Even though these roles for women are still thought to be almost the same in modern Thailand, there are many social and family changes happening in this area. Changes are mostly in the form of Thai women now working while spending less time in child rearing and childcare roles. For example Ying’s mum Nancy works with her husband Bob as a jeweler in Bangkok. This increase of job status for a woman would not have occurred very often in the traditional and old fashioned Thai culture of the past.
Traditionally women were confined to the home with cooking, housework and childrearing roles. This confinement occurred in the era of Ying’s grandmother where she was always at home waiting with a cooked meal for her husband, and the only reason she did leave the house was to go food shopping or work at the markets selling her cooked goods.
Furthermore the roles of Ying’s Grandparents were limited to their low level of education, which is the equivalent of grade 12 in Australia.
In the early stages of their life the only free education available was through Buddhist schools, where only boys were educated, because girls were educated by their family instead and learned how to be cooks plus good house wives instead. Therefore no free education was in place, which limited Thai women’s roles and lives.
Today education in Thailand is now available to males and females in the form of many new schools to choose from where the level of education is far better then it has even been in the past. This is representative of larger patterns of values changing in Thailand.
Therefore education and a better future are available for those who are willing to study for it. This was not an option for people like Ying’s grandfather because little education was available at that time. E.G: Ying’s grandfather Peter had no proper education so he took a different road to financial success by joining the Navy. This is a common path that Thai’s take to earn respect in the community and make a good living. This career has many advantages in retirement like a government pension and free housing.
Over time the Chinese and Thai-Chinese people’s traditions in Thailand were altered directly by the Thailand government. “The Thai government severely restricted their access to Chinese culture, language and traditions” (Guskin, 1968, p.61). This became even more apparent within Thai schools when the Thai government “banned Chinese secondary schools, and severely restricted Chinese primary education” (Guskin, 1968, p.61).
This was done in order to change and control the identities and behavior of Chinese youth’s. In order for Chinese overtime to become more Thai and take on the national identity of a Thai person.
It is for this reason that Ying and her mother Nancy who are both half Chinese have no knowledge of Chinese language and customs and are considered Thai.
Therefore Chinese men living in Thailand settle down, marry Thai women, establish Thai homes, and see their children grow up as Thai (Landon, 1941, p.8).
MIGRATION & WESTERN INFLUENCES IN THAI LIFE
As time went by the number of schools and jobs in urban areas grew in Thailand and many Thai’s staying in rural area’s migrated to nearby cities for work, education and a more comfortable lifestyle where they can afford to help their family financially also.
This change is evident in my interview questions, which shows Ying’s uncle Bob, moved from rural Thailand to urban Bangkok in order to study and become a teacher. Bob now lives a reasonably comfortable middleclass lifestyle on campus with his family at a Bangkok school.
CUSTOMS AND MODERNISATION OF THAI CULTURE
Changes in customs overtime in Thailand are highly evident and discussed below.
“Customs are always undergoing changes, because they are easy to imitate; when people like others’ customs, they adopt them” (Slagter & Kerbo, 2000, pp.101).
For this reason western influences in Thailand have been high with many Televisions placed in shopping centers, businesses and near bus stops in Bangkok. These TV’s through advertising and television shows are one of the tools that indirectly influence traditional Thai customs by making residents of Thailand become more westernized and focused on western ideals of material wealth, success and power in life.
Therefore “Old local customs gradually disappear, and new customs move in to take their place; or the old customs are retained but altered to fit new living conditions” (Slagter & Kerbo, 2000, pp.101). Customs are therefore changed to suit the new generation of Thai youths where social changes are mainly influenced by other cultures and new future trends.
URBAN LIFE AND CULTURAL PLUS SOCIAL CHANGES.
Another growing trend in youth’s and urban life in Thailand is that “in the urban environment during a good part of the day many people function in an environment where each looks out for his own interests” (Sharp & Rapaport, 1966, pp.117).
This system can be seen as a social change in Thailand, this is because previously Thai people’s social values were very strict in the sense of putting other people first. But now people are more concerned with their own personal success rather than their success as a whole in their family or community. Therefore this concern with ones self is most likely a survival instinct due to high levels of competition in cities for jobs. This was similar to the way Ying’s father felt and acted when he first came to Thailand. This could be seen a change in Thai social values, particularly in these urban areas.
Furthermore “these factors contribute to a complex urban culture that seems to move away from all that was familiar and rooted in traditions” (Sharp & Rapaport, 1966, pp.117).
Similar changes are also apparent in kids living mainly in urban areas where they are influenced by western culture and ideals. This change also becomes a family change where families are letting their kids act, behave and dress differently, thereby cloaking their personal, cultural, and national identity.
“Initiative is coming in among children themselves and they are now allowed to question what to wear, think, etc, especially true among teenagers” ”(Sharp & Rapaport, 1966, pp.42). This is similar to Ying who enjoys western style culture and dress.
WOMENS RIGHTS
Over the past decades women have been partly controlled by lack of education, due to their being no schools in the 1800s for women, only temple schools for boys. Also other influences have been the Thai social values that endorse women to be subservient to men, these traditional values see women’s roles in the form of child-rearing and child birth mainly.
Overtime “Women’s Lib has tentatively tested the Thai political and cultural waters seeking equal rights and an end to legal discrimination”. An anti discrimination “law was officially promulgated just a few days prior to the dissolution of Parliament in early October, 1976” (Klausner, 1981, pp.293).
Therefore Thai women are now actively seeking more control in their lives usually through work and education.
Which is similar to my Interviewee Ying because her goals are more work and study orientated with views to having a family later in life. I believe this is an example that future marriage trends are changing and many people especially women will be more concerned with a career and being financially stable first before getting married. Also in Ying’s case her whole family is very keen for her to study and improve her own life and have invested time and money into this goal. Furthermore her future success is also important to her families’ continuation and financial survival in the future.
What this all shows is that in today’s society “middle class women ‘face the dilemma of divided loyalties’ between their home keeping and income-earning roles” (O’Sullivan, 1952, pp.105). Where previous family values have instilled old-fashioned views and thoughts in women that having children is very important and the view that “a woman is not good if she is thinking of herself instead of about how to bring her children up” (Sharp & Rapaport, 1966, pp.29).
DATING
Dating didn’t even exist in its modern form in Thailand’s past. “There is no exact equivalent to the word ‘date’ in the Thai language, although of course romantic socializing among young people does exist” (O’Sullivan, 1952, p.43). “Traditionally, young men and women would meet at village festivals and at temple fairs” (O’Sullivan, 1952, p.43).
This type of dating was similar with Ying’s grandparents who met and spent time together at festivals and party’s where their friends and families were with them also.
Since then Ying’s parents have had things easier with only occasionally being escorted on a date by a brother or a sister. Traditionally couples never showed any physical affection in public (O’Sullivan, 1952, p.43) because they would risk punishment, fines and disgrace of their family.
A social change in this area can be seen with Ying’s sister Ann who has been dating boys and men in Thailand since she was sixteen. Previously this would have been seen, as a total disgrace to a Thai family and possibly the daughter would have been disowned.
“Nowadays, dating is common among young people in the cities” (O’Sullivan, 1952, p.43) therefore dating is a fairly new social change in the very traditional country of Thailand.
This is proven by my interview questions showing that Ying herself dates and is allowed to go out by herself yet still has a curfew. This is yet another change over time that shows escorts are not used very often when Thai girls go on dates in today’s society.
Also showing a small amount of affection in public is becoming more acceptable.
THE GROWTH OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
A big social change in Thailand is the rapid growth of the middle class, like Ying’s grandfather and father who worked their way up from humble beginnings through hard work and perseverance to become members of the middleclass society. Also like Ying’s uncle Bob there is an increasing number of people migrating to urban areas and working in well-paid jobs, which means, “the middle class is set to further grow as a permanent feature of social change” (O’Sullivan, 1952, pp.104).
EDUCATION, MARRIAGE AND AUTHORITY.
In regard to education Ying has more choice because she is better equipped for life then any of her immediate family. Ying continues to study for her future career.
Also Ying’s mate selection is purely her own choice, and her parent’s have little say in what she wants. Ying’s thoughts on marriage are that she may not get married but is interested in marrying at a later stage in life. Ying’s views on marriage go hand in hand with her desire to succeed in the work and education area.
This is evident in my interview questions where the viewer of these interview questions can see that she has a strong work ethic and has been working since the age of thirteen.
Ying’s sister, mother and grandmother are the opposite of Ying; they have worked little and are not very well educated. Therefore their options and lifestyle are severely restricted. In their case’s marriage was one of the best option’s and it has resulted in a life where they are cared for but are restricted from further personal success for most of their future life. Although this is normal and similar to Thai traditional life for women there are now major social changes happening in this area.
For example women, who are educated, don’t want to marry men who are not more educated then themselves.
Women are choosing jobs instead of married life, but many females like Ying would like to be married later.
Therefore “when women have the potential to establish a secure and independent place in the labor force they may be less likely to accept a subservient role in a marital relationship” (Guest & Tan, 1994, pp.32).
Also “Education is a strong predictor of celibacy for women” (Guest & Tan, 1994, pp.44). In the case of Ying and many other Thai females this is entirely true.
Therefore in Ying’s case she is part of a new era of independent Thai females in her family as well as in society that are success orientated and wish for a more secure and comfortable life.
RELIGION
Ying’s entire family are Buddhists but her parents and grandparents are more traditional than Ying who is influenced by the west and hasn’t had opportunities to learn Buddhism practices properly due to social changes within her family. Therefore this change within her family has resulted in her traditional religion being partly lost. But Ying and her sister still go to Buddhist temples occasionally and participate in socializing and activities that are held at the temples also.
CONCLUSION
Through conducting interview questions with my interviewee Ying and citing facts from books I have come to the conclusion that their has been many social changes within Thailand including changes within Thai families. These changes are representative of larger patterns of change in values overtime.
Therefore changes in Thailand have occurred on many levels including the ones discussed within this essay, and changes in these areas will continue to occur in the future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Coughlin Richard, 1960, Double identity, The Chinese in Modern Thailand, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, China.
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Guest Philip & Tan Jooean, 1994, Transformation of marriage patterns on Thailand, Institute of Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, Putthamonthon, Thailand.
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Guskin Alan, 1937, Changing identity, the assimilation of Chinese in Thailand, University Microfilms, Inc, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.
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Klausner William, 1981, Reflections on Thai culture, The Siam Society, Under Royal Patronage, Bangkok, Thailand.
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Landon Kenneth, The Chinese in Thailand, Anthenum Publishers Inc, U.S.A.
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O’Sullivan Kerry, 1952, Thailand a handbook in intercultural communication, National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University, Sydney, N.S.W, Australia.
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Robert Slagter & Harold Kerbo, 2000, Modern Thailand, McGraw-Hill Companies, U.S.A.
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Sharp Lauriston & Rapaport Susan, 1966, Stability and change in Thai culture, Department of Anthropology and Southeast Asia Program, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A.
