"Elephants" standing on their "Hind Legs" : Women in the changing southern Thai village context

Jawanit Kittitornkool, F. of Environmental Management, PSU.
E-mail : kjawanit@ratree.psu.ac.th

Presented : The 1st National Conference on Sociology, 14-15 December 2000, Bangkok
Key words : household, gender relations, southern Thai women, changes

This paper is derived from a PhD thesis at the University of Bath, UK. It investigates the impacts of environmental, social and economic changes, as a consequence of the development process, on women in different social groups; and the ways in which women have responded to the changes in a village in Southern Thailand. The implementation of development policy at the national level, including the promotion of high-yielding rubber, the educational system, and financial loans have differentially affected households in accordance with their prevailing resources. The maintenance and accumulation of household resources have been dependent upon the levels of their investments in human resources and modernised means of production, as well as market demand and close connections with city. Social differentiation in the village has been reinforced by the interplay of the state and the market. In spite of changes in household resource profiles, women's long-standing involvement in household production and reproduction work, as well as the traditional pattern of the wife's management of family money, has not been significantly transformed. The gender ideologies and women's social identities as a mother have been reproduced through social mechanisms and in the development process. The women's work has significantly contributed to the daily lives of their families and communities. Indeed, it is the "hind legs" of the "elephant" that the livelihoods and well-being of rural families and the community have been relied upon.

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