Intoxicated Men and Moral Women: How the Multireligious Moral Movements Crafted Gender in Colonial Burma

This article takes up a cross-investigation of print media of different groups and communities, such as Buddhists, Baptists, and temperance associations, namely, as well as colonial documents, in order to examine the historical impacts of social reform movements in colonial Burma from a gender-based perspective. Many historians have attended to the moral movements of early twentieth-century British Burma so far, but gender is underdiscussed despite its apparent significance in the ethical discussions. This article discloses how the moral movement was not a phenomenon confined to one community, being far more diverse and transcending. Socio-ethical messages from any religious community must be more aligned with the diverse populace of British Burma at the time. The multireligious dimension of moral movements underscores the focal point of the temperance talks, which is the critical reconsideration of the meaning of being civilized in colonized society. The cross-community textual analysis reveals remarkable overlaps in gendered rhetoric and narratives. The masculinization of intoxication and the image of moral women were being constructed. With a keen interest in recovering Burma’s decaying morality, temperance advocates, Buddhist monks and educated laypeople, Christian pastors, and colonial officers portrayed drinking habits and intoxicant consumption as masculine traits. Conversely, women were considered self-disciplined, innocent, and well-behaved, simultaneously as proactive bearers of morality to save indulgent men and the next generations. The idea of good motherhood in Burma’s ethical discussions did not necessarily domesticate women. Instead, the analysis of various documents suggests that good, well-learned mothers were simultaneously expected to continue or even actively increase their engagement in socioreligious activities.