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Women and the Family in Thailand in the Midst of Social Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Juree Vichit-Vadakan
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Abstract

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The author argues that in Thai society, woman- and family-related issues fall outside the direct domain of law. The family as a subsistence unit has been challenged by opportunities for wage labor in cities and towns. These opportunities, which have dispersed the family unit and eroded the authority of parents, have been particularly advantageous for women, who are seen as good workers, obedient and undemanding. Yet the power of the family as a psychological unit in Thailand has not altered. Likewise, although women have made gains in the market and the workplace, the possibility of achieving greater parity with men is hindered by the continued psychological force of the traditional “beauty culture,” their historical place as appendages to men, the cultural devaluation of manual work, and the religious definition of women as polluting. While the law is not irrelevant to these issues, they are neither determined by law nor are they likely to be altered by legal change.

Type
II. Women, Family, & Law
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 28 , Issue 3: Special Issue: Law & Society in Southeast Asia , 1994 , pp. 515 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 by The Law and Society Association.

References

1 Kinship and family in Thai society have been studied over 40 years. Because of the flexibility with which Thai treat kinship and residence patterns, Western scholars have been confused by the lack of a clear pattern of family structure and kinship relationships. In addition, stretching the concept of loose structure and using it too broadly has led to certain misunderstandings of Thai social realities. Sulamith Heins Potter's Family Life in a Northern Thai Village (1977) is a major empirical study that set straight the issue at hand. Subsequently Thai scholars, such as Amara Pongsapich have come to accept Potter's analysis of the female-centered family and kinship system. The Thai family in these latter studies is viewed as a unit that cycles repeatedly from small (nuclear) to large (extended) back to small.

2 It is commonly alleged that although a public official may appear honest and forthright, his wife may open the “back door” at home to receive bribes.

3 The wife of a public official is often allowed to carry on a number of activities, many of which may be economically remunerative. Whether her activities are independent of her husband's influence and interference is a matter of great doubt. She benefits from his position, making observers wonder if there might be a breach of ethics or propriety. Increasingly, therefore, women tend not to be viewed as self-interested operators who act independently of their husbands. The husbands must have tacitly approved of, if not quite assisted in, their wives' activities. Perhaps some husbands might even orchestrate their spouses' activities to better family finances. In other words, it is unfair to put the blame for profiteering and exploitation of power and status for monetary gains on women alone.