Changes in Gender Roles and Women s Status Among Indigenous Communities in Cambodia s Northeast Margherita Maffii

Transcription

1 Changes in Gender Roles and Women s Status Among Indigenous Communities in Cambodia s Northeast Margherita Maffii They came, they saw, they named, they claimed Decolonising methodologies, Research and Indigenous People. Linda Tuhiway Smith (1999). Introduction At least 20 different indigenous ethnic groups live within Cambodia. Some of them are represented by very small populations, while others, the Kreung with the subgroups Kaveth and Brao, the Tampuan, the Jarai and the Bunong, are numerically significant and constitute the majority of the population of two provinces in the Northeast, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri. Their agricultural practices, culture, social organisation and system of beliefs (described by Baird I. 2000, White J. 1996, Bourdier F. 2006, Ironside J. & Baird I. 2003) are a homogeneous ensemble, despite their ethnic and language diversity. Since the mid-nineties, the progress of peace and the rehabilitation of the main roads linking northeast indigenous provinces to lowland Cambodia, have broken the indigenous enclaves and opened up their territories to exchange with the mainland. Unfortunately, the concomitant expansion of land speculation all over the country has triggered a craving for indigenous land, and has brought into the region companies, land speculators, middlemen, cash crops planters and adventurers. Intense in-migration into indigenous areas has occurred, on a scale overwhelming for indigenous people. Many villages have already fallen into a spiral of land alienation and social disintegration, while many others are menaced by massive land seizures, land sales and the occupation of land by new immigrants (NGO Forum of Cambodia, 2006). Changes in the social order and threats to the cultural identity of indigenous people are having an impact on indigenous societies, which are pushed to adapt to modernity and assimilate to the mainstream Cambodian society. This occurrence is not without shocks and, under this pressure, some communities have entered a process of disintegration, where the loss of resources, land and forests, accompanies the loss of community solidarity, links and shared values. This is triggering very significant changes in gender roles and status. It is, unfortunately, a statement of fact that women pay an exaggerate toll when their ethnic group s material and cultural existence is under threat. The experience of many Native People in the world shows that the collapse of indigenous societies

2 130 Maffii under the pressure of colonisation or assimilation, results in a dramatic loss of status for indigenous women and increasing acts of violence against them (Native Women Association of Canada, 2006). This study has been undertaken in order to understand how women of the indigenous ethnic groups in Cambodia perceive and interact with the changes so deeply affecting their communities and their lives. It is intended to investigate the grey zone where indigenous gender perspective and culture begin to reveal the shock that the indigenous society is suffering. Methodology A gender and ethnic prejudice shapes the image of indigenous women in Cambodia, stressing their shyness and reluctance to speak, thereby reducing their role to that of simple spectators in a male-dominated social life, diligent executers of agriculture techniques and silent listeners. This view, reiterated by different informants, solicits a further query: is this the consequence of a gender/ethnic prejudice or, instead, a true characteristic of indigenous women in Cambodia. The research was conducted during three different missions from May to September 2006, in Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri and Kratie Provinces. The indigenous communities involved were ethnically diverse, reflecting the various composition of the indigenous population in Cambodia. Most of the discussions needed translation into indigenous languages. Discussions occurred either in private houses, or in the village s community house, and often lasted the whole day long. We addressed indigenous women directly, asking their consent to our method, explaining to them the purpose of the research: to bring their voices, testimonies and problems to a broader audience. We collected their testimonies and oral histories, gathering their perceptions according to their own hierarchical ordering of relevance, without imposing on them an external agenda. Results The women communicated in a lively and eclectic fashion and discussions were punctuated with instances of intense emotion. Their great sense of humour helped to play down some uneasy issues. As a researcher, it was a great privilege to come in touch with these women and I will be forever grateful to them. The following testimonies are part of the women s perspectives collected during the research. Land...My land has been seized to plant rubber trees. It is our ancestor s land, but now this land belongs to some government officials. They came and started to measure it. We are worried because we have heard that government officials will come and take all the

3 Changes in gender roles and women s status among Indigenous communities 131 land, even the land where we plant vegetables. First they take and then they discuss. A Tampuan woman in Lumphat District, Ratanakiri...They sold nearly 6000 hectares of community land. They didn t discuss it with us. We don t know the new owner; we only know that it is a company. Apparently the district chief and the commune authorities have signed the sale, asserting that the land belongs to a Khmer man living in the district, allowing him to resell it to the company. A Kachak woman in Andong Meas District, Ratanakiri The majority of the villages we visited were facing a new situation: land is becoming an object of grabbing, illegal sales, or occupation by in-migrants. Despite the existence of a Land Law that recognises indigenous rights to a communitarian land title, land sales and land grabbing are escalating in the region. The areas closest to the provincial towns and the ones along the main communication axes are where the highest pressure has been exerted to force land sales, where land grabbing and reselling mostly occurs, and where most of the new migrants from lowland Cambodia have settled. This is what women wanted to talk about, what was happening to them recently, their main worry and concern....my husband and my uncle were jailed. Somebody came and put a fence around our land. When we protested the district authority says: Don t you understand? This land belongs to other people now! My husband and other men pulled out the fence, but these powerful people forced them to put it back in place. Can you understand how hard it was for the men being forced to rebuild a fence around their own land? A Bunong woman in Sem Monorom District, Mondulkiri....The newcomers come, cut the trees and clear the forests. In the future in this village we will be only labourers. Some of our youth help them cutting the forest and making construction wood. When we tried to protect the forest, a policeman and other two persons warned us. They said: What a strong village is this! They looked down on us, laughing because our village is not strong enough to stop them. A Bunong woman in Snuol District, Kratie In some villages, where people have suffered intimidation and humiliation by powerful people, arrests and prison, women were angry, especially when the law officers failed to protect them or became accomplices to the abusers. Being part of a development scheme is no guarantee of protection. In the northern part of Ratanakiri province, across the Sesan River, among Khavet people who have been resettled near the river as part of a development program, the land was sold by the village chief. Pressure over land is also a potential source of interethnic or

4 132 Maffii intercommunitarian conflicts. Communities that are under pressure may trespass on other communities land, or entire villages, landless, may move to regions where there is no room for them. Natural Resources...The water is not clean; sometimes it has a bad smell, sometimes it goes up very quickly. When they open the dam the stream is very strong, we cannot fish or go out with the boat, it is too dangerous. Before we use to dig holes near the banks to get water but now the stream is too strong and we cannot. Our well is only for drinking water, we use the river for washing, but now we don t want to wash the children in the river. It s a very big problem. Jarai women in Sesan District, O Yadao Indigenous communities are bearing the environmental impact of intensive natural resources exploitation. Deforestation is taking place at a very high rate and, in many areas in the Northeast, forests have almost disappeared. All along the road from Stung Treng to Ratanakiri, only a thin layer of trees has been left, which cannot hide the immense clearings inside the territory. In O Yadao District, in Ratanakiri Province, entire forests have been cut. In part of the central districts of Ratanakiri, cashew nut plantations have replaced the forests. In three Ratanakiri districts the communities living along the Sesan River are affected by the impact of the upstream dam built in Vietnam. Village disintegration...we come here in the plantation after having lost our land. Now we stopped working because we are tired, thin and sick, men and women. Here there is no forest, food is not enough, water is very far, it is hard to find wood for cooking. There are no animals to hunt and fishes have disappeared. Sometimes we go back to our village, but our land has been sold and there is nothing we can do. Our spirits are in the old village, they do not protect us anymore, so one of my children died and the other is very sick!. Without spirits there is no health and the people become sick and die. A Tampuan woman in Ban Lung District, Ratanakiri In many villages, especially the ones nearest to the provincial towns, land speculation has exerted a harsh pressure on indigenous people. Lured by offers of money, many people have, in part or completely, sold their land. Often the offer was ludicrously low, but indigenous people were not aware of the real value of their land. Moreover, such land selling within the communities has created deep divisions and distrust. In some cases, under this pressure, indigenous communities have literally disinteg rated.

5 Changes in gender roles and women s status among Indigenous communities 133 In-migration...We built the water reservoir, we asked Khmer people living nearby to participate in the work and expenditure but they didn t want to. Water is only enough for cocking and washing ourselves, not to make the laundry. But Khmer people come and wash the clothes and when we tell them that this is not possible they get angry and blame us. We did give them the water, but they don t follow the rules! With some Khmer, however, we have good relationships. A Tampuan woman in O chum District, Ratanakiri The internal migration of Khmer ethnic citizens into the indigenous areas increases the pressure over land and natural resources. Competition for the resources and a vision of the environment that is diametrically opposed to the one of the indigenous communities, tend to make newcomers unwelcome. Due to the circumstances of their arrival and their attitudes, it appears difficult for indigenous people to build a vision of coexistence and shared values with the newcomers. A cultural trench divides the communitarian values that lead indigenous communities, from the hierarchies and the patronage that animates Khmer society. Changes in agricultural practices...before the village was built differently, but then we were afraid that people would come and take our land, so we divided the land, moved the houses and planted cashew nuts trees around our houses. If people see empty land they will take it, if there are cashew nuts trees it means that the land belongs to somebody. A Tampuan woman in Lumphat District, Ratanakiri Under the pressure of the market economy and land grabbing, people have tried to secure their land by establishing clear signs of ownership and by cultivating all the available soil. Cashew nut trees have been planted in the old plots, either to secure the property and to get cash from nuts sales. The indigenous system of plot rotation, known as swidden agriculture, has been abandoned partially or completely for more intensive field exploitation. Changes in women s work...we had more fun before! We had time to rest during the dry season, and time to spin cotton and weave. Sometimes women went to the forest with the men for many days, to choose the new fields. Now the work of the women is harder. What do we do during rest time? How could you call it rest! Now we stop for 2-3 days only! When we finish the rice harvest we have to continue with the other field. Before we had time, now it is over. And our fields are further away than before; we walk for hours just to reach the

6 134 Maffii place to work. A Jarai woman in O Yadao District, Ratanakiri This has resulted in an increase of workload, fatigue, and risks that women have to take in order to guarantee their group survival. Their work has changed too, becoming more repetitive and less qualified. Socio-economical changes In this village the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. Rich have everything, new houses, motorbikes, buffalos, and poor don t have the pot to cook. Rich have things to sell, poor sell their work! I do not see a good future for this village. We have made some progress, from the house made by leaves we have now houses in wood, we do not carry the babies with our basket anymore, but for poor families life is as hard as before. A Tampuan woman in Andong Meas District, Ratanakiri The introduction of cash crops has changed the life of many indigenous people that, for the first time, have access to a significant income source. However, the introduction of cashew nut plantation has subverted indigenous land tenure, shifting towards individual land property and dismissing communitarian land management. Such change is not without consequences. Within the communities, inequality is increasing and labour, that before was carried out in a group during the hardest agricultural works, is now monetized....even before there were rich families, but they had gongs, jars, buffalos and cows. Now is changed, they have wood houses, motorbikes, cars... The rich do parties as the Khmer, with cassette recorders, loudspeakers and Khmer music. Now only the poor do everything like before: kill the pigs, drink from jars, and make music with gongs. A Kreung woman in O chum District, Ratanakiri Access to prosperity is inducing the adoption of new values, mainly the ones of the lowland Khmer, who are seen as a richer and cleverer group. Some traditional practices are now considered signs of poverty, while the adoption of new ones is perceived as a sign of wealth. Women, men... and money...some men keep the money from cashew nuts sales. They buy motorbikes, drink or smoke, and come back without anything. But in other cases they discuss with the wife and we decide together. A Jarai woman in O Yadao District, Ratanakiri

7 Changes in gender roles and women s status among Indigenous communities In some families men help the women, but in others life is harder than before. Traditionally men have only one job, while women have many. We work more than in the past because men are more in charge of other things; they take the motorbike and go to sell, while women stick to the hard daily work. It is easy because the husband can go to sell and buy useful things, but it is harder because women take care of the fields alone. Bunong woman in Puchiri District, Mondulkiri Many women were concerned by their men s spending habits. Apparently, it often happened that men just waste the money. Income and spending have different impacts on men and women. Men have increased their mobility, travelling frequently and visiting villages and district towns, therefore decreasing the time spent in their villages. This has widened their contacts network and allowed them to participate, to some degree, in the Khmer social life occurring in the district and provincial towns. Their knowledge of the Khmer language increases faster than that of women, as well as their integration among the Khmer community. Rearrangement of gender s role and status...before husbands used to take care of children. During the evening they chatted in the village carrying the children with them. But now they go out with the motorbike and they prefer to be alone, because they feel ashamed to go out with the children. In the past, husbands scolded and complained to us, but at least they stayed in the village, drinking together, especially during ceremonies. But now they drink alone, or they drink everyday for one or two months and when the women complain there are conflicts in the family. A Jarai woman in O Yadao District, Ratanakiri Confined to the very demanding tasks of assuring everyday family life, many women see modernity through the eyes of their husbands. The division of tasks between men and women seems to be widening and changing. If before men s work brought them into the forest, hunting, fishing, or carrying out the heaviest and most dangerous tasks, now it bring them in deep contact with the new social context, with Khmer people, and with modernity. This is opening the door to new problems....men drink more than before, now they drink beer and white wine in the district town. They drink because they are angry, but once they are drunk they are not happier and they still want to create problems. Sometimes, they are afraid that women will blame them so they start to blame first. Men now have more free time, so they don t know what to do, they play cards and drink. They don t hunt anymore, so they have less work. Men want to be higher than women, but now sometime they stay at home, drinking all

8 136 Maffii the time and are afraid of women s disapproval, so they create problems. A Tampuan woman in Andong Meas District, Ratanakiri A trend toward an increase in alcohol consumption was mentioned by many women, who linked these changes to the new social situation in the villages. The outsiders way of life is also blamed. In fact, indigenous communities were used to social and leisure activities involving the whole village, women, men, young, elders, rich and poor. The mainstream Cambodian society is more gender and socially segregated; male leisure is often linked to the commercialization of women s services, as karaoke singers, waitresses, or sex workers. The mushrooming of brothels in Banlung, the provincial capital of Ratanikiri Province, and in most of the district towns of the indigenous provinces, is a consequence, and proof, of the prevalence of this culture....some men take the money and destroy the family s properties. Some men feel that their wife is old and want to find young prostitutes, and spend all the money. When they finish the money, they come back, even more angry. Now we have a lot of divorces. When women complain or blame them there is violence The village chief, for example, now has two wives. We still have the elders, but now they have less authority, people don t care; young men become gangster or robbers. We have also rapes; girls are cheated by men from the village or by outsiders. Before we fined them but now no more, our spirits have gone away, our community is not strong, nobody cares about elders and fines. A Tampuan woman in Ban Lung District, Ratanakiri These aspects are directly related to the level of disruption felt by the communities. The above-mentioned examples refer to communities nearer to the provincial towns, facing intense land alienation and in-migration of newcomers. Vision of the future...before was harder, there was no food, no pots to cook, we had to go and dig wild potatoes when food was lacking. Today, young people don t follow our tradition, don t celebrate ceremonies and beliefs, they drive very fast, they don t respect animals or children, they go alone in town and drink a lot of beer or wine. So I don t know what to say. A Jarai woman in O Yadao District, Ratanakiri...Now we have development and in the future we will have houses made with cement. However, if our children will study, they will forget their traditions and become like Khmer, if they don t study, they will remain ignorant and will be cut off from everything. So I think it is not good anyway.

9 Changes in gender roles and women s status among Indigenous communities 137 A Tampuan woman in Andong Meas District, Ratanakiri...Work today is harder than the older generation, at that time no women were labourers! Before we used to weave, but now we cannot, and we exchange products for clothes. When I was young, there was more to eat, we had more farms and enough rain. An Elder Bunong woman in O reang District, Mondulkiri Women s vision of the future reflects the contradictions and the controversial value of modernity. Women as active agents...we all are affected by the problem of land grabbing close to our village, we must take action, otherwise we will not have land for the next generation. We will meet together and we will try to do something. A Kachak woman in Andong Meas District, Ratanakiri...This is a village with many ancient traditions. During Pol Pot many things were destroyed, we lost all our gongs and jars, but afterwards we have managed to buy them again. We are very proud of it. We keep alive our traditions; we teach the young how to sing and how to play. They should not lose their culture and we work to keep it alive. An Elder Kreung woman in Veunsay District, Ratanakiri...We are very worried in our heart; we think that in the future there will be no more Indigenous people! We want to fight because we want to maintain the forest for our children and we want some forest left for their future. Our lives rely on the forest, we are indigenous and we live in the forest, wherever else should we live? We try to resist, writing letters to the Commune, if it is not effective, we write to the District, and also to the Province. A Stieng woman in Snuol District, Kratie This overview on indigenous women s perceptions could not be concluded without mentioning their great willingness to act in favour of their villages and groups, and protect the interests of the future generations that many indigenous women express so clearly. Conclusions Indigenous women appeared vocal, assertive, and willing to discuss and interact; essentially they do not correspond to the prevailing stereotype. Some authors have already mentioned how the dominant patriarchal and ethnocentric vision of

10 138 Maffii indigenous women can completely obscure the real dimension of gender status within indigenous societies (Tuhiway Smith L. 1999, Smith Andrea, 2005). This has often triggered a series of measures and interventions, managed by the dominant society or driven by the development sector, that instead of re-establishing indigenous women s status, simply assume the prevailing bias as their main conceptual frame. The current proliferation of gender education programs managed by development agencies in the indigenous areas in the North East provinces of Cambodia, tend to take for granted that indigenous women s status reflects the general perception concerning indigenous people: one of underdevelopment, poverty and lack of skills and knowledge. Being unacknowledged, indigenous women s status is not protected, and measures to improve their situation tend to assimilate them into the mainstream society. By not recognizing ethnic and gender prejudice in the mainstream society, problems faced by indigenous women who are under threat of being assimilated, get unrecognised too. The destruction of the link between indigenous communities and their ancestral land triggers devastating effects on social ties, beliefs, identities and cultures. By the assault of this modern frontier, women are left with less power, status, tools and protection. Violence against women appears in the discourse of women that face severe land losses, community disintegration and massive in-migration into their territories. Indigenous women are facing a series of changes that are endangering their livelihood, their identity, their culture and their status as women. Their time for leisure and creativity has declined. Their workload has changed and in many cases increased. Indigenous women, whose roles as expert agriculturalists in charge of land management, plant amelioration and seed selection has assured community survival and livelihood, are now relegated to the role of labourers, their knowledge and experience unrecognised. The increase in responsibilities for ensuring family survival has, in turn, isolated them and decreased their exposure to positive changes. The exposure of indigenous traditional society to the dominant Khmer culture is having an impact on the vision of gender and the role of women within indigenous communities. In lowland Cambodia, a patriarchal culture has shaped women s roles and status, imposing strict codes of conduct regulating women s behaviour and imposing sex segregation. Male dominance is unchallenged, domestic violence and violence against women is a prevalent social phenomenon, involving all generations (Violence against Women Baseline Survey, 2005). The massive spread of commercial sex by the male population contributes to a devaluation of women s status and to an increase in their submission.

11 Changes in gender roles and women s status among Indigenous communities 139 The outside dominant culture, based on market fundamentalism, which is invading these communities, is male-biased too. The values that it rewards accommodate men more than women, and contribute to making the role and work of women less visible and appreciated (Sassen Saskia, 1999). In the long term, the impact will affect men and women in the same way, but in the short term, it offers men a way to release their frustration and discontent, based on the devaluation of women. This will be very disruptive for the indigenous social fabric, where genders play different and separate roles, but are not ranked in a hierarchical order due to their intrinsic worth. Nonetheless, the indigenous women contacted by the research were assertive and willing to act in order to address their problems.

12 140 Maffii References Baird I., The Ethnoecology, Land-use and livelihood of the Brao Kavet Indigenous Peoples in Kok Lak Commune, Voeun Say District, Ratanakiri Province, Northeast Cambodia, Ban Lung, Ratanakiri, 2000, Non Timber Forest Products. Bourdier F., The Mountain of Precious Stones, Ratanakiri, Cambodia: Essays in Social Anthropology, 2006, Center for Khmer Studies. Ironside J. & I. Baird, Wilderness and Cultural Landscape: settlement, agriculture and land and resources tenure in and adjacent to Virachey National Park, Northeastern Cambodia, BPAMP, 2003, Ministry of Environment Department, Ratanakiri Cambodia. Native Women Association of Canada, Violence against Aboriginal Women and Girls, National Aboriginal Women s Summit, June , Canada. NGO Forum of Cambodia: Rethinking Poverty Reduction to Protect and Promote the right of Indigenous Minorities in Cambodia: A Human Rights Approach to Land and Natural Resources Management, Phnom Penh, April Sassen Saskia, Blind Spots: Toward a Feminist Analytic of Today s Global Economy, Presentation at the London School of Economics Centennial, UK, Smith Andrea, Conquest: Sexual Violence and the American Indian Genocide, Cambridge, South End Press, Smith L. T., Decolonising Methodologies, Research and Indigenous People, University of Otago Press, Violence against Women, Baseline Survey 2005, GTZ, UNIFEM, Ministry of Women s Affairs Cambodia. White J., The Indigenous Highlanders of the North East: an uncertain future, Interdisciplinary Research on Ethnic Groups in Cambodia, Phnom Penh, 1996, Center for Advanced Studies.