ABSTRACT
Uniformities relating to their sources of livelihood are predominantly centred on a combination of subsistence activities in cleared forest areas and the hunting of game and gathering of jungle products. Cash-crop agriculture may involve a variety of grown commodities for sale. The 'native' economy has also exhibited century-long trading patterns with outside communities. A review of the relevant literature reveals, for the Semai of Peninsular Malaysia, that a cash economy has long been practised from the sale of jungle fruits and commercially grown crops, while increasing reliance on outside wage labour can be observed. Anthropological studies of the Thai hill tribes have so far exhibited little specific focus on the gender issue. In a few cases, the concern with sexual inequality has been folded into the larger analytical framework of cosmological constructs or kinship structures. Data on the Iban longhouses in Sarawak show a broad consistency towards sexual equity when rights of residence and inheritance are taken into consideration.
