Due to deteriorating economic, health and educational resources resulting from the half-century-long civil war and oppression by the military government, the daily lives of the people of Burma are deeply embedded with human rights violations, poverty and lack of peace. Burmese people have become virtual prisoners or Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) within their country, refugees, undocumented migrant workers or stateless people, especially in neighboring countries. At the present time there are about one million IDPs within Burma, while about three millions are temporarily taking refuge in neighboring countries such as Thailand, China, India, and Bangladesh. In those host countries, Burmese people face various forms of discrimination, exploitation and violence. Women, in armed conflict areas as well as in neighboring countries, face additional insecurity as they are always under the threat of various forms of sexual exploitation and violence.  A rapidly deteriorating economic situation has left 75% of the population living below the poverty line and education is no longer meaningful tool for survival.

Current political impasse and negligence of the military regime over the country’s social, economic and humanitarian crises have left people with no choice but to continue to leave for neighboring countries in search of jobs all across Asia, practically in neighboring Thailand, China and India.

In Burma, women are on the whole less educated, leading to a lower literacy rate and are relegated to low-paying unskilled jobs in the national economy. Girls are often never able to attend school.  It is estimated that there is an 80% illiteracy rate among women from some border areas and in many remote mountain regions.  At present, women comprise more than half of an estimated one million Burmese migrant population in Thailand, China and India. They are engaged in underpaid jobs of the 3-Ds - the dangerous, dirty and difficult, which threaten their health, especially their reproductive health. There is a high demand for women workers in many sectors such as manufacturing, food processing, sewing, weaving, fishing relating, construction, domestic workers, restaurant workers, entertainers, and sex workers. Most of this work is located in border areas such as Ranong and Mae Sot in Thailand, Moerae and Aizawl in India, and Ruili and Laiza in China.

When migrating to neighboring countries, women from Burma are often handicapped in their search for work because of their low educational levels, unfamiliar societies, law and culture, and lack of language skills.  This places them in extremely vulnerable positions in host countries. Most of them find life in these countries insecure, isolating and lonely because they have been separated from their families and are unprotected. The degree to which others can exploit this vulnerability depends, to a large extent, on the information that migrants have to protect themselves against exploitation.  Therefore it is essential for them to understand the immigration laws, labor laws and be able to access information, education and capacity building services. Yet, these women have little or no access to these services in these host countries.

There are 170,000 refugees in refugee camps along the Thailand border and women comprise a vast majority of inhabitants. These women have little or no access to information and education and no forums to share their common concerns. A large number of them are illiterate. Cases of domestic violence have been rapidly increasing in refugee camps and there are some cases of suicides.  Proper action is rarely taken in these cases and there are few effective mechanisms or services to protect these women. There are safe houses, literacy classes, libraries, and women's organizations like Burmese Women’s Union, Karen Women’s Organization, and Karenni National Women’s Organization which provide means to empower these women.  In many situations, these women leaders and activists in the camps find themselves with no power to influence the camp's leaders, as the women’s role and participation in decision making is not taken seriously by the male dominated power structures such as camp committees. In order for these women leaders and activists to offer protection and sufficient services to other women in the camps, they need to empower themselves, take active part in  community affairs and gain trust from community.  Only then can they try to change the decision making structure of the camp. In this regard, self-reliant and empowerment programs, as well as access to funding, information, and educational resource materials for improvement of social status and communication and social skills are essential.

There are an estimate  40,000 young women engaged in commercial sex trade especially in Thailand and China border towns where their status as illegal migrants make them vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Burma faces an epidemic with the potential to be one of the most serious in Asia with more than 600,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in 2004 and at least 20,000 deaths in 2003. An increased number of young women are engaging in unsafe commercial sex work both in the country and in border regions posing a serious threat to their future as well as the future of all of Burma’s society. 

Inside Burma, more and more young women are seen as becoming increasingly engaged in the entertainment businesses, usually connected to sex work, mainly in major cities like Rangoon and Mandalay. These young women have no better options to earn a living to support themselves, their families and/or continue their education. These young women are extremely vulnerable to becoming exposed to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases since they lack power to resist their clients’s refusal to use condoms. Repressive laws and gender-blindness of the authorities these women are doubly victimized when they are caught. The international NGOs often have quite limited access to these women, especially under present unreasonable restrictions to provide services.  Burmese women's organizations are ineffective as they are under the control of the military authorities and still cannot overcome the internalization of “good woman Vs bad woman” stereotypes that are culturally deep-rooted in society. This way, these women’s situations have always been largely overlooked and the needs to empower these women have not been met. For women's organizations in exile, the most pragmatic way to support them will be to shed light on the situation they face inside the country and create a space for their voices to be heard.

In responding to the economic, social and cultural needs of refugee and migrant women, BWU has provided them with empowerment and development programs such as literacy programs and income generational projects; trainings and workshops on human rights, gender, peace building, women leadership, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS education, and counseling; as well as vocational training such as computing, language, sewing, and weaving. Additionally, BWU has opened five libraries in Mae Sot, Ranong and Mae Hong Son refugee camp in Thailand, Aizawl in India and Laiza and Ruili in China where women from Burma can have access to reading materials to increase their knowledge. One drop-in center has also been opened in Mae Sot, Thailand, which provides a sanctuary for the migrant women with services including sewing training, laundry services, counseling sessions, and reading materials. The Center also hosts small group discussions for these women for information and opinion exchange on various issues concerning women and how they support each other.

There are also a large number of young women amongst these migrant workers and refugee women who have completed high school in Burma but cannot access further education. In order to also respond to this particular need of young refugee and migrant women (aged 16- 25), BWU runs 6-month and one-year internship programs in Chiang Mai and Mae Sot, Thailand to develop these young women’s potentials and provide them with necessary skills. Unexpected positive outcome of this program is that many of them become active members of Burmese democratic and women’s movements. At present there are eleven young women graduated from this program who are articulate and strong advocates for women’s rights and gender equality and actively engaged in BWU programs as trainers, office managers, and program staffers.

Although Burma is a signatory to the 1952 UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discriminations Against Women (CEDAW) in 1997, women from Burma have continued to experience various forms of gender-based discrimination. Societal traditions denigrate the role of women and many indicators of male dominance and female subordination within Burma’s multi-ethnic cultures can be observed. Women have no access to the decision making processes or to political power, and have an even further decreased capacity to make and implement policy, especially under the military rule. 

There are no women in the current decision making bodies of the military regime’s apparatuses, neither in the military or civil sectors. The traditionally marginalized and subordinate role of women can also be seen in the Burmese democratic movement both inside and in exile. In spite of the fact that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the democratic movement, is a woman, and there are women leading women organizations, there are no women in leadership roles of the “mainstream or male-dominated” political organizations, but with a few exceptions. These few organizations such as Network for Democracy and Development and Forum for Democracy in Burma adopted quota systems and gender policies in most recent years.  BWU can honestly claim this is due to our persistent and effective advocacy campaign on promotion and acceptance of women’s political participation and human rights within the democratic movement through various strategies and activities.

In promoting the role of women in the Burmese democracy movement, especially in decision making, BWU has also taken a number of formal and informal initiatives such as the inclusion of women in existing federal and state constitution drafting processes and decision making levels of various organizations within the democratic movement and community structures such as the refugee camp committees. In addition, BWU organizes a series of gender workshops for both women and men in the democracy movement and publishes a bi-monthly women's journal and handbooks on women’s rights, domestic violence and sexual harassment. These publications are widely distributed inside Burma and along the border areas and are frequently used by local human rights organizations and women’s organizations as manuals and reference.