Social policy for older women in Thailand

Thailand is ageing at an unprecedented pace. The older population is feminised as Thai women have longer life expectancies than men. The Royal Thai government responds to this phenomenon with various policies and services while treating older persons as a homogenous social group. However, research shows that older women are more likely to be disadvantaged than men due to gender inequality and gendered ageism in the Thai patriarchal society. Therefore, this thesis explores the extent of the disadvantages of older Thai women and how women are figured in the ageing policies. The thesis investigates the status and position of older women compared to older men. It also examines the key determinants of women’s disadvantages and the government’s gender perspective on ageing-related policies. In doing so, this thesis employs a life course approach embedded in the political economy perspective. It applies a mixed methods approach to analyse quantitative and qualitative data to address gender inequality in older age and gender dimensions in ageing-related policies. The findings of this thesis reveal that older Thai women are disadvantaged over older men in several aspects of life, including educational attainment, employment and income, health condition, and domestic and caring responsibility. The findings further demonstrate that women’s statuses and circumstances differ between and within genders which are consequences of the social construction of institutions, policies, individuals’ experiences prior to older age and social structures, such as gender, class, age, and ethnicity, as well as norms and cultural beliefs, across women’s life course. These findings challenge the assumption that older women benefit from the notion of parent repayment. Moreover, it indicates that government ageing-related policies are gender-blind, which is likely to be problematic considering the feminisation of ageing and economic and social changes in Thai society. This thesis, therefore, concludes with practical implications for future policies on ageing in Thailand.