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POTENTIAL OF LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES:A POSSIBILITY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?35There seems to be no economic background thatmotivates her entrepreneurship since she emphasizedthat hobby—cooking and making new recipes as wellas inspired by her mom. While working onentrepreneurship she also fulfills her householdresponsibilities like picking up her son from school andtaking him to her mother-in-law.Although she is not actively involved in villageactivities, attending village meetings only once in awhile, still she was asked to speak several times abouther entrepreneurship (entrepreneurial) spirit and tomake known the need to create more jobs for theyoungsters, especially the females, so that they do nothave to leave the village to find jobs in the city.Photo 2: Entrepreneurship handed down for development to takeplace in JapanThe case above could be interpreted asentrepreneurship’s being like a tradition handed down,with entrepreneurs being purely products of their localculture. But entrepreneurs can also upset the statusquo by unlocking predetermined paths ofdevelopment, thus acting as agents of change withinsociety. Gerschenkron (Alexander 1962, 5) alsopointed out that there were many examples ofhistorical settings in which entrepreneurial activityhad flourished outside or even against prevailingnational social norms. The socio-cultural perspective,he insisted, had missed Schumpeter’s 11 basic premisethat entrepreneurs often acted as agents of changerather than as captives of their environment.Likewise, as reflected in traditional rural lifestyles inThailand and Japan, men and women work together inthe farm but perhaps in different areas performingdifferent tasks. Women often support activities thatare considered “male” activities and may even serve asleader in some tasks. Men generally engage only inincome generating activities, while women do bothincome and non-income generating activities.As told by the respondent, Ms. X : 12“I am finally able to be actively involved in thevillage’s policy making and planning after Istarted my business. I understand that I am notyoung anymore. In the beginning, I rarely cameto the village meetings and to community eventsand when I did come, it was only out ofnecessity. But, then Mae S 13 insisted that Ialways come to the meeting. Having my voiceheard and accommodated as a result of attendingmeetings was really something”.Referring to the statistic, the women in an agricultureorganization in Japan called Japan AgricultureCooperatives (JA) constituted 4.9% in 2009. This mayseem a small number, but this might just be thebeginning of the process of breaking through thepatriarchal system within agriculture’s traditionalframework.From the early twentieth century to the end of WorldWar II, the economy of Thailand gradually becamepart of the global system. Major entrepreneurs wereethnic Chinese, who eventually became Siamesenationals. The export of agricultural products,especially rice, was the most important economicendeavor. Thailand has been among the top riceexporters in the world since that time until today.About 49% of the population is employed inagriculture, with more than 47% of the total beingwomen.Given the statistics just mentioned, ever since thewomen began contributing to farming from aneconomic standpoint, they have been allowed toparticipate in decision-making regarding land andfarming policies, and are also actively involved inproviding ideas to improve public services. Theirinputs are strongly influenced by their dailyexperiences. This development can be seen as a shift ora transformation; with the women have an equalbargaining position as the men and being involved inthe decision making that involves the community, ingeneral.It is actually unfair when the existence of women isacknowledged only when they are financiallyindependent and can contribute to the family andcommunity’s economic welfare. Their position thenallows them to participate in the community’sdecision-making process. While this is true, the pointof this research finding is to determine how toThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows