The social and economic changes in Thailand in the past decades have important implications for the quality and quantity of labor. The economic and non-economic roles of women in Thailand can be traced back several hundred years in Thai history, when there were traditional discriminatory attitudes towards women in the culture of Thailand. The transformation of Thailand's social and economic structure since the 1960s led to the gender disparities in Thai society. Recently, the position of Thai women in the labor market has improved a lot in comparison to the past as a result of modernization. In 2011, Thailand ranked 69th out of 143 countries in the Gender Inequality Index. In labor economics, gender inequality is widely discussed in terms of concepts of sex segregation and employment discrimination. Thai government and non-governmental organizations have put forth many policies and programs to address gender inequalities in the last few decades.
Gender Inequality Index of Thailand
Thailand was 69th in global rank of the UNDP's Gender Inequality Index (GII) in 2011 out of 146 countries, with the GII value of 0.382 (where the GII values range from 0 to 1, with 1 representing perfect inequality). The GII has three components that reflect three dimensions of gender inequality: reproductive health, empowerment, and economic activity.
Reproductive health
Reproductive health is measured by maternal mortality rate and adolescent fertility rate. In 2011, the mortality ratio in Thailand was 48, which implies that for every 100,000 live births, 48 women die from pregnancy-related causes. The adolescent fertility rate was 43.3 birth per 1,000 live births to women ages 15–19 in the same year.
Empowerment
The share of parliament seats held by women and men and the attainment of secondary and higher education by each gender have been used as measures of empowerment of women, according to the GII. As of 2011, women held 14% of parliament seats, which represents an improvement over the 9.2% held in 2001. In 2011, Yingluck Shinawatra was selected as the first female Prime Minister of Thailand.
In regards to education level, Thai women aged 25 and older who attained at least secondary school educations accounted for 25.6% of the Thai population, compared to 33.7% for men.
Thailand has always offered military roles to Thai women, some 54.55% of women represent the National Human Right Commission and 10% of the National Reconciliation Commission. Thai women have been empowered to serve in the military, assigned roles as negotiators, mediators, and facilitators, as well as involvement in security operations. However, they still remain excluded from playing active roles in armed conflict.
Economic activity
Economic activity in the GII is measured by labor force participation rate, which is the proportion of the country's working-age population that engages in the labor market. In 2011, the labor force participation rate of Thai women was 65.5% compare to 80.7% of their male counterparts.
Women labor force participation in Thailand
Historically, women in Thailand have been active in a variety of economic activities. During the era of Ayutthaya Kingdom (1350-1767), under the sakdina system, every freeman had to be registered as a servant with the local lords, under whom the prime-age men were forced to be away from home to work for the crown or to serve military services. Women were left behind to take care of their families and farms and it became traditional for women to take responsibility for housework and economic activities while men are in charge of economic and political activities. Women and men, together, have continued to have high economic participation since then, which is reflected in the high female labor force participation rate of Thailand, which is one of the highest in the world in the last decade. In 2010, the female labor force participation rate of Thai women over the age of 15 years was reported to be at approximately 64% and in 1990 was reported to be as high as 76% . In 2011, women's labor force participation rate of Thailand was 65.5% while men's labor force participation rate was 80.7%.