Representation of Males and Females in Myanmar Culture through a Selection of Myanmar Literary Works in English

Abstract

In Myanmar, although men and women have equal rights under the customary law, conservative cultural belief prevents to enjoy these rights between men and women. Therefore men are still superior and women are subordinate in Myanmar society. To reach a better understanding of whether equality exists between men and women in Myanmar society, a particular type of literary work which is reflection of Myanmar culture can be explored. Therefore, Myanmar short stories, written originally in English by Myanmar author Daw Khin Myo Chit and the selection of Myanmar short stories written originally in Myanmar by various kinds of Myanmar authors but translated into English by Myanmar writer Ma Thanegi, are chosen to be investigated. The aim of the present study is to investigate the way in which males and females are represented in Myanmar short stories which reflect Myanmar culture. Gender analysis by Khurshid, Gillani, and Hashmi (2010) is conducted to analyze the data. The quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze short stories. It is found that the data found in Daw Khin Myo Chit’s short stories and Ma Thanegi’s translated works were the same. The results showed that there is no significant difference between males and females except occupational roles. It can also be observed that in analyzing Myanmar short stories, although women play the important roles as equal as men in most cases, women are still inferior rather than men according to Myanmar culture and Myanmar tradition.