Ethnic tourism in Lao PDR: gendered divisions of labour in community-based tourism for poverty reduction

Abstract

A simultaneous analysis of gender and ethnicity provides a fuller understanding of how tourism initiatives benefit marginalised groups in developing countries. In this article, the gendered division of labour is analysed as a way to understand the micro-politics of ethnic tourism production aiming at poverty reduction in Laos. The aim is to demonstrate how constructions of gender and ethnicity impact on women's possibilities to benefit from community-based pro-poor tourism initiatives. Socially constructed notions of gendered behaviour influence divisions of tourism labour in specific spatialities, which we argue is crucial knowledge in the implementation of tourism projects aiming at poverty reduction. The assumption that ‘the poor’ constitute a homogenous group might hide an uneven distribution of tourism benefits in local communities. By focusing on factors which marginalise women, the article demonstrates inequalities between men and women in the division of tourism work. A village in northern Laos is used as a case study to examine aspects impacting on gendered divisions of labour in community-based tourism in Laos. Two examples, the Akha people's belief in and worship of spirits, and provision of massage, are used to illuminate reasons behind gendered imbalances in more detail.

Keywords:

• gender
• ethnic minorities
• community-based tourism
• pro-poor tourism
• Lao PDR

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Dieter K. Müller and Assoc. Prof. Aina Tollefsen at the Department of Geography and Economic History at Umeå University, Sweden, and two anonymous referees for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article. The study was financially supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The staff of the Faculty of Social Sciences, National University of Laos contributed to the fieldwork, for which we are very grateful. We deeply appreciate the villagers and provincial authorities in Luangnamtha for taking time to provide the data on which this article is based.

Notes

1. The respective exchange rates were 8755, 8522, and 8265 LAK per 1 USD in 2008, 2009, and 2010.