“In Burma there is no prejudice against girl babies. In fact, there is a general belief that daughters are more dutiful and loving than sons and many Burmese parents welcome the birth of a daughter as an assurance that they will have somebody to take care of them in their old age.” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Letters from Burma
“Nowhere within the limits of British India, perhaps nowhere in Asia, is the social position of woman so assured as in Burma.” C.C. Lowis, Burma: Census of India, 1902, Volume XII
I was in Rangoon in 1980, and felt that the position of women was quite different from in other Middle East and Asian countries I'd visited, in interactions gender didn't seem to matter, the women seemed engaged, there was a balance. This view was reinforced by travels in Burma in 2004. The cultural difference might be to do with the prevalence of Buddhism in the country, but I don't have enough background and time there to say anything definitive.
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