ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors present a brief history of the country and embed their study of social change among the Lao people in the broader context of socialism. They describe the disadvantages Lao girls and women experience. The authors deal with a discussion of the development of the Lao Women’s Union. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a small country in mainland Southeast Asia, located between China and Vietnam to the north and east, Cambodia and Thailand to the south and west, and Myanmar to the northwest. Although French colonization and two protracted wars disrupted social life during earlier decades of the twentieth century, two radically different political-economic systems prevailed in Laos during the last quarter of the century. Health care in Laos is rudimentary, and the burden of bearing and raising children and performing domestic work falls heavily on women.
