ABSTRACT
Introduction South-East Asia is described as one of the most culturally and religiously heterogeneous areas in the world (Steedly 1999; Adams and Gillogly 2011: 6-7) and in recent decades has undergone rapid economic growth, financial crises and social transformations that have influenced women and men’s daily lives. In South-East Asia religious traditions are considered inseparable from the social and cultural fabric (Skidmore and Lawrence 2007: 5). Researchers have found that gender discourses in South-East Asia are both context dependent (Brenner 1995) and multiple (Meigs 1990; Burghoorn et al. 2008: 3-4). In spite of the region’s tremendous complexity, one aim of this chapter is to capture recent trends concerning gender and family structures that are influenced by religious values and practices. Another aim is to explore gender and religion in crisis situations, through the HIV/AIDS emergency in Thailand.
