Since the UN declarations on the International Women’s Year (1975) and the International Decade for Women (1976-85), increasing attention has been devoted to research on women in developing societies. Within Thailand, that attention has concentrated, understandably, on the majority group, women who are ethnically Thai and religiously Buddhist. Little is known about women in southern Thailand who are ethnically Malay and religiously Islamic and whether these differences are reflected in roles and attitudes. Previous studies on women anywhere in Thailand have largely ignored the realm of attitudes. Yet research elsewhere has shown that attitudes are an important determinant of behaviour. The Malay-Muslims of Thailand are a significant minority, numbering about two million or a quarter of the population in southern Thailand (14 provinces). Within Thailand’s four, southern-most provinces, Malay Muslims are the majority group, comprising between 63 and 79 per cent of the population in those provinces, which makes the deficiency in our knowledge about them the more striking. In formulating policy for the management of ethnic relations, Thailand’s government treats the “Thai Muslims” as a special case owing to “strong and irreconcilable differences in religion, language, values, cultures and convention” (Kachadpai and Porntipa, 1988:56). To begin remedying these deficiencies, a random sample survey of women in three, rural villages in the southern province of Pattani was conducted in 1989, and the results are reported here. The survey collected information about the attitudes of rural women, both Malay-Muslim and Thai-Buddhist, toward their roles and measured the extent of women’s participation in village and political activities. A key concern of the analysis was uncovering statistically significant differences between Malay-Muslim and Thai-Buddhist women.