in income-generating activities, as were their sisters
in precolonial Southeast Asia (Reid 1988, 634–5).
Wealthier women of Lampung engage in petty
trade, although this is always home-based rather
than market-based (Elmhirst 2000). Among the
coastal fishing households of Sabah, women oper-
ate small shops or engage in cottage industries to
supplement the family income (Schulze and Surat-
man 1999, 73–87). In the Muslim fishing commu-
nities of Thailand, women are actively involved in
the sale of seafood produce in the markets, which
they buy from fishermen (Dorairajoo 2002). In the
village of Kelantan, the bulk of the cutting of the
rice grain is the women’s task, while threshing is
done by men (Yoshihiro 2001, 24).
Although women may partner men in the role of
breadwinner, the home and family are clearly
female domains. Some scholars have argued that
this division of labor persists because of wide-
spread acceptance of the nature of the sexes, which
governs men’s and women’s self expectations and
social behavior (Brenner 1995). Brenner’s ethno-
graphic explorations in Solo, central Java amongst
the merchant community, revealed that women
believe “they have a naturally stronger bond with
their offspring than their husbands do, which leads
them to take the burden of securing their descen-
dants’ futures more heavily on their own shoul-
ders” (ibid., 36). Exceptions may be unmarried
daughters who return home from a hard day’s
work in wage employment. In a barangay in
Darangen city in central Mindanao, young work-
ing daughters are exempted from household
chores, which are carried out by the other women
residing in the same household (Hilsdon 2003).
Here, the practice of veiling meant that married
women were most likely to remain in the home exe-
cuting the household labor, while men sought after
wage employment to maintain the household, thus
spending more time outside the home.
Given that women manage the hearth, they also
act as managers of the household finances. Whether
the husband (father) or children work, cash is
always handed over to the wife (mother) for the
expenses of the household in Lampung (Elmhirst
2000). Although women retain the money, deci-
sions as to how it is spent may be jointly made by a
couple, as was found in central Java (Hull 1975, as
cited in Wolf 2000). The Islamic teaching that men
are ascribed the role of providers is clearly seen in
how finances are budgeted among Malays in
Singapore. The husband pays for daily essentials,
including rent, utilities, the children’s education,
basic foods such as rice, oil and milk, and other
major objects such as the refrigerator, furniture,
southeast asia 243and television set (Li 1989, 18–19). Although it is
not obligatory, the wife usually pays for supple-
mentary items such as her own and her children’s
clothing, other smaller consumer goods, and major
items such as a washing machine or kitchenware.
Should the food budget run out, the wife usually
pays and is later reimbursed by her husband. When
the wife goes out of her way to supplement the
household budget or to provide extras for her fam-
ily, this is viewed by the couple as her voluntary
contribution or a gift to the family.
Although men are obliged to take on the role of
provider in the family, male responsibility for pro-
vision of food is not explicitly defined in the Qur±àn
(Devasahayam 2003). Thus, it is common practice
for Malay men to purchase food, leaving the
women to cook it. In urban Malaysia, a Malay man
may either shop for food independently or accom-
pany his wife on food shopping trips, although he
pays for the purchases. This gender division of
labor was observed in earlier generations, as well as
among rural folk (Devasahayam 2001, 207–8). By
no means does this suggest that men do not engage
in cooking. Instances when men are enlisted to
cook are in the public domain as part of ritual or
social service, such as in mosques or at a village
feast (kenduri) for a marriage. While men’s engage-
ment in public cooking may have emerged because
they dominate activities outside the house (Carsten
1989,138), celebratory events reverse traditional
forms of normal household practices (Carsten
1987, 164). In public cooking, however, women are
never entirely disengaged from the scene; instead
they play a significant role in a supportive capacity
by cutting and chopping up the foodstuff before it
is cooked (Carsten 1987, 164, Devasahayam 2001,
186–9). Thus, while cooking is identified with
women in the domestic context, when food is pre-
pared in public, the activity does not conform to the
dominant gender ideology connecting women to
food.
Symbolically linked to food, women are also
associated with the kitchen. This link is reinforced
by the fact that when Kelantanese women of the
east coast of Malaysia trade in the marketplace,
they liken this work to “searching for side dishes”
(cari lauk) (Rudie 1995, 239). Cultural values
positing cooking as the prerogative of women are
inculcated at a very young age when girls (anak
dara) are taught by their mothers skills related to
household management (Carsten 1989, 120, 121,
Laderman 1982, 82). When girls in the past received
a formal education, they were usually enrolled in
vernacular girls’ schools where they learned to
cook, weave, and sew (Manderson 1979, 239–40).