Background

Women of Burma along with men actively participated in the struggle against British colonial rule and in the Peasants' Rebellion  which was a milestone for National Independence.

During the time of these struggles, the “Tavoy Market Union” led by Tavoyan women in the Tavoy area of Tenasserim Division was well-known. After the second World War in 1946, the Communist Party of Burma (CPB)’s All Burma Women’s Union helped reform the Tavoy Market Union as the “Tavoy District Women’s Union (TDWU)”. After that, the Tavoy  District Women’s Union worked under the leadership of the All Burma Women’s Union. In the pre-independence period, TDWU, as a civil society group, participated in the struggle for the country’s independence together with other patriotic forces.  

When Burma gained independence in 1948, the TDWU continued the struggle for genuine democracy and peace in the country, equal rights for women and wider participation of women in society.

When the civil war started in Burma in March, 1948, the ruling AFPFL government declared the TDWU an illegal organisation and detained some women leaders. Some were killed. Due to the government’s oppression, TDWU could not stay overground and went underground along with the CPB (Tavoy District) and left for remote areas. It then worked in the underground movement with the help of the CPB (Tenasserim Division) till 1995.

In January, 1995, the CPB (Tenassarim Division) Committee was dissolved and re-organised as the Myeik-Davoy United Front (MDUF). Since then, the TDWU also reformed as the “Tavoy Women’s Union" (TWU). The TWU was formed on May 5, 1995. Since that time, TWU has been working as an independent organization.

TWU held its first conference in  1998. At this conference, TWU was strengthened and reformed with members of the younger generation.

We, the TWU will maintain the historical role of the great Tavoy women's movement and will work for democracy and peace and a genuine union where equal opportunity and unity of all ethnic nationalities exist, along with other ethnic and democratic forces and women's organizations from Burma.