It may not be obvious to observers but women are playing a quiet, but important role in attempts to bring Myanmar’s long-warring parties to some form of peace.
Members of the Women’s League of Burma, invited as observers to the formal peace process between 2011 and 2015, informally engaged with the predominantly male negotiators through “hallway meetings”, bringing male counterparts tea and food as a vehicle to engage.
Myanmar has been bedevilled by internal conflict since its independence in 1948. Peace negotiations over the decades have been led by men and the elite classes. It has begged many parties to ask: “where are the women?”
