Policy lessons from Lao and Hmong women in Thai refugee camps

This paper examines the role of Lao and Hmong women in two Thai refugee camps. It looks specifically at the participation of women within the administrative structure of the camps, in camp service and training programs, and in the relocation process. While no refugees wield real power in the camps, the paper demonstrates how the absence of women in camp leadership and their consistent representation by men effectively muffles whatever little input they might have into camp policies, programs, or their own futures within the relocation process. This is a result, not of callous administrators nor insensitive service agencies, but rather of the unexamined assumptions of development planning.