celebrated on July 3. It commemorates the establishment of the Myanmar National Committee for Women’s Affairs (MNCWF), a state-sponsored organization, in 1996.
Myanmar also marks International Women’s Day on March 8.
