Section 2 | FOUNDATIONAL FACTORS worded clauses that empower the government to filter “a specific type of communication” content, arbitrarily disrupt or disconnect internet access “in the interest of the public,” and “temporarily control and use the telecommunications service provider businesses and equipment.”136 Other legal and regulatory gaps include a lack of data privacy and protection policies, cybersecurity standards, or an intellectual property law in an environment where copycat products and outright piracy are rampant, which is a disincentive for local innovation. Some aspects of legal gender equality, particularly women’s political and economic rights, were adopted decades ago. In 1935 Myanmar became the second country in what is now ASEAN to grant women the right to vote, and since then women have had constitutional rights to equal participation in politics (for actual rates of participation, see section 3.1 below). In customary law, Bamar women have long had the legal right to division of property in divorce and equal rights of inheritance; according to statutory law, all Myanmar citizens, regardless of ethnic or religious affiliation, enjoy this provision.137 Constitutional equality for men and women is guaranteed in Article 75 of the 2008 Constitution, and the new minimum-wage law enacted in 2015 specifies that it applies equally to men and women.138 However, gaps remain, such as the lack of legal prohibitions against sexual harassment at the workplace139 or online.140 And the recent National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women 2013–2022 (NPSAW), developed by the Myanmar National Committee for Women’s Affairs and the Department of Social Welfare, makes no mention the gender digital divide, ICTs, or the impact of Myanmar’s evolving information society.141 Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), and Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR). Myanmar ICT Sector-Wide Impact Assessment, September 2015, 71–76. 137 ADB, Technical Assistance to Myanmar. 138 Urbano and Dickinson, Women and the Economy in Myanmar. 139 Ibid. 140 Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), and Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR). Myanmar ICT Sector-Wide Impact Assessment, September 2015, 226–27. 141 United Nations Population Fund and Myanmar National Committee for Women’s Affairs, National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women (2013–2022) (Yangon: UNFPA, 2013). 136 While it is encouraging that Myanmar’s transition to a quasi-civilian government in 2011 has led to limited democratic reforms, increasing engagement with the international community and a sharp increase in foreign direct investment, women have, in large part, not been the beneficiaries of these reforms. Advances to ensure women’s rights and improve the situation of women in Myanmar have, in general, been noticeably absent from reform efforts, in part due to the absence of women from decision-making positions and in politics. Even the Government’s reporting to this Committee identifies efforts to improve women’s rights as prospective rather than on-going, demonstrating the Government’s lack of political will to prioritize women’s issues. —Gender Equality Network Shadow Report to CEDAW, July 2016 Ending the Gender Digital Divide in Myanmar: A Problem-Driven Political Economy Assessment | 43