Changes in field, forest, and family: Rural women's work and status in post-revolutionary laos

Laos has undergone tremendous upheaval in the last century: colonization, wars, socialist revolution, and now economic liberalization. Lowland Lao women, traditionally a mainstay of the household and commercial economy, have been affected by these dramatic events. Socialist economic policies, political programs, and particularly ideology have influenced women's economic activities. As in other societies, because Lao women's work is an important component of their relative social status, actual or incipient changes in work roles may have broader implications for other aspects of women's lives. In some ways these changes have parallels in events, structures, and gender ideologies affecting women's lives and work in other parts of Southeast Asia, but some of these changes are unique to Laos.