Gender, Buddhism, Development Actors, and Civil Society

Buddhism has a pervasive influence on shaping social hierarchy and gender orders. Theoretically, Buddhism is open to everyone regardless of caste, class, race, or gender, and according to the Buddha women and men have the same spiritual potential to reach the final goal. 85 percent of the Myanmar population are Buddhists with half a million vocational monks and 50,000 nuns; one percent of the total population. The monastic community is pivotal for the socio-religious life of the majority Buddhist population and operates through an extensive network of monks, nuns and lay supporters, which extends to the remotest village. This workshop is convened for development actors working in Myanmar to meet with Buddhist nuns and monks, and exchange ideas and information to see if there are ways to foster more understanding and synergies. It also aims to learn about traditional Buddhist values that may help promote better cooperation, and observe indigenous methods of engagement with society in order to find areas that could contribute to peace building and development of civil society. The 2 day workshop will be held in Sakyadhita Thilashin Sathin-daik nunnery school in Sagaing Hill, Myanmar, led by Dr Hiroko Kawanami, member of Richardson Institute of Peace, Lancaster University, UK, and Dr Monica Lindberg Falk, Vice-Director of the Centre for East and Southeast Asian Studies, Lund University, Sweden, and the Gender Equality Network (GEN) in Myanmar.