Aung San Suu Kyi

(Ed. Note: This article is a message from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for the International Women’s Day on 8 March 1998.)

Today is a day for both thought and action. We have to give thought to the reasons why there is a need to have an international women’s day and we have to be prepared to act in accordance with that need.

It cannot be doubted that on most countries today women, in comparison to men, still remain underprivileged. Often we are reduced to the status of the weaker gender not because of out physical fragility but because our position has been weakened by social decree. In too many parts of the world, the vulnerability of women is exploited. In some cases they are subjected to such strong social strictures that their lives become a mere travesty of the wholesome existence to which every human being has a right. Young girls start off life with a gross handicap when they are deprived of proper education and even proper medical care because they are not valued by their society. Such discrimination not only constitutes injustice to women, it is hurtful to the whole human race. It is only by creating conditions under which women are given an equal opportunity with men to develop their talents that our world will be able to reap the full benefits of a healthy community.

The disadvantages with which women are forced to cope have to be offset through solidarity and endeavour. International Women’s Day is an appropriate time to focus attention on ways and means of strengthening our solidarity and developing our capability for movements that will empower women and enable them to take their rightful place in the social and political development of their society.

This is also a wonderful opportunity for me to thank all those women, young and old, from across the globe who have demonstrated the most heart warming solidarity for the cause of democracy in Burma. The dedication and intelligence which they bring to bear on their selfless task, their capacity for hard work, the humour and friendship they unfailingly demonstrate under the most trying circumstances, have filled me time and again with renewed hope and courage. With such women, broad of mind and big of heart, there is every likelihood that civilised solutions can be found to our most difficult problems.

May International Women’s Day this year constitute a milestone in the endeavour to make the world a safer, happier home not just for women but for the whole human race.

(Source: Special Briefing: The Human Rights Situation of Women in Burma, published by Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma in March 1998.)