The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China.

For Hmong, illness is caused by disruption in nature or disequilibrium. Both male and female can be Hmong shamans and they are traditional communicators with the spirit world. They deal with the prevention and treatment of illnes. Their rituals are the primary processes for curing illness that related to spirit. They have their own perception of health, including complex diseases. Hmong believes that they can cure through spiritual well being. The Hmong accept death as part of the normal cycle of life. Elderly Hmong prefer to die at home in comfort which comes from the presence of the house spirits and family members. Not to die at home is considered a curse.

In the traditonal Hmong family, parents have the rights to decide their daughter's marriage even though she's unwilling. The main reason is due to women at every level are in lower position than men. Most citizens also accepted the subservience of women to man as natural and proper. However, they accorded women's honor and power as mother and mother-in-law within their family.

Within a family husband is seen as the Head of the House who annouces the decision and Hmong women have no rights to interfere. They are responsible for nurturing the children, preparing meals, feeding animals and sharing in agricultural labor. Whereas Hmong men's duty involves family responsibilities and the provison for the physical and spiritual welfare of the family. Ploughing of land is the man's work and women feeds the animals in the farm.

During dinner time, men got the privilege to eat first whereas women only eat after the men. Thus, nothing good is left as all the good food are eaten by the men.

Father helps to watch the children when wife is busy. In addition, when parents hold their children, boy with father and girl with mother.

In the past, men are free to socialize in the public sphere, take leadership roles, participate in negotations and join gatherings. Meanwhile, the wife are confined in domestic unit.Women is always at a lower position than men and have little say or authority over family and clan issues. In addition, women carry no legal rights in society. Men, in contary, are seen as the head of the family who make important decisions.

However, as the Hmong tribe modernized, the perspectives of women started to change. Women start to have more say in the society and thus more authority and power to decide.

Women also have contributed much to the economic well being of the family. In research shown, more and more women pursuit for higher education and career, and hence shows that women have the ability to work in the society like the men do as before.

Group Members: Kwon Hae Jin, Grace Tan, Tan Li Fang, Jamie Chua Class: 10A02

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hmong_customs_and_culture#Traditional_gender_roles
http://hmongstudies.org/GenderinHmongSocietyPart2.pdf
http://www.lawso.ucsb.edu/projects/review/issues/2003-2004/hmong.pdf
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~lao/laostudy/hmrelate.htm/\
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~lao/laostudy/hmrelate.htm/
http://www.creativeartisticnuance.com/uniite/brochure/HCWRBooklet/HmongandHealthCare.pdf