On 27 April, the Myanmar Government published the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP), which aims to mitigate COVID-19’s impact on the macroeconomic environment and the private sector and ease the impact on laborers, workers, and households. In their research, Isabel Lambrecht, Kristi Mahrt, Catherine Ragasa, Michael Wang, Hnin Ei Win, and Khin Zin Win assess how the CERP action plan can pay explicit attention to gender discrepancies to avoid unintentional harm or aggravating existing gender inequalities. They also provide recommendations to ensure an effective COVID-19 response and offer scope for lasting gender-transformative change.
You can read the full policy note by Isabel and the research team here, in English and Burmese.
မြန်မာဘာသာဖြင့်ရေးသားထားသော စာတမ်းအပြည့်အစုံကို ဤနေရာတွင် ဖတ်ရှုနိုင်ပါသည်။
COVID-19 and gender in Myanmar
With the establishment of the CERP, the Government of Myanmar is taking significant actions to respond to the COVID‑19 crisis, both to contain the spread of the virus as well as to mitigate its adverse impact on Myanmar’s economy and citizens.
Applying a gender lens in designing policy measures to mitigate the impacts of COVID‑19 will make the CERP’s measures more appropriate and effective while ensuring that they do not cause unintentional harm or aggravate gender inequalities.
In their policy note, Isabel and the research team assess the anticipated impact of the COVID‑19 crisis on gender inequality in Myanmar at work and at home, and how specific measures in the CERP might serve to foster more equality and avoid increasing gender discrepancies.
Employment
Employment is an important contributor to women’s empowerment. Women’s employment opportunities, income, and control over that income are linked to higher female decision-making power and often generate positive outcomes for household welfare. An economic downturn due to the impact of COVID‑19 and subsequent policy measures aimed to mitigate the adverse effects, such as mobility restrictions and physical distancing, will lead to substantial changes in employment in Myanmar. While some of the changes might be short-term, others might be sustained for longer periods as the economy recovers.
Gender impacts through sectoral patterns of unemployment
The garment industry is the manufacturing sector which employs the largest share of women. For example, in Hlaing Thar Yar, Myanmar’s largest industrial zone, women make up 94 percent of garment factory workers. Out of the 700,000 workers in the apparel industry, it is estimated that half are at risk of suspension without pay or permanent job loss due to COVID-19 related disruptions to the industry. Additionally, as housing for women working in factories is dependent on their employment, many women are losing not only their employment but also their homes as factories close.
Thus, measures that assist garment workers are likely to be among the most cost-effective in targeting support to affected female workers.
Agriculture, on the other hand, employs the largest share of Myanmar’s workforce. Though it is often considered a male-dominated sector, it also employs 45 percent of working women – as opposed to 52% of working men. Hence, actions to support farmers, agri-processors, and other agri-businesses (CERP Goal 2.1.7) will only be successful at scale if they also target female workers, farmers, and agri-entrepreneurs.
Gender impacts of distortions to migration
Many households across Myanmar rely on remittances sent home by domestic and international migrants, with a third of these migrants being women. In 2015, nearly a quarter of households in Myanmar received remittances, contributing on average 44 percent of household income. The global COVID-19 crisis has led to major job losses among migrant workers and the sudden absence of remittance income will throw many households into poverty.
Targeting the employment of returned migrant workers through labor-intensive community infrastructure projects is therefore appropriate (CERP Goal 3.1.2).
Furthermore, projects providing work to returned migrant workers should ensure that employment opportunities are appropriate, safe, and accessible for female workers.
Moreover, with an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 migrant workers being unemployed but unable to return home due to movement restrictions, the previous action will likely be unable to reach a large share of households in need. Remittance-relying households should also be considered as a vulnerable target group for cash transfer programs (CERP Goal 4.1.2).
Gender differences in informal work
A large share of the labor force in Myanmar are informal workers; they are either informally employed or operate informal micro- and small-scale enterprises. Additionally, working women are more likely than men to work in informal employment arrangements; while only one-fifth of working men are under a formal employment arrangement, less than one out of ten working women are.
During periods of economic uncertainty, female workers are at higher risk of being laid off and female entrepreneurs face greater challenges sustaining their enterprises.
Despite efforts to reach laid-off workers from small and medium enterprises, transfers are likely to primarily reach those from the largest enterprises. It will be important to ensure that information campaigns regarding low-cost funds for micro-, small-, and medium-scale enterprises (CERP Goal 2.1.1.) particularly encourage and support female entrepreneurs to apply.
At home
Household work
Women in households in Myanmar typically perform a larger share of household chores than men and are often the primary caretakers of children, elderly, and sick people. In doing so, women often forego opportunities to enter the workforce. With more male household members potentially at home due to temporary or longer-term unemployment, it remains to be seen whether men might take on a bigger role in domestic work.
Coincidentally, the lockdown measures in Myanmar, which included the closure of schools and daycare centers, were implemented at the start of Myanmar’s three-month annual school holiday. Nonetheless, with the start of the new school year being delayed by at least one month, parents’ employment options will be impacted, with a disproportionate burden imposed on mothers.
Moreover, many children risk being left unattended at home while their parents are at work. To avoid women foregoing employment for childcare and to avoid children being left at home unattended, we recommend that the Myanmar Government consider arranging for safe childcare options at school from June onwards.
Intra-household decision-making and empowerment
Changes in household composition, mobility, income, working hours, and other factors may require households to reassess the allocation of household income and shift decision-making power within the household. In contrast to many other countries, women in Myanmar often control the household income and participate to a large extent in any decisions as to how the income is used.
Despite their role in household decision-making, women are unlikely to be considered the head of the household. They may therefore not automatically be the recipient of household in-kind or cash transfers.
The Maternal and Child Cash Transfer program in Myanmar has demonstrated that transferring money to women is a successful approach to increase the share of the household budget under women’s control and to ensure positive outcomes in terms of child health and nutrition. Therefore, it is recommended that women – rather than household heads - are designated as the recipients for cash transfer benefits targeted to a household.
Violence against women and children
The COVID‑19 crisis has been accompanied by a surge in violence against women and children worldwide. Distress due to the COVID‑19 related economic downturn and the restrictive measures on mobility and quarantine coupled with increased food insecurity and reduced incomes are likely to aggravate tensions at home. Already prior to the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, Myanmar women experienced high rates of violence. According to the 2015/16 Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey, nine percent of women aged 15 to 49 years had experienced physical violence in the past 12 months.
Violence against women and children is remarkably absent in the CERP.
With the support of international organizations, social workers in the Department of Social Welfare have been trained on the gender dimensions of COVID‑19 and on psycho-social counseling, while relief agencies are organizing telephone helplines. We recommend that the government learn from these experiences to institutionalize an effective system to support victims of domestic and gender-based violence.
Moreover, this is an opportune time to launch community and public awareness campaigns regarding the non-acceptability of gender inequality and gender-based violence. Messages from popular and prominent figures can trigger the necessary attention and ensure better reception of key messages on these issues. Examples include Myanmar’s world champion martial artist Aung La Nsang’s video message against gender-based violence or the widely viewed discussions with prominent monk Ashin Nandamalabhivamsa.
Actions to ensure gender-positive impacts
To ensure an effective response and offer scope for lasting gender-transformative change, the following actions are imperative for women’s inclusion in the Myanmar Government’s COVID-19 relief measures:
- Select appropriate public investment, rural cash for work, and labor-intensive infrastructure projects based on the extent to which women and girls will benefit from these projects – both as laborers and as end-users.
- Designate women as the recipients of unconditional cash transfers.
- Explicitly target female farmers and entrepreneurs with cash transfers, loan programs, technical assistance, and input provision.
- Organize complementary information campaigns for women, including behavioral change communication on health and nutrition and education on leadership and self-esteem. Campaigns should also promote joint decision-making and denounce domestic violence.
- Institutionalize an effective system to support victims of domestic or gender-based violence.
- Incorporate a gender lens when assessing the impact of the crisis by collecting, generating, and analyzing real-time sex-disaggregated data and statistics.
Isabel Lambrecht is a Research Fellow in the Development Strategy and Governance Division (DSGD) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and program leader of IFPRI’s Myanmar Strategy Support Program, based in Yangon, Myanmar. Kristi Mahrt is a Senior Research Analyst in DSGD of IFPRI, based in Colorado, USA. Catherine Ragasa is a Senior Research Fellow in DSGD of IFPRI, based in Washington, DC. Michael Wang is a Leland International Hunger Fellow in DSGD of IFPRI, based in Yangon. Hnin Ei Win and Khin Zin Win are both Research Analysts in DSGD of IFPRI, based in Yangon.
This work was undertaken through funding support provided by the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) under the Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA). This blog post was prepared by Michael Wang, Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellow at IFPRI.