Abstract
This chapter highlights the importance of protecting and promoting women’s rights in Myanmar for sustainable community development. Its focus is on the changing roles of Myanmar’s women and their civil society initiatives and how those women’s efforts contribute to the development of their communities. A sustainable community development approach adopted by the Karen Women’s Organization (KWO) is discussed as a framework for examining the contributions and the role of ethnic women’s organization. We reveal from the case study of the KWO that women’s active participation and empowerment, strengthened by the protection and promotion of women’s rights, result in respect for diversity, harmony, solidarity, and recognition from external actors. However, some challenges still remain, since the enabling mechanism needs to be improved and made widely available across all the limitations, borders, and restrictions that still exist as Myanmar transitions to making comprehensive CD possible and sustainable everywhere.
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Aung San Suu Kyi. (2003). A Foundation of Enduring Strength. In Burma~Women’s Voice Together, 1–2. Bangkok: Altsean Burma. Each woman’s role in a family can positively be applied to community harmony, societal peace, and even a constructive nation-building process.
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Takeda, M. (2020). The Importance of the Protection and Promotion of Women’s Rights: The Changing Roles of Women. In: Women, Children and Social Transformation in Myanmar. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0821-9_3
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