Section 2 | FOUNDATIONAL FACTORS Another example is the pending anti-violence-against-women (VAW) law, under development since 2013. Commitments made under CEDAW Article 5 require the government to revise the outdated and discriminatory Penal Code of 1860, and the Department of Social Welfare drafted a national law on all forms of violence against women with support from the Gender Equality Network and the UN Gender Theme Group.145 Notably, the law was not passed in time to be included in the latest report to the CEDAW committee in 2015. According to key informants close to the process, the delay was occasioned in part by debates among some members of parliament as to whether VAW is really a state matter. The bill was still in committee as of November 2016. It intersects uncomfortably with highly politicized issues of VAW in the conflict-affected areas, including rape and other abuses committed by government forces, no doubt invoking scrutiny from spoilers in the military bloc in the parliament as well as the military-controlled Ministry of Border Affairs (see section 3.1 below). Furthermore, there are no legal protections for sexual minorities or recognition of nonconforming gender identities, and same-sex relations are punishable under section 377 of the penal code by fines or imprisonment up to ten years.146 Human rights CSOs that provide legal aid to the LGBTQI community report police abuse and digital harassment concerns.147 Finally, there is a need to improve coordination of legal frameworks for digital development and gender equality to address policy aspects of the gender digital divide to strengthen both. The former are gender-blind, ignoring important differences in access, skills, and real and perceived benefits among male and female ICT consumers and creators that go beyond the tech industry to affect Myanmar’s economic development in general. The latter are primarily reactive to international obligations, lack enforcement, and would have more impact on institutional and individual behavior if embedded in widespread social trends, such as expanding technology-enabled education and training. Such coordination should also include downstream regulations and policies related to rolling out recent legislation on educational reforms, an important leverage point for inclusion of digital access and skills as well as gender equality provisions. This will require patient diplomacy and diligence, as some reforms—such as the National Education Law passed in September 2014—are strongly associated with well-publicized student protests.148 The law was contentious due to continued centralized control over universities, but it did include some welcomed reforms—such as expanding free education to the tertiary level and developing ethnic-language schooling in marginalized communities—and was amended in 2015 to include some of the protesters’ demands, such as a target to increase the education budget to 20 percent of the total national budget (albeit without a timeline).149 However, subsequent anticipated laws to reform educational subsectors particularly important to digital skills development, including TVET, have not yet been introduced. ADB et al., Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in Myanmar See national and state laws on LGBT rights at Equaldex, “LGBT Rights in Myanmar,” 2016. 147 Charlotte England, “Myanmar’s Transgender People Not Just Chasing Rainbows in Fight for Equality,” Guardian, February 2, 2016. 148 Paul Mooney, “Myanmar Students Protest Against Education law for Third Day,” Reuters, November 16, 2014; Amnesty International, “Myanmar: End Relentless Crackdown on Student Protesters,” press release, March 10, 2016. 149 Oxford Business Group, “Proposed Reforms for Myanmar’s Education Sector,” 2015. 145 146 Ending the Gender Digital Divide in Myanmar: A Problem-Driven Political Economy Assessment | 45