'4=%2C#%6#"% """"""""""""""""""""""""" All state and regional parliaments 8-B%64":%!52C#%6#"%():;% 8-B%.?%():;% #/5:%&60<L=/&2C#%6#"%$+"& !!""""""""""""""""""""""" """"""""""""""""""""""""" Military members of parliament 2C#%6#"%#3:%& !!%<$H&$+"& !"""""""""""""""""""""""" """"""""""""""""""""""""" Ministers 8-B%64":%!5G.%L=H&$+"& !!!"""""""""""""""""""""" """"""""""""""""""""""""" Civil servants154155 '9:;%8$:;%'>-%7=%G.%4$%&$+"& !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""""""""" """"""""""""""""""""""""" Women face patriarchal cultural norms and values in Myanmar156 which have been heightened by the military’s tight and paternalistic grip on power. The military, which has run the country for six decades, oversees a system filled with military values of conformity, rather than individual decision making and public administration. As a result, women’s roles and responsibilities have largely been defined by the military. This can be seen reflected in the constitutional provisions on women which reinforce their primary role to the country as that of vulnerable mothers needing protection rather than a voice, and certainly not people who need positive measures to promote their voice in governance.157 Society reflects the military’s views and gender-based hierarchies are rife, forming the basis of divisions of labour and power at all levels.158 Families reflect this, too, as men are perceived to be the head of the household and therefore make all decisions.159 Awareness of gender issues is low in both the general public and among the government, particularly in certain regions of the country.160 All pillars of the state require capacity building in order to raise awareness and deepen understanding of the links between women’s participation and their rights in the political, civic, economic, social and cultural spheres.161 In particular, the state lacks any gender-responsive policies, plans or programmes to deliver even the most basic of services.162 It also lacks any quality disaggregated data and, as a result, cannot assess trends in the inclusion of women or the impact of their inclusion.163 The state also lacks the budget commitment to make the inclusion of women possible.164 The result of such exclusion of women’s voices can be seen clearly, for example, in the complete lack of awareness and serious de-prioritisation of gender-based violence as an issue of national concern.165 '$+/,&<$H&$+"&<B% 8$.%$"(/5:%:A>)/ 6?"=%+"&-e".=+6<" ?T%6=+&$M!A$+"&():;% #.%7/5&$+"&=/5 >:%9/5:% 6.><B%S !!%#-%J #:%&=+-%6<" 7*:%9.%<B;% '"V"95-%=/5:%$M= '>)/.%=/5-/58$:;%6!<B%S 9?%!5()!% 68*"=%*5!" #5/:%&8-B%=/5'5-%*+,-%*Q;6<" #-%$6#"%<B% !!%'8$:%87:;% 2/5=%62+"BH6438-,##%6<" !A(M.%&#.%7/5&$+"&():%; 8-B;%G6.<B;% !.!%#>-%=/5 #R&*+:%&J 9A5&87#%*+=%*+-/5:%*3:;%():;% 8-B%<@O'5-%*+,-%6>&'!"& L=H&L=-%6.62<B%S >20%$)" '$+/,&<$H&$+"&J ARTICLE 19 - Censored gender: Women’s right to freedom of expression and information in Myanmar - Page 60