Rural Domestic Violence and Gender Research: Lao PDR
During a discussion amongst women at a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) workshop in a Salavan (province of Laos PDR) rural community, the women raised the issue of being beaten by their husbands. This information was communicated back to a Laos based NGO, the Gender and Development Group, however the member organisations did not know whether these were unusual occurrences or not. The group decided that due to the extreme lack of research that had been done on the existence of violence against women in the Lao PDR, that it would be important to undertake a research project to provide a basis for proceeding with this issue.
The project CUSO and GDG conducted was a study of the prevalence, cause and impact of domestic violence in the Lao PDR. Data was collected through interviews with almost 1,000 villagers from 35 communities, in five provinces of the Lao PDR, in Bokeo, Luangprabang, Savannakhet, Salavan Provinces and Vientiane Prefecture. It was hoped that the information gathered during this project would provide the evidence and support needed to urge the governmental and non-governmental communities to contribute to the creation of services to address the problems related to gender based violence.
Throughout Asia, and even within the Lao PDR itself, there are many different cultures and lifestyles, each with their own unique traditions. Often there are culturally accepted roles of men and women in terms of workload, type of work and responsibilities and role in the family, including extended family. In Lao PDR, culture and traditions are the mainstay of the Lao lifestyle. Traditions and local wisdom play a key role in the day to day lives of many communities. In the Lao PDR, there are several traditional sayings describing the role of men and women in the family; ìMen are the net, women are the basketî, ìThe husband should lead, the wife should followî and ìThe man is the boss and women are the labourî. These views, and many others, reinforce gender inequality and creates disparity between the sexes, allowing men to have culturally accepted control over women.
Many different kinds of violence, physical and psychological , have been reported by surveys on violence against women throughout Asia, including this current survey in the Lao PDR. While most women are not able to define violence, other than as physical beatings, when asked if they had been subject to