Quite certainly Theravada Buddhism has been a nation-building element in Burma. The majority of the inhabitants of the modern nation, the Socialist People's Republic of the Myanmar, define themselves as Burmese Buddhists. This statement is not merely a religious definition, but has a full range of social and juridical implications. If these figures are correct, and we have every reason to assume that they are, there would be ten males and one female wearing the robe in the Buddhist religious orders out of every thousand nationals in modern Burma. Social rights for women are traditionally at a fairly high level in Burma.
Women usually handle the family finances and are trained to do so when quite young.
I have compared it with my personal observations made in Burma during the last twenty-five years, particularly from 1965 to 1970, when I lived in various Buddhist monastic establishments in Upper Burma. It is important to clarify this jungle of terms to find out what Buddhist women in religious robes actually are in the different countries where Buddhism is practiced today. The present nuns of Burma are not regarded as full female equivalents of the monks. They are not bhikkhunis. It is a traditional cultural requirement for every male Burmese Buddhist to become a novice in childhood for some time and a monk in adulthood.