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The Development of the Leadership Program for Women in Lao PDR

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 The Development of the Leadership Program for Women in
Lao PDR
Kiengkay Ounmany1
Faculty of Social Sciences, National University of Laos
Abstract
In the Lao PDR, although women play increasing role in socioeconomic and political
arenas, a large number of them have inadequate leadership training though. This research
aims to assess leadership training needs for female staff members and students at the
National University of Laos. Mixed-method approach was applied for this study. Data were
collected using focus group discussions (n=2, including 10 participants) with graduate
students and questionnaire survey (n=100) with staff members and undergraduate
students. Results suggest that leadership training is essential for developing female
leadership in Laos. Women need to have technical, interpersonal and leadership skills in
order to be effective leaders. Proposed training topics include future planning, cultivating
self-confidence, time management, communication skills, co-working skills, presentation
skills, and interpersonal skills respectively. The recommended training methods include
community activity, special lecture, learning from role models, and small group activity
respectively. Policy and practical implications are discussed in this report.
Background
After the establishment of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) in December
1975, women have been recognized as a significant force for country socioeconomic
development. Gender roles and women leadership emerged in public discourse in various
government agencies at all levels. The Lao PDR became a signatory of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1981, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991, and the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, adopted in the Fourth UN Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing,
China.
Also, equality between women and men was clearly stated in Article 22 of the
Constitution of the Lao PDR (1991): “Lao citizens are all equal before the law irrespective
of their gender, social status, education, beliefs and ethnic group” (National Assembly,
1991). The Constitution also guarantees equal rights between women and men as the
Article 24 states “Citizens of both genders enjoy equal rights in the political, economic,
cultural and social fields and in family affairs.” In addition to the Constitution, equality
between women and men in terms of rights and property was elaborated in the Family
and Property Law 1990, which aims at “Establishing matrimonial family relations based
on will and equality between men and women” and “Protecting the interest of mothers
and children in family life and at divorce.” The law guarantees the interests of women and
men not only during marriage life, but also after their separation. Later, there was

1
CONTACT: kiengkay_ou@yahoo.com
1
continuous improvement in legal framework to materialize women advancement. The
amendment to the Constitution 2003 stress the roles of “The State, society and families
attend to implementing development policies and supporting the progress of women and
to protecting the legitimate rights and benefits of women and children.”
The Lao government established a state organization called Lao Women’s Union (LWU),
with an equal par to the line ministries and has mandates in “responding to women’s
development needs; promoting the status and role of women; and promoting unity
among women of different ethnic groups and social strata throughout the country”.i The
Union has a strong network from central to grassroots level. Together with LWU, the
National Commission for Advancement of Women (NCAW) was established in 2003. The
Commission later played a leading role in formulating Law on Development and
Protection of Women in 2004. The law aims to promote the role of women of all ethnic
groups and protecting the interest of women and fight all forms of discrimination against
women. NCAW also played an active role in formulating the National Strategy for the
Advancement of Women 2006, which has five action plans: (1) Promote women’s active
participation in the implementation of the National Growth and Poverty Reduction
Strategy (NGPES) for entire population and for women themselves (2) Promote women
and girls access to upgrading and education with the gradual equality with male (3)
Improve health care services for women (4) Increase number of women in decision-
making positions at all levels, and (5) Strengthen national machineries that protect and
promote the advancement of women (Lao PDR, 2006). In realizing this strategy, the first
strategy on gender was approved in 2012 with the aim to increase the number of female
leaders in the state and private organizations.
Thanks to the legal framework and the initiatives mentioned above, Laos has made
considerable progress in terms of gender equality and women leadership development.
By the time of this writing, for instance, women are holding top positions in the National
Assembly (NA), Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Industry and Commerce and
so on. In 2012, it was suggested that women made up 25% of NA’s members, just above
24.4% in Vietnam and 15.8% in Thailand.ii The numbers increased from 22.9% and 9.4%
in the Fifth Legislature 2 (2002-2007) and Third Legislature (1992-1997) respectively.
Lao women also play a significant role in economic sphere. A number of them run leading
companies in the country. In 2004, Lao Businesswomen Association (LBWA) was
established to promote a network of businesswomen. Members benefit from the
association by access to market information and business-related know-how. The
association received funding from the Asia Foundation to organize a workshop to discuss
how to develop their network. The association was organized into nine clusters including
hotel and restaurant, jewelry and trade, small and medium size enterprises, education,
design and construction and so on. The majority of business organizations in Laos are
characterized as small and medium enterprises. A large number of business activities
were dominated by women. For instance, a study by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) indicates that 90% of market vendors are women. These vendors
earn an average of 100,000-500,000 kip a day. In addition, women also dominate

2
agricultural sector in terms of employment. The same study suggests that 71% of
subsistence farmers are women.iii
Although considerable progress has been made regarding gender equality and women
leadership development in Laos. The gender equality and women leadership situation are
still far from ideal. A large gab still exists between rural and urban areas. In the rural areas,
a large number of women are still illiterate and underrepresented. According to a study,
among 143 governors, women accounted only 8-10 per cent across the country, a slightly
increase from 1.2% in 2005. In addition, there were 8,608 village chiefs, but only 228 of
them (1.2%) were 4 women and 1.6% of them were deputy village chief in 2000. Though
Lao Businesswomen Association was established a decade ago, the women still have
minor role in decision-making in relation to doing businesses. The major obstacles that
prevent women to grow as leaders are double burden of women, economic, social cultural
factors and so on. According to the UNDP, for example, women spend four times doing
household chores and care for family members in comparison to men. More efforts are
needed to develop women leaders at all levels, in particular in rural areas.
Purposes of the Research
Purposes of the research Female leadership training is necessary for all societies in both
developed and developing countries. In Laos, although women play increasing role in
socioeconomic and political arenas, a large number of them, however, have inadequate
leadership training. As a result, Sookmyung Women’s University, Republic of Korea, in
collaboration with the National University of Laos lunch a leadership training program
for NUOL’s female students. Prior to the training, a research was conducted to assess
training needs of potential participants. In particular, the aims of the research are to: (1)
identify current level of women’s self-awareness, (2) understand the current status and
perception of women’s leadership education in Lao PDR, (3) assess current needs for
leadership training in Lao PDR, and (4) utilize the results as a basic data to develop
leadership training contents in order to include various local needs aiming at women’s
empowerment through leadership education. The empirical data were collected from
undergraduate and graduate students and staff members from various faculties in the
National University of Laos. The following section introduce theoretical framework on
women leadership and development.
Literature Review
For a long time, women leadership has received increasing attention from academics and
practitioners worldwide. Research on women leadership still focuses on women in
business and other top management position in Europe and America. Women leadership
in developing countries in Asia and other parts of the world receives minimal attention.
Although the body of literature on women leadership in developed countries is well-
established, the under-representation of women leaders in many areas seem to be a
subject of concern for the public and the government agencies. The following section
presents an update on women leadership literature.
Women leadership
3
A number of research on women leadership related to women leadership styles.
Vinkenburg, van Engen, Eagly, & Johannesen-Schmidt (2011), for example, conducted two
experiments to examine whether gender stereotype on transformational, transactional
and laissez-faire leadership styles constitute an advantage or an impediment for women
to grow as leaders. The first experiment indicate that women express transformational
and contingent reward behaviors, and fewer management-by exception and laissez-faire
behaviors than men. The second experiment suggests that men perceived inspirational
motivation more important than women do, whereas individual consideration was
perceived more important for women than men. The research proposes that women have
to combine individualized consideration and inspirational motivation behaviors to be
effective leaders. Nevertheless, the study shows only internal factors of the women
leadership. Environment where women working in and institutional factors also play a
contributing role in supporting or undermining them to success or fail as leaders in the
organizations. There is a study examining whether and to what extent board chairperson
leadership efficacy and board openness enhance the influence of women when they are
in the minority in board decision-making. The study suggests that there is a positive
relationship between women minorities and women’s director contribution to decision-
making (Kanadlı, Torchia, & Gabaldon, 2018).
The paths to women leadership
There are a number of obstacles that women have to overcome to climb up leadership
ladders in order to become successful leaders. Christina Surawicz (2016), who study
women leadership in academic medicine, suggests two types of obstacles using
metaphors: glass ceiling and leaky pipeline. Glass ceiling implies invisible barrier to
advancement, while leaky pipeline means loss of women academic along the path to
advancement. In addition, the glass ceiling type includes institutional culture and the
problem of bias and the leaky pipeline type includes challenge for work-life integration
and the need for leadership development for women. In addition, uncertainty in the
leadership position constitute another obstacle for women. Glass & Cook (2016) argue
that women are more likely than men to be promoted in a high-risk leadership positions
and lack of support or authority to accomplish their strategic objectives. Also, women also
face a number of obstacles to take part in political process. Bullough, Kroeck, Newburry,
Kundu, & Lowe (2012) examine how institutional force shape women participation in
political leadership. The authors argue that to increase women participation in politics,
we have into account the following factors: customs and trade regulations, graft, the
gender gap in political empowerment, public spending on education, the economic
viability of the country, access to power and the internet, political freedom, and cultural
variables like performance orientation, collectivism, and power distance. The following
solutions have proposed to solve these problems: improving institutional culture, making
sure women advance as quickly as men and equal pay between women and men, provide
resources to help work-life balance, and provide adequate mentoring and leadership
training (Surawicz, 2016).
Nonetheless, institutional supports seem to be inadequate for women to grow as leaders.

4
The women themselves have to be proactive in developing their leadership quality.
According to Bowles (2012) there are two paths that women use to journey to top
business leaders: navigating and pioneering. In the navigating path, women gain
acceptance and acknowledgement through delivering superior performance and
negotiating with the gatekeepers. While in the pioneering path, women clearly formulate
their strategic visions and strive to gain supports from fellow colleagues to realize their
strategic idea and leadership. Also, she proposes a process model of how women
legitimize their claims to top leadership positions by recursively resetting career accounts
as authority claim succeed or fail (Bowles, 2012).
It is difficult to identify a spectrum of success factors that could be attributed to women
leadership. Scholars such as Shahtalebi, Yarmohammadian, & Sima (2011) proposed
major seven components of success factors for women leaders in higher education. These
include other’s positive attitudes, women’s personality traits, women’ personal attitudes,
attitudes of society, leadership and management skills, family factors, free and academic
environment. The authors argue that women could be successful leaders through
applying their management and leadership skills.
Attempt have been made to compare how women succeed as leaders between the West
and Asia. Peus, Braun, & Knipfer (2015) examined how women in Asia and the U.S.
become leaders. The study reveals that there is no distinction between “Asia” versus the
“Western” leadership styles. Rather key success factors such as achievement orientation,
learning orientation, and role model are crucial for growing as leaders across the
continents.
Leadership training: a powerful means to empower women
Women empowerment and leadership training is another theme that received attention
from scholars. Education and training programs have been regarded as a powerful means
to empower women and develop the women as future leaders. Before providing them
with a training program, research should be carried out to assess their motivation and
needs. Tools and theoretical framework are available from multiple disciplines. For
instance, Yeagley, Subich, & Tokar (2010) predicted college women’s interests and goals
for position of elite leadership using social cognitive career theory (SCCT). The results
support SCCT theory that women interest and goals for elite leadership positions are
explained by internal factors such as self-efficacy and outcome expectation.
There is a well-established evidence supporting that training programs are effective
means to empower women. Bowen & Miller (2018) for example examine indigenous
women empowerment through 25-day leadership training program. After, the training
program, the authors found positive changes in the women in their families and
communities. Other means for women leaders’ training include teaching interventions
(Rapanta & Badran, 2016) and inviting roles model to speak (Latu, Mast, Lammers, &
Bombari, 2013). Rapanta & Badran (2016) investigate how teaching intervention could
improve leadership skills of emeriti women. The results suggest that there is positive
correlation between teaching intervention and improving leadership skills. Latu et al.

5
(2013) studied whether highly successful female role models empower women's
behavior in a leadership task. Results suggest that highly successful female role models
have positive effect on women’s behavior in a leadership task.
Research Methods
This research was based on mixed method approach. The mixed method approach offers
a number of advantages for researchers (Creswell, 2009). The approach helps researchers
to overcome weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative approach. Some argue that the
mixed method research allows the researchers to better address their research questions.
Also, the mixed method approach allows researchers to cross-check data, which result in
enhancing validity.
Empirical data were collected using questionnaire surveys and focus group discussions
(FGD). The questionnaire and focus group discussion guide were developed by partners
at Sookmyung Women’s University, Republic of Korea. After receiving the questionnaire
and the FGD guide from the partner, they were translated into Lao to make them easier to
understand for the respondents, given that the majority of the respondents have basic
level of English language. The translated questionnaire and FGD guide were pretested
with some students within NUOL’s main campus. The pretesting results indicate that the
respondents did not have major difficulties in answering the questions.
The questionnaire surveys were carried out during May 2018 in the NUOL’s main campus.
The respondents were selected using random sampling technique. The respondents
include NUOL’s staff members and 2nd and 3rd year students from several faculties namely
social science, education, natural science, economic and business management,
environmental sciences and so on. The 4th year students were not included in the survey
due to the fact that during this time period they did internship outside the campus.
Two FGDs (including ten participants) were conducted with graduate students in MA in
Political Science and MA in Population and Development Study programs at the Faculty
of Social Sciences (FSS), National University of Laos. All of them are employed but taking
an advantage of weekend to pursue their higher studies. Each group includes three female
and two male participants. Seven respondents are mid-level administrators working for
government agencies such as Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Planning
and Investment, and Ministry of Post and Communication. One respondent, who is
responsible from Women’s Union, is from Bolikhamsay, a province located about 150 km
southward of Vientiane. One respondent is working for Handicap International, a French
NGO working on humanitarian aid in Laos and other countries. And one participant is
junior staff member from Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
The discussions (one group in the morning and the other in the afternoon) took place in
the classroom of FSS, which created relaxing and friendly atmosphere. During the
discussions, the respondents were asked question and each of them rotated to answer the
question. This gave equal opportunity for the respondents to answer the questions. When
an important point was raided in the discussion, additional questions were posed to get
in-depth insights. In short, the respondents cooperated relatively well due to the fact that
6
all of them are well educated and have some experience in leadership positions.
Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS Program. Descriptive statistic is the main
technique for the analysis. The interview files were transcribed and translated into
English. Content analysis and narrative analysis are the main techniques for analyzing
qualitative data. Results and discussions are provided in the following sections.
Results and Discussion
Findings and results described in this section derived from two focus group discussions
and questionnaire survey with 100 respondents. The respondents are female staff
members and students from several faculties in the NUOL’s main campus. On the average,
they were 23.57 years old; a minimum age of 18 and maximum of 50 years old. The
student respondents study education administration (n=14), tourism management
(n=12), hotel management (n=10), political science (n=10), computer science (n=7),
applied statistics (n=5) and other disciplines. Thirty-seven experienced leadership
training, while 62 of them did not and 43 respondents said they used to be a leader, while
56 of them say no.
The Needs for Female Leadership
All participants agree that development of women leadership is very necessary. The
questionnaire survey results also confirms this finding. When asked if they want to be a
leader, 71% of the respondents strongly agree, while 5% of them stated they disagree.
The majority of the respondents (73%) strongly agree that they will strive to develop
themselves to be leaders.
FGD participants believe that by having female leaders, it will help to reduce all forms of
discrimination against women. In addition, the problems related to women will be much
easier to solve. An interviewee explains that “there are many poor women; … if there are
only male leaders, it is difficult to talk to women. Therefore, if there would be women as
leaders when women talk to each other it is easier to understand…” (FGD 1, 12 May 2018).
Another argument supporting women leadership is that some jobs, e.g. negotiation,
diplomatic relations, women could do better than men. “I could fully say that it should be
supported and encouraged…some tasks women could do better, especially related to
communication…” (FGD 2, 12 May 2018). In addition, the respondents refer to female
leaders in other countries (the Philippines, Republic of Korea) and international
organization such as the United Nations. Nevertheless, the respondents argue that in
some areas, for example, public security and national defense, it is inappropriate to have
female leaders in the Lao context.
There are some positive changes in women advancement in a recent time in Laos. More
women have been engaged in public offices at various levels, for example, the President
of National Assemble, Minister of Education and Sports, and Minister of Industry and
Commerce are female. These changes stemmed from the introduction of government
policy and legal framework to support women to be involved in politics and development
process. Nevertheless, the implementation of these policy and legal framework, however,
is still facing a number of challenges especially in the rural areas. The participants could
observe that a huge female leadership gab still exists between urban and rural areas. In
rural areas, men often dominate most decision making and activities.
7
Major Obstacles
There are a number of obstacles for women to grow as a leader in Laos. Women have to
do a lot of house work, which prevent them to do other useful activities including
receiving proper education. In the past, family preferred to send sons rather than
daughters to pursue higher education. The sons are expected to work in public offices,
while daughters are expected to stay at home to care for parents and other siblings. In
addition, it is an old mindset of the people who thought that holding important positions
in public offices or being a leader is a male business. An interviewee explained “I think
the main problem is the old mindset… women themselves have the same mindset …it’s a
man’s work something like that. Both men and women have old mindset” (FGD 1, 12 May
2018). It was expected that woman should stay at home, taking care of children and
depend on husbands. Women are also thought to be weak in terms of physical and mental
abilities, therefore, they are not fit to work in some sectors, for example, national defense
and public security. Also, in Lao context, it is difficult for them to travel to other provinces
or abroad due to double burden and possible prejudice from the others. In addition, men
often exert their dominance in various public spheres, as a result, it is difficult for women
to be acknowledged and recognized as leaders in those spaces. Men often receive favor
treatment, when it comes to promotion to higher positions or opportunities to receive
further training. Because of these obstacles or what (Surawicz, 2016) refers to “glass
ceiling”, women tend to have false belief that they are not fit for important duties and
being leaders. This study argues that education could be a powerful tool to overcome
these obstacles. In addition, equal educational opportunities should be promoted
between women and men to minimize the gender gap. Additional attention should be
paid in rural Laos, where women still face some discriminations.
Virtue and Qualifications
It is difficult to point out what kind of qualifications female leaders should possess, unless
we know their responsibilities. The respondents believe that female leaders’
qualifications depend on their duties and responsibilities. Like their male counterpart,
women should be equipped with both technical and interpersonal skills, as an
interviewee explain “For me, there are two aspects. First, there are skill, knowledge and
ability on technical issues, which a person is responsible for. Second, there are
interpersonal relations skills, customs and traditions…” (FGD 1, 12 May 2018). It is also
expected that female leader should have leadership and problem-solving skills. According
to the results from the questionnaire survey, 80% of the respondents believe that female
leadership education is “very necessary” and 18% says “necessary”. When asked whether
they want to continue their further education after graduation from college, 49% of the
respondents “strongly agree” and 46% “agree”, whereas only 5% “disagree”. Being healthy
is another factor that the respondents believe necessary. Nevertheless, the
abovementioned skills and knowledge seem to be insufficient for women to grow as
leaders. The working environment should be favorable for women to showcase their
ability. According to an interviewee “Open mind is not enough, opportunity should be
given…giving the opportunity for women to be there” (FGD 2, 12 May 2018). This finding
is confirmed by (Kanadlı et al., 2018) who found out that there is positive relationship
between women minorities and women’s director contribution to decision-making. This
study suggests that both family and the organization they are working for should provide
support. Also, the social setting where they are living and working should be favorable for
8
women to showcase their ability and skills. In addition, more recognition of the roles of
women should be promoted in the workplace and general society.
Contents of the Training Program
According to the interviewees, women should start leadership training at a very young
age because they believe that leadership skills derive from nature and nurture. There are
three levels of leadership: low, middle and high. The interviewees argue that the training
program should not be one-size-fit-all course, rather it should be tailored to suit the
requirements of the trainees and the local conditions. According to the interviewees, a
priority for leadership training program is gender roles, reasoning that both men and
women should be able to distinguish their respective roles in the society. Since Lao
women are always taught to be timid and humble, the skills the respondents have
proposed for female leadership training include presentation skills, self-confident,
courage, social and table etiquettes, decision making and so on. These findings are similar
to the questionnaire survey results. According to the results, the respondents suggest the
following themes for female leadership training: future planning (69%), cultivating
confidence (55%), time management (33%), communication skills (29%), co-working
skills (27%), presentation skills (23%), and inter personal skill (18%).
The training method that the interviewees have suggested is to invite successful women
leaders to give a lecture to trainee to inspire them. Additionally, field trips may be
organized, especially to the organizations where women are leaders. The questionnaire
survey results suggest some similarity and additional insights as the following:
community activity (54%), special lecture (41%), learning from a role model (28%), and
small group activity (26%). There are a number of previous studies supporting these
results (Bowen & Miller, 2018; Latu et al., 2013). The former took field trip and
community approaches to train indigenous women in Guatemala, while the latter argue
that the role model empower women to act in the leadership tasks. In the Lao context, the
author argues that foremost attention should be paid on building women’s self-
confidence. Later, after they have a high level of self-confidence, they will be capable to
overcome the obstacles.
Training Period
The training program should be organized periodically interval to allow time for
monitoring and evaluation of the program effectiveness. An interviewee explained: “One
week is enough, but it should be organized periodically to allow monitoring. It would be
good if there are three periods…we could observe the problems during this training
program, and evaluation was not carried out…” (FGD 1, 12 May 2018). The training period
depends on the topics. If it is theoretical lectures, the interviewees suggest that only one
or two days are enough for the training. In general, the interviewees proposed the training
period three or five days. Some interviewees, however, proposed a training period of one
or two weeks. Noticeably, the interviewees had a lot of discussion on monitoring and
evaluation to ensure the effectiveness of the training programs. This is explained by the
fact that all FGD participants are experienced staff members of government agencies and
NGOs. They might have extensive experiences on attending training programs or
organizing training programs themselves and observe the problem of lack of monitoring

9
and evaluation. This study, therefore, suggests time for monitoring and evaluation after
the training.
Types of Supports
Many types of supports should be given to women in order to develop them as leaders.
Government policy is regarded as an effective tool in promoting women leadership, as it
could be observed in the case of Laos. An interviewee explained that:
Provide support within the family and outside the family. The family members
should have understanding and providing support, for example my mom, she
has a very important role and family members try to support to allow her to
use her full potential…if she came home late, we have to help in cooking.
Outside the family, there are government policies…there should be more
opportunities for women…this already implemented, there should be one
women in three (FGD 1, 12 May 2018).
When the government policies are in place, types of techniques could be used to
implement the policies including offer more opportunities for women, encouragement of
women to participate socioeconomic activities, and allocation of quota for women to be
in the leading positions. In addition, family is an important source of physical and mental
supports. Family members, especially men (husbands and sons), could help reduce
women’s burdens. Men should provide advices and encouragement in case the women
face problems. Also, the men have to recognize the knowledge and ability of women to
allow them to work and use their ability effectively. The men should be open-minded and
at the same time give the opportunities at for women to grow in the organizations.
Nevertheless, in Lao context, the implementation is still difficulty due to socio-economic
and cultural factors. This study argues that all types of support should be simultaneously
provided as they are inextricable linked.
Conclusions
This study examines the need for female leadership training in Lao PDR, in particular at
the National University of Laos. Although, the Lao PDR has made considerable progress
in terms of gender equality and women leadership, a large gender gap still exists between
urban and rural areas. Like women in other countries, Lao women are still facing the
problem of glass ceiling (invisible barriers to advancement). Education is a powerful tool
to break this glass ceiling.
Like their male counterpart, women need different types of skills: technical, interpersonal
and leadership skills to grow as leaders. These skills seem to be inadequate to be leaders
though. The environment where women are living and working should be favorable to
allow women to showcase their ability in order to gain acknowledge from their male
colleagues.
The study suggests a number of topics for female leadership training such as future
planning (69%), cultivating confidence (55%), time management (33%), communication
skills (29%), co-working skills (27%), presentation skills (23%), and interpersonal skill
(18%). Self-confidence is significant given that with these skills, women could overcome

10
the obstacles.
Time period for female leadership training depend on topics and training methods. Time
should be allocated for evaluation and monitoring.
There are several types of supports such as family and institutional should be given to
women to allow them to develop as leaders. These supports should be provided
simultaneously given that they are inextricable linked.
Notes

i
https://www.devex.com/organizations/lao-pdr-women-s-union-lwu-52706
ii
https://asiafoundation.org/2012/09/12/womens-leadership-critical-to-reaching-development-
goals-in-laos/
iii
http://www.la.one.un.org/media-center/news-and-features/304-women-s-invisible-burden-the-
struggle-for-dignified-and-meaningful-livelihoods-in-the-informal-sector-in-lao-pdr-eng

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