Report No 9 Women and Development in Laos Report prepared for Women, Health and Population Division, Australian International Development Assistance Bureau by Sheila Thomson and Sally Baden February 1993 contents

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5.1 Formal Sector

Laos is a predominantly rural subsistence country and urban areas are still underdeveloped. Where women have found employment in the formal sector, their jobs are often gender typed and concentrated at lower levels. In factory employment, men outnumber women in all areas except for garment production. In the civil service, women are well represented in the education and health departments but seldom occupy directorial or managerial positions even in these ministries. Similarly, in the industrial sector, women are factory workers but rarely, if ever, managers. One exception to the normal gender typing pattern is the significant involvement of women in road construction and maintenance. (Ng, 1991: 175; Iinuma, 1992: 7,10.)

The recent change of economic policies by the Lao Government will probably result in increased employment opportunities for women in the cities, but it is likely that they will continue to occupy the lowest rungs of the employment ladder. Laos’ comparative advantage in the world economic market is undoubtedly its cheap labour and in Laos as elsewhere, women’s labour is likely to be available at lower cost than men’s.^³ Furthermore, given Laos’ budgetary constraints, it is likely that the country will try to develop small scale export industries including textiles and electronics, drawing on foreign investment. These industries typically favour the employment of young women. Employment opportunities have opened up for women in such industries all over Southeast Asia, due in part to the activities of multinational corporations in the region and their specific demand for female labour. Whilst such new opportunities may increase the quantity of female employment in the industrial sector, doubts have been raised in the context of other Asian countries about the quality of this type of female employment, particularly with regard to job security, working conditions and skills development (Jayaweera, 1992).
Women’s participation in the commerce and the service sectors may grow at a higher rate than men’s with the expansion of tourism and trade. This has been the case for Laos’ neighbour Thailand where women have come to predominate in the commerce and service sectors (Thomson, 1991). There are plans to encourage women’s employment in tourism especially as guides. (Iinuma, 1992: 7).

5.2 Informal Sector

Women are active participants in the thriving informal sector markets in the urban areas. Trading in these areas is lucrative as state stores are unable to fulfil the demand for goods of the urban dwellers. Informal sector activities in which women predominate include: the sale of food along roadsides; providing domestic services for foreigners; small-scale retailing; and handicraft production. (Ng 1991: 179.)

Many women are said to have left jobs in the public sector in order to engage in informal sector activities. Although employment in the civil service is more prestigious, salaries are much lower than the incomes women can earn from trading. Men, however, prefer to remain in the higher status government service jobs. In doing so, they retain access to other benefits including subsidised goods and rice rations.^⁴ (Heyzer 1986: 34.) Women should be able to take advantage of new trading opportunities resulting from economic liberalisation as they already have established marketing networks and a sense for market trends. Increased income for women from informal sector activities may improve their bargaining position in the household and provide them with increased independence from men. However, other factors could counteract this, for example if the number of informal sector workers increases rapidly as a result of formal sector unemployment, there may be downward pressure on informal sector incomes.

6. INDICATORS OF WOMEN’S STATUS

6.1 Education

Overall primary and secondary school enrolment ratios in Laos improved between 1975-6 and 1983-4 (from 67.5 percent to 85.4 percent for primary level and from 10.8 percent to 26.5 percent at lower secondary level) and the primary enrolment ratio is now average by Asian standards. Data are imcomplete but show that the trend to improvement slowed and may even have been reversed between the early and mid-1980s. Secondary school enrolment was still extremely low at 13.9 percent in 1983-4, indicating the low education level of children in absolute terms. (UNESCO 1989: 12.) A UNESCO study conducted in 1985 showed that out of 1,000 children who had enrolled in first grade, only 139 students completed fifth grade. This was due to the poor quality of education and to domestic responsibilities imposed on children. (UNESCO, 1989: 14.)

The educational status of women in Laos has advanced considerably since 1975. The percentage of female students in Lao schools increased from 37.6 percent in 1975-6 to 45.3 percent in 1980-1. By 1984-5 the percentage of female students was 46.7. (UNESCO, 1989: 17.) However, the general educational level of Lao women is still very poor, and the gender gap, though narrowed, persists, particularly beyond primary level. Female school enrolment is consistently lower than male enrolment at all levels of education. The percentage of female enrolment in 1985-6 at the primary, lower secondary and upper secondary levels was 44.9 percent, 42.8 percent and 40.1 percent respectively (UNESCO 1989: 18).
Furthermore, regional variations in overall primary school enrolment are great ranging from 10 percent in some areas to 94 percent in others (UNESCO, 1989: 13). Table 2 demonstrates the urban bias in education. Whereas the female primary school gross enrolment ration is 48 percent for Lao Loum groups, it is only 26 percent for Lao Soung groups. (Government of Laos P.D.R and UNICEF, 1991: 3). Highland women are the most poorly educated people in the country.
Laos has four universities as well as professional schools. In 1985-6, women accounted for 28.05 percent of total enrolment at the higher education level (UNESCO, 1989: 18). Female students were relatively well represented in health sciences (53.1 percent in 1985-6) and teacher training (37.7 percent in 1984-5) but constituted less than 20 percent of the total enrolment in architecture, and at the polytechnical college. (UNESCO, 1989: 25.)
Literacy rates are further indicative of Lao women’s educational disadvantage. A UNESCO study, carried out in 15 of the 17 provinces in 1984-85, determined that 56 percent of the population was illiterate, despite government assertions that illiteracy had been eradicated by 1984 (Ng 1991 :161). The study showed that illiteracy was acute among Laos’ ethnic minorities; that it was higher in rural areas than in urban areas; and also higher for women than for men. (UNESCO 1989: 10.) These claims were further confirmed by a Food and Agricultural Organisation study on literacy in Laos which recorded a specific sex inequality in literacy rates for three provinces: Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Champasak. This distribution is shown in Figure 2. The overall literacy rate for Lao women is estimated at 35 percent, compared to 65 percent for men (Government of Laos PDR 1992: 2).
The low education level among females results from two basic factors: inadequate overall educational provision in the country, and continued gender discrimination faced by girls and women. The education system is Laos is highly inadequate for two major reasons. Firstly, it lacks the proper funding required for minimal infrastructural requirements, such as school buildings and teaching equipment, as well as for recurrent costs, particularly salaries. The Government has realised the need for increased financial support for the education system and this is reflected in the share of its budgetary expenditure on education which has increased from 3.7 percent for 1981-1985 to 8 percent for 1986-1990. However, development analysts have reported that this allotment is still too low. (Ng 1991: 167.) Secondly, the lack of qualified teachers in Laos contributes to the poor quality of education. Laos was reported to have lost 90 percent of its educated population in 1975 due to the massive outflow of refugees after the Communist takeover. (Ng 1991: 182.)
Systemic barriers to women’s equal participation in education are numerous. Traditionally, women did not attend school as education was provided by monks in the pagodas and girls were prohibited from attending these lessons. This bias in attitudes still persists today. Boys consistently receive priority over girls with respect to education. (UNESCO, 1989: 10.) Although girls and boys enrolment rate in primary and secondary education is moving close to equality (see above), sources suggest that the drop-out rate for girls is higher than it is for boys (UNESCO, 1989: 25). This may be due to greater domestic and other labour responsibilities of girls. A 1982 ILO study of Hat Xai Fong district in Vientiane Province showed that 8.6 percent of girls in the 6-15 age group, compared to 3.3 percent of boys, were engaged in crop production, livestock rearing and related activities (Mukherjee and Jose, 1982: 20).
Women’s household responsibilities greatly limit their ability to attend adult non-formal education classes. Even if government campaigns to eradicate literacy had been sustainable and systematic, which they were not, women would have still not benefited fully from them. This is due to the male biased assumption often inherent in literacy campaigns that all members of society have equal amounts of time to devote to education.

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