Technology: Friend or Foe for Women of Myanmar Introduction In less than a decade, Myanmar has become a global case study on the impact of digital leapfrogging and the challenges it has brought for digital rights, human rights, and gender equality. Two years after the coup attempt, the country’s population lives in a ‘digital dictatorship’ with regular internet shutdowns and increasing digital surveillance. In 2023 February, Gender Equality Network (GEN) and the Myanmar Internet Project (MIP) decided to carry out a research project on the implications of the military’s digital repression for women’s internet use and gender equality in Myanmar. The preliminary version of this study on “Technology: Friend or Foe for Women of Myanmar” was presented to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 2023 March at the session on Using Technology to Promote Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls in Myanmar. 8