Women In Southeast Asia

Julia C. Lainez Barahona
Dr. Carl Dyke
World History 2
13 November 2012
Women of the Southeast Asia
Through the centuries, women have had to travel a full path of obstacles to transcend their status as mother and be able to participate in society. In many societies and cultures woman's life was limited for a long time to childcare, household chores, and make crafts and artisans. It wascreated a culture of rigid roles very difficult to pass by women, usually sustained and supported by religion; maintaining the education, participation, and civil interaction reserved to the men for centuries. However, there was an area in the world where women followed a pattern completely different to other regions, it was the Southeast Asia. According to Reid, “In the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies the region probably represented one extreme of human experience on these issues. It could not be said that women were equal to men, since there were very few areas in which they competed directly.” (Reilly 683). Since ancient times, the region before of the penetration of European interests was already an important part of world trade, where women played a remarkable role in commerce, in thesocial order, politics, and family than in most other places in the world.
Scholars have debated the identity of Southeast Asia and “whether it even constitutes a consistent region similar to South Asia, the Middle East, or Europe” (Lockard 55), regions where a blend of peoples sharing many common customs. Southeast Asia was described by antique Indians as the golden peninsula, and later wasdescribed as “the source of magnificent wealth and valuable assets where Chinese, Indian, and Islamic traditions came together” (Lockard 55). In commerce, main products moved in the old Asian Southeast were spices like pepper, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. The spice trade initially was developed by Indian and Arab traders, but also attracted Europeans to the region, the first were Spanish andPortuguese, then the Dutch and finally British and French, they became involved in this enterprise settled in different territories of the area to protect and expand their activities. As a result, the Dutch moved into Indonesia, the British in the Malay Peninsula and the French in Indochina. Currently the Asian Southeast is made up of 11 countries; among them are the Philippines, Vietnam, the island ofJava, Malaysia, Siam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos; all of them share many episodes of history as well as the extraordinary behavior of their women. Women in this part of the world moved very freely enjoying many rights, perhaps by the cosmopolitan environment generated by the commercial activity in the region. “Women went out in public as they liked, and Chinese visitors were shocked at theirliberated behavior” (Lockard 500).
When Portuguese and Spanish arrived to the Southeast of Asia seeking to control the wealth of the area, they were surprised as other foreigners too; they were not expected to deal with women! From ancient times the marketing in the region had been belonged primarily to women; and they not just sold at outdoor market but also they offered currency exchange and theyparticipated in long distance commerce. Something good for them was that when the Islam arrived there it did not affected in their trading activities, even today women still selling although on a smaller scale. Because of their economic activities women accumulate significant wealth and they could use it as they wanted. The fact that traditionally, familiar wealth was passed from male to femaleside in a marriage, a girl had to be educated with the idea of contribute to increase the family wealth not to decrease it. So then, women of the Asian southeastern learned to handle merchandise, drive business, keep records, interchange notes, and communicate in the language of commerce.
By the 1600 in Siam (now Thailand), free women enjoyed many rights; women received by inheritance, equality...