The fresh turmoil in Myanmar over the last year and a half has brought hardship to wide swathes of society across the country.

But even by these standards, hardship is something the Karen ethnic group in the country has been intimately familiar with for the last seven decades as they continue to struggle for self-determination and a federal union within Myanmar.

Given the current situation in the country, it comes as no surprise that young people in areas controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) have missed out on opportunities that youths in urban areas of Myanmar have more access to.

Against this landscape of deprivation, young Karen women, called Kawthoolei Mu Naw in the S’gaw Karen language, face even greater difficulties in gaining access to vital things such as education, healthcare, and employment.

Struggling to get an education

“It is almost impossible to study because women in Karen areas face difficulties merely living. They are constantly forced to flee conflict so they can’t complete their education even if they get a chance to go to school,” says Naw Heh Say, a member of Karen Youth Organisation (KYO).

“Dropping out after primary school is far too common for many girls as they are forced to find work in farming or other menial labour to help support their families. Poverty and insecurity are hard barriers to overcome even if there are any who want to continue with tertiary education. Besides, centres of higher learning are mostly located far from our areas, compounding the situation,” Naw Heh Say added.

Before the February 2021 coup, girls in KNU-controlled areas had the opportunity to study in government schools, but the Covid-19 pandemic that reached Myanmar’s shores in March 2020 forced schools to close.

 

Then, even before the schools had reopened, the military seized power. The coup led to many civil servants, including teachers, to join the civil disobedience movement protesting the takeover.

Due to the massive disruptions to the education system, many Karen youth have dropped out of the public education system.

Earlier this month, the national public education system reopened fully for the first time in over two years and many children across the country have begun going back to school.

However, this is not enough to overcome the education gap in Karen-majority areas.

Seeking to overcome this, the Karen have set up what they call Kawthoolei schools. Kawthoolei is the name used by Karens to refer to Karen State.

Kawthoolei schools, some 1,500 of them in KNU-controlled areas, teach S’gaw Karen language, Myanmar, English, geography, maths, and extracurricular activities.

Despite their best efforts, the Kawthoolei schools have been swamped by an influx of new students who would rather not attend public schools effectively overseen by the military junta.

As they are community funded, the schools also face difficulties in paying teachers, funding facilities, textbooks, and even stationery.

“When it rains, we have to avoid leaks in the classroom,” said one student who moved to a Kawthoolei school from a government-run public  school.

She added that there is also added pressure to catch up with the curriculum since education had been shut down for so long.

However, even though the restarting of schools is a boon, there are other structural difficulties to be overcome.

Among them is the dearth of opportunities in higher education even if students complete 12th grade in Kawthoolei schools. Colleges and other institutions of higher learning are located far away from KNU-controlled areas due to the security situation.

Given the instability in Myanmar, it is understandable that parents are sometimes reluctant to let children, especially girls, travel away for education.

“I am really sad because my parents are not allowing me to go away to study. I will teach younger children from our village for a year, then I will have to work in the rice fields,” said one young lady who completed her secondary education in a Kawthoolei school this year.

On top of this, even if they finish high school and get a degree, there are few job opportunities in their area.

Poor job prospects

Many Karen women, whether educated or not, often end up doing manual labour such as tapping rubber, cultivating konjac and betel nut, picking cashew nuts, and durian.

Those who would rather not do agricultural work often end up working illegally in neighbouring Thailand.

“I have no work other than tapping rubber trees at home. It doesn’t pay well and I have to get up when it is still dark to do it,” said one 22-year-old woman who earns 300 baht (US$8/K14,500) a day working in a factory in Thailand.

Myanmar’s short acquaintance with democracy under the National League for Democracy had not been able to overcome decades of military misrule, even before last year’s coup.

Lack of development is evident in Karen-majority areas and has led to a dearth of facilities such as vocational schools that could help alleviate the situation. Although some Karen women do run small handicraft businesses making traditional clothing and crocheting, this mostly done for supplemental income as there is no easy way to scale up such businesses to reach larger markets. Bigger businesses such as manufacturing are largely absent.

Sexual assault

Even as the Karen strive to overcome the socio-economic problems they face, Karen women constantly face the threat of sexual attacks.

Young Karen women are constantly in fear of sexual harrassment or worse by junta troops and their allied Border Guard Forces.

Junta forces also often detain villagers to use as human shields to prevent attacks when moving through KNU-controlled areas. Women and children are the first to flee villages whenever there is news of military troop movements.

According to women in Karen-majority areas, rape and the killing of women is something that happens in almost every township and village.

“There have been instances of pregnant women and even children being sexually abused. Every village and township has to have women’s organisations to help victims of such crimes,” said Kawthoolei school teacher Naw Thout Kyar Eh.

Seeking to deal with the issue of women’s safety and safety, the Karen Women’s Organisation (KWO) was set up. It now has a strong presence in KNU- controlled areas and works hard to address issues faced by women.

“While the KWO works to help survivors of sexual assault, we also cooperate with the relevant authorities to prosecute those who perpetrate such attacks. We have been effective in accessible areas, however, sadly, some of these crimes take place in very remote places where we have less of a presence,” said Naw Thaw Thaw Kalal, chairwoman of the Karen Women’s Organisation in Win Ye Township.

Dearth of healthcare

Another issue faced by people, especially women, in Karen-majority areas is a widespread lack of healthcare.

This is brought about by a shortage of skilled medical staff and medicines in almost every village. What clinics and hospitals that do exist are spread few and far between.

“While women are susceptible to many of the the same diseases as men, they also have to deal with reproductive-health issues. Older Karen women are also prone to diabetes. Often people who are ill have to travel long distances over difficult terrain just to reach a clinic, and if the clinic doesn’t have the expertise or medicine to treat an issue, then the patient has to try another facility somewhere else. It is difficult for people, especially women, to travel from location to location seeking healthcare,” said a health official for Kawkareik Township.

Another issue brought about by the lack of opportunity and education that affects women’s health is child marriages. Many girls  below the age of 18 who lack an education often marry. This in turn can bring about poor outcomes for maternal and child health.

Seeking to overcome this problem, KNU health authorities distribute food and nutritional supplements once every three weeks to areas that it can access.

However, despite the efforts to provide rudimentary healthcare, there is no routine immunisation for Karen children, and parents who seek to immunise their children have to travel to hospitals in bigger towns, according to one healthcare worker.

“What Karen women need most now are opportunities to gain access to education and employment. Vocational training centres and courses to upgrade skills would go a long way to improving the situation,” said Naw Heh Say of the Karen Youth Organisation.

“We simply seek equal opportunity as other people in the country have,” she added.

The problems the Karen, the third-largest ethnic group in the country, are not unique to them and are representative of the issues also faced by other ethnic groups.

Myanmar currently ranks 147 out of 189 countries in the world on the Gender Inequality Index for 2020, according to the United Nations.

Given the grim statistics, it makes the efforts of Karen women to better themselves and champion women’s rights all the more inspiring.

 

Burma Associated Press