Abstract

• This research illustrates the weaving of Leik San Khun Village, Amarapura Township, Mandalay Region. In Leik San Khun village, the weaving industry was done by hand loom before 1994 - 1995. Since 1994 - 1995, power looms have been introduced. The research aims to describe the division of labor in the weaving industry of Leik San Khun Village. The specific object is to reveal how the process of weaving has been done in Leik San Khun Village. The qualitative research method was used to collect the data. Research tools were key informant interviews, in-depth interviews, individual interview and, participant observation. Among the 719 houses in Leik San Khun village, 277 houses, 39%, depend on the weaving business. There are 1,159 weaving machines whereas three houses have hand looms. There are ten stages in weaving process in Leik San Khun village. Although there are no differentiated tasks for males and females, some tasks are suitable for males whereas some are suitable for females. Women do the tasks which do not need to use strength such as Chichachin (ချည်ချခခင််း), Rahatpyanchin (ရဟတ်ခြန််းခခင််း), Hnatkawchin (နှတ်က ်ခခင််း), Yinthwarpautchin (ယဉ်သ ်းကြေါ ်ခခင််း), Yatphaukyaukchin (ရ ်က ်ကယ ်ခခင််း), and weaving. Men do tasks that have to use physical strength such as treading the thread, dyeing the thread, Seephawchin (စည််းက ်ခခင််း), Charpotechin (ချ ်းြုတ်ခခင််း) and Charlatechin (ချ ်းလိြ်ခခင််း), and other tasks that have to use brain such as drawing the design on a graph. Most of the local people can do two or three steps of weaving skillfully. It is learned that the weaving business has been carried out for generations and that the third generation is currently doing the weaving.