Nell Boylan

Professor Grinde
February 14, 2021

In the continent of Asia, there is a smaller country by the name of Laos. It is located

between Vietnam and Thailand. The country of Laos is smaller than most as it only goes for a

little over 600 miles. As of 2020, the population of Laos is over 7 million, at 7,275,560 to be

exact. Even though the whole world took a huge downfall after covid-19 spread everywhere, the

Lao people did not decrease in number. An estimate number of people in 2019 was 7,169,455

which meant the population grew by 106,105. Laos is number 105 on the global rank, and is

0.09% of the world’s population. Laos has many factors surrounding it that make it such a

wonderful place to learn about. Every country has their parts that they are not proud of but there

is always good with the bad. Laos has a fascinating history of how they came to be the country

that they are today dating all the way back to the 8th century. Their education system is very

interesting and there are parts that differ from other countries but there are some ways of their

education that are very similar to what women all over the world have had to deal with. Marriage

has it similarities to what we see as our societal norm, but as always there are parts that are

different from the United States. Women have specific gender roles that they follow in Laos

especially when it comes to the family life of this country.

The Lao people had originally come from southern China, and the Lan Xang kingdom

came to be in the 14th century. The country was split up into three kingdoms until the 18th century

when they were all put under the Thai ruling. “In 1951, Prince Souphanouvong organized the

Pathet Lao, a Communist independence movement, in North Vietnam. Viet Minh and Pathet Lao

forces invaded central Laos, resulting in civil war” (Infoplease,). Laos has experienced a lot of its

own challenges with its neighboring countries and with itself. Their form of government is now
communist and the capital of Laos is Vientiane. Ever since 2000, the capital has experienced

these certain blasts and explosions and it was never proved as to where they came from. It could

have been from a group of anti-communists who were opposed to the democratic ways that have

been forming Laos for the last century. Vientiane is not a farming community, however close to

80% of the Lao people are farmers and they have been working through horrible conditions.

There have been through multiple droughts and floods ever since the early 90’s. Women have a

major role in the agricultural culture of Laos because the females are the ones doing most of the

lifting of common things that every human needs to survive.

In 2013, a woman named Helene Carlsson Rex had lived in Laos to find research and

write about the women. She was surprised to see how empowered women were in the capital

because of how they held their own. “I noticed women driving their motorbikes in the city,

female shop owners serving delicious mango and papaya, and women in the latest business suits

hurrying back to the office” (Rex, 2013). She wrote about her enjoyment seeing women taking

advantage of the equality of genders. Rex hoped that more women in the country would start

being able to do more for themselves, and that they will be able to fully embrace the changes of

the 21st century. As she left the urban areas and journeyed into the country side she saw less of an

equality of genders. Throughout this semester I have reread over that the women of Laos are

always in charge of carrying the water, whether it is back to their house or for their village. This

has me torn on what I believe is right because in a way these women are not depending on men

to help them carry the heavier items, but that also means that they have to do so much for their

family including traveling along way to retrieve water. All throughout history, women were not

allowed an official say in what the government should be like, and Helene stated that she may

have seen women take a more active role in everyday activities, but it was almost as if they were
still placed behind men. “I noticed that, while women were present, they were mostly not

participating in the meeting, but were rather busy serving tea and cookies” (Rex, 2013).

Helene along with some other coworkers wrote a report about Laos, and some of the

points had to do with the improving women in working communities. One of the bullet points is

improve female participation in transport, hydropower, and mining operations. The political

power of women has grown almost 20% since the 1990’s but still does not even compare to

those men who are in power of Laos. These off-farm jobs are starting to pull people out of

poverty but for women who do not have access to farm land or lack the skills it puts them in a

terrible position. One thing I did not see on this list was helping more girls continue their

education because less girls receive an education then the young men.

The women of Laos are presented with less opportunities than the males because they do

not have as great of an educational opportunity. Although the enrollment of children in school is

pretty even, girls are more expected to drop out during primary school. There are a lot of villages

in Laos without roads, and the percentage of children in school drops to 85% in these rural areas

mainly because there is not a good way to travel to school. There is a blog called “The Borgen

Project” which states, “The gender disparity in school attendance also widens in rural areas as 95

percent of both girls and boys attend primary school in urban areas, whereas only 77 percent of

girls versus 83 percent of boys attend school in rural areas without roads.” The training for

teachers is what is helping the female population gain more education because most of the

teachers are female themselves. They are trained in ways to find more suitable ways for females

to attend school and for them to stay in school as long as possible. Their schooling system is set

up as pre-primary which is similar to preschool for America. Its purpose is to teach young

toddlers about the emotional and social aspects of schooling. There’s two levels, nursery and
creche. Primary school starts at grade one and ends at grade five for a total of five years.

Secondary school is every grade above fifth. Even though college is encouraged in men mostly,

there is only two in all of Laos. Dong Dak and Phaetsat University. I was very surprised to read

about this because in America college has become the way of life after high school for both

males and females. I did not realize that this is not always the case for other countries, and it was

shocking to hear about the lack of choices for school.

Child dropout rates is the cost of books, fees, and expenses in general. School is

universally free through the 5th grade which is the last year of primary school. Once children get

up to the age of middle school, it becomes more difficult to follow along with the class because

they may not have all the materials that they need for their classes.

It is also said that children who drop out of school in Laos are more likely going to find

themselves in a child marriage. About one third of girls who drop out of school end up marrying

before the age of 18. Once they are married, they begin to have children and therefore cannot

continue their education. However there is something called the Lotus Educational Fund that

provides more opportunities for girls who live in rural areas. It provides relief for women who

are pregnant or have children.

Marriage in Laos is quite different from what we experience here in the United States. It

was very intriguing to learn about how they celebrate love over in Laos. Young people of Laos

are usually allowed to marry the partner of their choosing but there needs to be consent from

both of their families. There is also a price for the bride that is negotiated between the families.

Underage marriage is allowed if there was an unexpected pregnancy or for another urgent

reason. The wedding is usually at the Bride’s home and before it always took place in the

morning. Once the ceremony is over people are invited over for lunch or dinner. There is a
required gift for everybody involved in the wedding for the bride and groom. This is something

that we see in wedding’s in America because people are expected to contribute a gift to those

who are getting married. The gifts in Laos are normally gold or animals but it depends on how

wealthy everybody is.

The bride and groom will live with one of their parents after they get married to start to

take over the life of their parents, or learn the ways of how their parents lived. When they start to

have children they can move off into their own house starting their own life. The bride is

expected to care for the parents as they get older while her husband tends to the farm until they

have enough economic resources for themselves.

After learning all about Laos, I feel like I have an understanding for their culture. I

noticed that I was biased about some of their cultural aspects such as a price for a bride because

we do not celebrate marriage by selling females into another family. I thought the treatment of

females in Laos was somewhat similar to females here in the U.S. but way more different than I

realized. Girls are expected to finish school in the U.S today even if that was not the case in the

past but it is seen as the societal norm for the Lao people to exclude girls from the benefits of an

education. I truly enjoyed learning about Laos all the way from it’s location to how you

pronounce the name of the country. You do not pronounce the S at the end, and this whole time

of researching the country I just assumed the S would be involved in the pronunciation. In one of

my sources he says that he would describe Laos as “beautifully unfortunate.” From the urban to

the rural areas of the country I have gained an extreme amount of appreciation for this small

country that is sometimes forgotten about.

Works Cited:

Rex, H. (2013, March 1). Country Gender Assessment for Lao PDR: Key Findings [Web log
post]. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/03/01/key-findings-country-gender-
assessment-for-lao-pdr

Rex, H. (2013, February 28). Gender equality in Laos: First impressions can be deceptive [Web
log post]. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from
https://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/gender-equality-in-laos-first-impressions-can-
be-deceptive

Laos. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2021, from

https://www.infoplease.com/world/countries/laos

Laos population (LIVE). (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2021, from

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/laos-population/

Hays, J. (n.d.). MARRIAGE and weddings IN laos. Retrieved February 16, 2021, from
http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Laos/sub5_3b/entry-2953.html

Hays, J. (n.d.). EDUCATION and schools IN laos. Retrieved February 16, 2021, from
http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Laos/sub5_3d/entry-2981.html

Farchy, T. (2019, February 3). TOP 10 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS’ EDUCATION IN LAOS [Web
log post]. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-
girls-education-in-laos/

Geography Now! LAOS [Video file]. (2018, January 31). Retrieved February 14, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbmZQDySpzY