ABSTRACT
This is a study of Bidayuh women working in the personal services sector in the city of Kuching in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The Bidayuh are a minority indigenous group in Sarawak and they constitute 8.1 per cent of the state’s population after the Iban, Chinese and Malay in that order of population size. The Bidayuh live mainly in and around Kuching and the majority are farmers practising mixed agriculture. They grow rice for subsistence and various combinations of cash crops like pepper, cocoa and rubber, depending on global market prices. As a result of the great fluctuations in world market prices for these products, the Bidayuh are increasingly turning to market gardening; growing vegetables, mainly as secondary crops on their paddy farms, for the markets of Kuching. However, many of the younger generation with some secondary education are shunning the hard life of their parents who live off the land. With a buoyant economy until recently, many have been drawn to seek wage work in Kuching and beyond. It is with the Bidayuh women who have left the villages for the city that this study is concerned.
