Paññāsāstra University of
Cambodia
Group 6:
1. Por Sereysothea 4. Chheang Horsim
2. Chhet Sophearom 5. Pheng Chandara
3. Pho Pros

Outline
 Historical background
o Thailand
 Gender roles and equalities
o Social Institutions
o Family Code
o Physical Integrity
o Civil Liberties
o Ownership Rights
o Politics
o Thai women in education
o Women & the Economy
 Summary

Objective
 Be able to explain the situation of women in Thailand
 Be able to spread gender roles and equalities in Thailand
to others
 Strengthening your knowledge in Gender studies
 Being one of your references for further study

Historical Background
 Thailand
‐ 1939- change from Siam to “The Kingdom of
Thailand”.
‐ The population 68,14 millions
‐ Life expectancy: male: 69 years , female: 75
years (WHO update check latest 2010)
‐ Literacy: male: 94,9% , female: 90,5% (2002
estimate)
‐ Religions: Buddhism 94,6% , Islam 4,6% ,
Christianity 0,7% , Hinduism 0,1% , other 0,1%
‐ Ethnic group: Thai 75% , Thai Chinese 14% ,
other 11%

Gender roles and equalities
 Social Institutions
‐ In 1997- constitution provides women with equal rights as
men
‐ However, gender equality still have:
• Women make up little over 40% of the labor force
• Women are concentrated in low-paying jobs

Gender roles and equalities(cont1)
 Family Code
‐ Man & woman marriage age: 17 years old (UN 2004)
‐ Early marriage:
• 15% of girls between 15 and 19 years of age
• Effect: married, divorced or widowed
‐ Polygamy: offender is fined or imprisoned for up to six months
of polygamy
‐ Parental Authority: Both sexed equal right in the family law

Gender roles and equalities(cont2)
‐ Inheritance:
• No distinction men and women in the of inheritance
• However, in heritance is determined by follower (1)
descendants; (2) parents; (3) siblings who share the same
father and mother; (4) siblings who share one parent; (5)
paternal and maternal grandparents; and (6) aunts and
uncles and if is often the youngest daughter who live with
the old parents

Gender roles and equalities (cont3)
 Physical Integrity
‐ Penalties of violence one women is depended on age,
degree of assault, physical and mental condition of the
victim
‐ In November 2005, the WHO showed:
• 41 % of women in Bangkok and 47 % of women in rural
areas had experienced physical or sexual abuse by an
intimate partner

Gender roles and equalities (cont4)
‐ Thai women and girls also run the risk of becoming
victims of trafficking and commercial sex
 Civil Liberties
‐ Women enjoy freedom of movement
‐ However, police and military academies do not accept
female students
‐ There are no legal restrictions of women’s freedom of
dress

Gender roles and equalities (cont5)
 Ownership Rights
‐ Women’s rights to obtain land on their own name is
negatively affected
‐ The acceptation is that they marry to foreign nationals
‐ Other than land, women and men have equal access to
property

Gender roles and equalities (cont6)
 Politics
‐ In 1993 both sexes have right to vote
‐ In 2006 voter: female 52.22% and male 47.78%
‐ In 2006, 1,027,666 more women than went to the poll
‐ July 3rd 2011, people voted for women ‘s Member of
Parliament were increase.
‐ Thailand got first women Prime Minister Ms. Yingluck
Shinawatra and 3 women Ministers in her Cabinet

Gender roles and equalities (cont7)
 EDUCATION
- 2006, an estimated 72 million children worldwide were
not in school.
- In Thailand, net primary enrolment is 94%, whilst gross
secondary and tertiary enrolment is at 84% and 38%
respectively.
- Subjective assessments of Thailand’s educational system
are similarly positive.

Gender roles and equalities (cont8)
- About 90% of the population are content with their local
school, and believe that children have the opportunity to
learn every day
- Statistics provided by the Ministry of Education show the
percentage of female and male students for 2006-2007
divided by the school level and show the same pattern as
above.

Gender roles and equalities (cont9)
Students in tertiary and higher education by subject (2007)
2007
Subject
Female Male Total
Engineering 40,286 143,792 184,078
Agriculture 23,547 27,850 51,397
Sciences 102,963 95,169 198,132
Education 63, 398 30,608 94,006
Services 47,679 17,241 64,920
Humanity and Arts 98,855 63,630 162,485
Social Sciences, Business
594,733 410,203 1,004,936
Administration and Law
Health and Social Welfare 62,146 26,930 89,076
Total 1,033,607 815,423 1,849,030
Table 1Students at 145 universities, figures as of October 3, 2008

Gender roles and equalities (cont10)
 ECONOMICS
Official labour statistics classify the employment status
according to five categories:
 Employer
 government employee
 private sector employee
 unpaid family worker
 self-employed worker

Gender roles and equalities (cont11)
The table below shows the growth of the workforce between 2006 and 2008.
Gender 2006 2007 2008
Female 16.1 16.3 16.6
Male 19.5 19.8 20
Table 2 Source: 2009 Labour forces indicator, Thai Ministry of Labour

Gender roles and equalities (cont12)
- In 2009, out of the 52.7 million people in the
workforce, 27.1 million or 51 percent were women, 49
percent (25.6 million) men. Moreover, 4.4 million
women are domestic workers and thus unaccounted
for in the statistics.
- There were an estimated 37.7 million trained workers,
7.2 million of them women, 20.5 million men.

Gender roles and equalities (cont13)
The figures indicate that the majority of women have lower paid jobs
and less education than men.
Education Level Female Male
No education 4% 2.2 %
Lower Primary
31.6 % 28.6 %
level
Primary level 21.1 % 23.4 %
Tertiary and
17.7 % 13.7 %
higher education
Table 3Source: National Statistics Office, ICT Ministry, 2009

Gender roles and equalities (cont14)
The next table lists the figures of employment in industry for the
2007 to 2009 period.
Percentage of Employment
Industry 2007 2008 2009
Female Male Female Male Female Male
Agriculture/Forestry
15.50 20.72 15.06 20.70 14.92 20.46
/Hunting/Fishery
Commerce 7.70 8.56 7.72 8.65 8.19 8.73
Other 2.40 10.05 2.52 10.06 2.57 10.16
Manufacturing 8.72 7.70 8.76 7.47 8.17 7.14
Services 10.82 7.83 11.25 7.81 11.46 8.16
Total 45.14 54.86 45.31 54.69 45.32 54.68

Gender roles and equalities (cont15)
‐ Women’s training issues:
• Training program based on
 Research into local labor markets
 Small business opportunities
• Training programs lack follow-up
 In proved access to capital
 Support in building management skills
 Marketing techniques

Gender roles and equalities(cont16)
‐ Women in small business
• In the informal service sector, domestic workers are
estimated to number over two million in the greater
Bangkok area
• Small business based on informal economic activity,
producing, silk, textiles, garments, artificial flower,
wood carvings, umbrellas, and basketry, processing
sea food, and cutting gens

Gender roles and equalities(cont17)
‐ Female- headed households
• 1992, 16,8% of Thailand’s population lived in
households headed by women
• 1988, 33,4% of male-headed households were poor
compared to only 28,7% of female-headed households

Summary
 Understanding gender in one country has many benefits
for us, for we can compare them with our country so that it
can encourage our women to make more capacity and
gender equality as other countries.

References & Sources
 http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Thailand.html
 http://www.mendeley.com/research/changing-gender-relations-
thailand-historical-cultural-analysis/
 http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/rel_rel-religion-religions
 http://wikigender.org/index.php/Gender_Equality_in_Thailand
 http://www.transparent.com/thai/the-stereotypical-thai-gender-roles/
 http://www.thaiwebsites.com/healthcare(2).asp
 Gunda Werner Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved Februry 06, 2012, from
Gunda Werner Institute: http://www.gwi-boell.de
 URL: http://www.gwi-boell.de/web/democracy-thailand-women-
situation-report-3364.htm