At the wedding of Julia, founder of Youn Sone
Women's Letter - May 2024
Julia Naw, the founder of Youn Sone, got married in May 2024!
A marriage between two ethnic groups
Julia and her husband John grew up in two regions of Myanmar, one east of Yangon and the other in the far north of the country . They are from two different ethnic groups. In a country where ethnic communities are important, marrying someone from another ethnic group can be difficult to accept!
A marriage between tradition and modernity
According to tradition , a wedding must take place in the husband's village and respect a large number of formalities. Currently this represents a significant cost and is delicate given the context of civil war.
John and Julia's wedding unfortunately had to take place in the capital, the only easily accessible place at the moment.
The days before and after the wedding are punctuated by multiple rituals, visits and exchanges of gifts.
Yvonne, co-founder of Younsone was a special guest on this occasion. As a great sign of honor, John's mother presented him and her husband Patrick with a unique necklace, a sign of belonging to the family.
Other rituals are now mixed with Western customs such as the white dress, the traditional wedding cake...
The place of women in Myanmar
In many patriarchal ethnic groups, such as John's, the bride and her husband must live with the husband's family . The wife then helps her mother-in-law and takes care of her in-laws. This means that it is difficult for a woman to develop her own business and for a young couple to live independently. The only possibility in traditional culture to be able to choose one's own destiny is to have sufficient personal income to support the family without living at home.
It is this desire for emancipation that the Opportunity for Women association supports, by supporting women in their entrepreneurship which thus guarantees them financial independence.