A/HRC/56/CRP.8 participation in Chin political structures within Council meetings, there appears to be little political will and agreement when it comes to integrating gender considerations into the political road map and policies. Women hold only one of 12 seats on the Council. 219. Women leaders cite family responsibility and childcare as key barriers to political participation and leadership. The number of responsibilities women often balance hinders their progression to senior level positions. One female political representative in a state-level council said that she was offered a senior leadership position but turned it down due to her caregiving responsibilities for children and relatives. Her husband had taken a leading role in an armed group, leaving her with the responsibility of care for their family. She described her decision: I was proposed to take a leadership role but I know that I will not be able to lead that position because I need to take care of my children. There are so many women like me, in my same situation. Even though we have the capacity to lead people, there are so many challenges around us. 220. Women’s representation and meaningful participation in political processes is also hindered by security concerns. In a study conducted by the Myanmar Parliamentary Women’s Network, all 30 women politicians interviewed reported physical security concerns, including concerns about sexual violence. 93 percent reported sexual harassment and 83 percent reported gender discrimination as challenges to their participation in political life.95 D. Emerging policies and reforms 221. While carrying out military, economic, and political campaigns to topple the SAC, revolutionary forces are simultaneously beginning to lay the groundwork for a future democratic and rights-respecting Myanmar. As part of these efforts, many resistance groups and revolutionary institutions are adopting policies and legal frameworks that significantly expand gender equality and justice. Actions taken by resistance institutions are not only promoting gender equality and justice within the revolutionary movement but are also seeking to embed gender considerations in future constitutions, laws, and policies. This momentum is the result of women and LGBT activists and human rights defenders raising their voices, ensuring their demands are heard, and being willing to criticize allies in the resistance. 222. Full and equal rights and non-discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation have been embedded into foundational documents guiding the revolutionary movement. The revised Federal Democracy Charter (FDC), approved in March 2022, includes broad human rights protections and prohibits discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. It establishes independent commissions on human rights and anti-discrimination, gender-based violence and domestic violence, transitional justice and reconciliation, minority rights, women rights, child rights, the rights of the differently abled, youth affairs, and gender equality.96 The Federal Democracy Charter also establishes a quota system requiring at least 30 percent representation of women in “different levels of decision-making mechanisms.”97 The inclusion of these provisions, many of which were not in the original Charter approved a year 95 96 97 Myanmar Women Parliamentarians Network (MWPN) and Creative Home, “Costs of being a Woman in Politics: Experiences of Myanmar’s Women Politicians in the Post-Coup Resistance,” March 2024, p. 18-21. Federal Democracy Charter, Part 1, Chapter 4, Section 3, Independent Commissions. Federal Democracy Charter, Part 1, Chapter 4, Section 3, Special Rights Measures. 47