In the 2021 revolution, we witnessed changes in gender attitudes, particularly in social taboos upon women’s utilities, male dominance ideas about marginalized gender groups, and women’s political participation. Most of the young protesters from the urban area have been fighting against misogynist ideas and acknowledging women’s role in the political and social movements. Yet, in the power struggle between oppressors and oppressed, human dignity and political correctness have been caught in a bind, as women from both groups have been targeted for personal attacks to defeat the opposing side. Thus, this presentation want to argue that, despite some flaws, the revolution could be a driving force in changing gender perceptions, whereas this trend was not seen in earlier protests against military coups. With the aim of examining the driving forces and drawbacks of gender attitudes changes, this investigation attempts to understand the gender equality movements, arising with the coup in 2021 and its impacts on the landscape of women’s participation in politics.

Speaker: Aye Lei Tun is currently working as a researcher on gender- and media-related studies for Burma-based international NGOs. In 2021, she enrolled in the PhD program in Political Science at McMaster University, Canada. She is also a published author, with a pen name Thawda Aye Lei and recently she has published four novels and two short story collections.

Chair: Hunter Marston and Cecile Medail

VENUE

The dialogues in the series will be held in hybrid mode, ie in-person on the ANU Campus, and virtually on zoom.

• IN-PERSON: PSC Reading Room, Level 4, Hedley Bull Building #130, Cnr Garran Rd and Liversidge Street, ANU, Acton, 2600 ACT
• ONLINE: Zoom. Once you register here, you will receive access to the online event page in Eventbrite where you will find the join link for the zoom meeting. Please select the relevant ticket, in-person or online, according to your preferred attendance mode.

We look forward to seeing you there.

For more information on the MRC 2022 Dialogue Series please see the MRC website https://myanmar.anu.edu.au/ or contact the Convenors

• Cecile Medail, cecile.medail@anu.edu.au
• Hunter Marston, Hunter.marston@anu.edu.au