Thai, Thai-Karen and Karen Women's Insecurity in Forest Livelihoods

This study examines the gender and ethnic dimensions of insecurity among Thai, Thai-Karen and Karen women in the forest livelihoods. Though, women are the main users of the forest resources for subsistence and commercial purposes, gender norms constrain them in participating in decision making process at the community forest management. As a result, forest management activities are dominated by men. However, Thai women are more secure as members of dominant ethnic group. They are more entrenched in commercial activities due to their advantageous social and legal status and better access to market. But Thai-Karen and Karen women are marginalized because of their ethnicity and substandard social status as a minority group. Dependency on Thais, limited legal status and lack of options for multiple livelihoods are the factors of insecurity for Karen and Thai-Karen in forest livelihood. Between Karen and Thai-Karen, the latter enjoys a better living condition due to cultural assimilation with Thai community. This social capital provides Thai-Karen women with multiple livelihood options. Inaccessibility to all these benefits makes Karen women highly insecure in the society.

Autorentext

She works for BIISS, Bangladesh as Research Fellow under Non-Traditional Security division. She has a Master s degree in Gender and Development Studies from AIT, Thailand. Her research interests include: competition over natural resources management and gender issues in least developed countries.