32 > Next Generation Myanmar Figure 11: ‘Youth have a responsibility to involve themselves in addressing issues in their community’ Rural Urban University/college, postgrad High school (Grade 10–11), vocational training Middle school (Grade 6–9) No education, primary school 0 20 40 60 Neither agree nor disagree Do not know Agree Disagree In many cases, youth seem to be constrained by their families’ finances. Participants in group discussions explained that the opportunity cost of many activities, such as volunteering, participating in a CSO event, or attending a training, is often too great for poorer youth from rural areas. They complained that social engagement was only accessible to those with time and money, while interested youth of lesser means are often unable to join. ‘Poorer families will not let their children [get] involved in social activities because the youth have to work in these families,’ one discussion participant explained. ‘I myself lost 20 lakhs [2,000,000 kyat] in order to attend a training last week.’ As explained above, youth also feel the pressure of strict parenting. Youth interviewed in this study described the limitations that parents often set on their children’s activities, sometimes well into their young adulthood. Most viewed these restrictions as well intentioned, but over-cautious. To older generations, they explained, any social engagement beyond religious service or ethnic preservation activities seems like political activism, a field that was completely off limits when their parents were young. Student union meetings or training organised by civil society organisations are considered ‘politics’, and in the words of one 24-year-old NLD activist, ‘politics equal jail in the people’s mind’. To the youth interviewed in this study, this conflation is needlessly restrictive. One 19-year-old student from Rakhine State explained that many youth in Mrauk U, where she studies and participates in a students’ union, are very interested in volunteering. Their participation, however, ‘depends a lot on the elders and the parents who are concerned about us ’. She elaborated: ‘My mother, for example, is overprotective, but two years ago I attended a training and went against my mom by attending it. These days, I go to a lot of training without even telling her. ‘Parents are a major limitation to the youth being involved in volunteering. They cannot distinguish what would be political work and social work. We need to make sure they do not confuse the two of them. ‘Us, the youth, we have to forge our own path, we have to create our opportunities. Opportunities will not find us.’ In addition, young women often face even further restrictions in their participation than young men. Many 80 100 Prefer not to say discussion participants felt parents were more strict with their daughters than with their sons, limiting their curfew and travel, making it difficult for young women to be socially engaged. One youth activist complained that his student organising efforts too often only included men, as female students had to follow stricter dormitory rules. In part, this may explain why female survey respondents were more likely to respond ‘I don’t know’ to questions about social engagement than their male respondents. These financial and cultural realities may explain why 73.4 per cent of youth agree that youth are an untapped potential in Myanmar (see Figure 12). Among older youth (25–30 years old) and more educated youth, even more agree. Notably, rural youth surveyed in this study are more likely than their urban counterparts to agree to the untapped potential of youth, suggesting that while participation in social and civic activity varies between different groups of young people, the value of social engagement is shared between them.