The Participation of Bidayuh People in Development: A Gender Perspective Analysis
The focus of the research is to study the education and employment participation trends of the Bidayuh in Serian and Bau Districts from a gender perspective. The specific objectives are to determine the trend of change in educational attainment between Bidayuh men and women based on 1990 and 2000...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
2004
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/105/1/548984_FPP_2004_15.pdf |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | The focus of the research is to study the education and employment participation trends
of the Bidayuh in Serian and Bau Districts from a gender perspective. The specific
objectives are to determine the trend of change in educational attainment between
Bidayuh men and women based on 1990 and 2000 census data; to determine whether the
survey data on educational attainment are comparable with the trend of change in
educational attainment of the year 2000; to determine the trend of change in employment
participation between Bidayuh men and women in the three employment sectors namely
agriculture, service and manufacturing based on 1990 and 2000 census data; to determine
whether the survey data on employment participation are comparable with the trend of
change in employment participation of the year 2000; and lastly to explain reasons for
differences between educational attainment and employment participation of Bidayuh
men and women.
iii
The study was conducted in four zones of districts of Serian and Bau in Sarawak. The
study consisted of two phases. The first phase was on the survey involving a total of 150
households including husbands and wives, who were personally interviewed using
structured questionnaire. The data from the first phase were aimed at answering the first,
second, third and fourth objectives of the study. The data were analysed using simple
statistical tools such as frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation and chisquare.
The second phase was on an indepth interviews among eight selected informants
who were knowledgeable about Bidayuh community. The purpose was to find
explanation on the differences between Bidayuh men’s and women’s educational
attainment and employment participation. Qualitative data analysis was used for this
phase of the study.
The trend of change in educational attainment between Bidayuh men and women based
on 1990 and 2000 census data shows that the opportunities for education continued to
increase but disparity persisted between the two genders. The disparity is seen in terms of
accessibility to primary education and attainment in tertiary education. The imbalanced in
educational attainment between Bidayuh men and women for 1990 and 2000 census data
continued as indicated by the study survey data.
Majority of both Bidayuh male and female labour forces continue to concentrate in the
traditional and labour-intensive farming between 1990 and 2000. Manufacturing sector
that required some level of education, technology and skills, the survey data show that the
participation of Bidayuh women in the sector was still lower than Bidayuh men. As in the
iv
1990 and 2000 census data, the 2002 survey data show that employment participation in
all sectors was continued to differ for Bidayuh men and women.
The qualitative data show that there are two reasons why Bidayuh women lag behind the
men in educational attainment. The two reasons are cultural influence and historical
background that stated Bidayuh women have been long neglected in many aspects of
educational opportunities. Similarly, reasons for the differences in employment
participation between Bidayuh men and women are traditional gender related division of
labour, employer’s bias on gender and the lack of education, skills and training among
women.
The study poses recommendations for extension, development planners, Sarawak state
government, Bidayuh organizations and policy makers. It is hoped that the findings are
useful for extension policy and programme planning for rural population with some
gender perspectives. The study also recommends that future research should be
conducted on the impact of development on the social mobility of Bidayuh men and
women. |
|---|