This study applies Amartya Sen's cooperative conflict model as a tool to examine gender relations in the household, which in turn determine women's participation in the market and their bargaining position. The research, conducted in early 1997 using interviews with 249 retail traders in Phnom Penh, shows that even though women are gaining economi cally, there is no corresponding improvement in their bargaining power. Women continue to view the non-economic contributions of their husbands as more important than their own economic contributions. The social definition of what it means to be a 'woman' is working as an 'undiscussed' force, preventing the issue of the gender division of occupa tion, with women at the lower end of the social status, from even appearing on the bar gaining table.
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The names of all interviewees have been changed for this article.
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Aside from the social definition of womanhood that is discussed in this article, several other reasons can be given for the difference in perception of the business between shop owners and market traders. One of the reasons can be because shop owners place more emphasis on business performance, and it might be the case that a drop in sales of shops has been bigger than for markets during the economic slowdown in 1997. See Kusakabe (1999).
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