The gender statistics
Survey |
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Social Statitsics
Division, National Statistical Office
Larn Laung
Road, Bangkok 10100
Tel (66)(2) 282 5861 Fax (66)(2)
252 5861
Director : [email protected]
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Key Figures
Why Gender Concerns?
Although women's contribution in national socio-economic
development is crucial for Thai society, women remain unequal
partners and gain unequal benefit from the development
process. This is so mainly because there is inadequate gender
awareness in the policy and planning process for national
development as women's roles are always stereotyped by social
values. Thus Thai women who account for half of the country's
human resources are unavoidably devalued and overlooked.
Why gender statistics?
Gender statistics can provide the right perception of
women's and men's roles in reality. They help understand the
actual situation of women and men in society, and help
demolish stereotypes. Gender statistics can also show
inequalities to persuade policy makers to change policies,
give a basis for formulation of policies effective for both
women and men. Moreover, gender statistics can be used as a
tool to monitor and evaluate policies and measures.
1. Population
Thailand ranks 18th in the world population 1998 and 4th
in South East Asia. Between 1970 and 2000, women have slightly
outnumbered the men in the total population. In 1999, women
accounted for 50.2 percent of the total population and there
were 99.5 men per 100 women in the country.
Table 1 : Population size by sex,
1970,1980,1990,1999 and 2000
The Balance of Women and Men
In 1999, women is slightly outnumbered than men. The
number of men at age-group 0-49 year are higher than women,
especially in the non-municiple area. However the men at the
age over 50 is less than the women.
Table 2 : Sex ratio by area,1999
Age-Sex Structure
The age structure of the population indicates the needs
for healthcare facilities, education and other services. It
also regulates entries into and withdrawals from the
workforce. Social relationships within a community are
considerably affected by the relative numbers at each age. The
population pyramids showing age-sex distribution in 1999.
Population of working age (15-59 years) in the municipal area
is more than in the non-municipal area, but young age (0-14
years) and elderly (60 and over) are higher.
Figure 1 : Age sex distribution in 1999
Figure 2 : Population by age group and
sex,1980,1990,1999 and 2010
between 1980 and 2010, the proportional share in total
population of children below 15 years decreased while that of
elderly persons 60 years and over increased. The percentage
share of men in the young age group is slightly higher than
the corresponding share for women. On the contrary, the
proportion of men in the older age group is lower than that of
women. With an increase in the share of persons in the working
age-group 15-59 years, the dependency ratios for both women
and men have decreased over the years. The dependency
ratio is defined as the number of persons in a population who
are not economically active per 100 economically active
persons in that population. It is usual to use as a rough
guide the ratio of the population aged 0-14 years and 60 years
and over to the population in the age group 15-59 years.
Natural Growth
The decline in fertility, in combination with the better
health of the population, has resulted in a reduction of the
natural growth rate by half within 30 years.
Table 3: Crude Birth Rate, Crude Death Rate, Rate
of Natural Growth and Total Fertility Rate, 1964-1996
Figure 3: Crude Birth Rate and Crude Death Rate,
1964 -1996
Fertility
Fertility has now approached replacement level (TFR=2),
that is, an average of 2 children born per woman who have
completed their reproductive cycle. This means that there has
been a considerable reduction in the burden of child-bearing.
Figure 4: Total Fertility Rate, 1964-1996
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the total number of
livebirths per woman surviving the childbearing ages, and is
calculated from the age specific fertility rates of current
period.
Internal Migration
The internal migration in 1997 is approximately 5.2, the
proportional of women is about 10 percent less than men. It
can be seen that the rural to urban migration of women is
higher than men. As the job opportunity for women to work in
the factory or other services is more than men in urban.
Table 4 : Distribution of the population by sex,
migration status and type, 1997
Marital Status of Migrants
The migrants in 1994 an 1997 was almost equally. The
proportion of the migrants who were either single or currently
married was conciderably lower for women than for men, but
ever-married is higher.
Table 5 : Migrants aged 15 years and over by sex
and marital status, 1994 and 4997
Education of Migrants
Table 6 : Percentage distribution of migrants aged
5 years and over by sex and educational attainment,1994 and
1997
Table 7 : Percentage distribution of migrants by
sex and reasons for migration, 1994 and 1997
Figure 5 : Percentage distribution of migrants aged
13 years
and over in various types of economic activitices, 1997
Table 8 : Distribution of migrants aged 13 years
and over by sex and type of economic activities,1994 and 1997
Population of Elderly
Between 1993 and 1997, the population of elderly were
higher for women than for men. Elder index have increased
between 1993 and 1997.
Table 9 : Sex ratio of population aged 60 years and
over,1993-1997
Table 10 : Number of elderly in the home 60years
and over, 1994-1998
Disabled Population
Men have outnumbered the women in the total disabled
population. The sex ratio of disabled persons in 1991 and 1996
was 158.2 and 139.6 respectively. It can be seen that men are
more disability from accident,but women are at their birth.
Table 11: Disabled population by age group and sex,
1994 and 1996
Table 12 : Percentage distribution of disabled
population by cause of disability and sex, 1996
Table 13 : Disabled population by government
assistance needed and sex , 1996
Table 14: Disabled population need government
assistance by kind of governmental assistance need and sex ,
1996
2. Household and Family
The household is the smallest group of persons living
together, taking collective decisions and making common
provision for food and other essentials. The composition of a
household including factors such as its size, age, sex,
marital status and education of its members, are crucial in
determining the roles and status of women and men within it.
Household Size
During the past three decades, household size has
gradually decreased mainly because of the decline in
fertility. This implies that, to some extent, the burden of
taking care of a large number of household members has been
reduced for women.
Table 15 : Average household size, 1965-2000
Household Structure
Nuclear family households constitute the bulk of the
households in Thailand. Women in such households are usually
deprived of the traditional source of child care and other
support available in the extended family system.
| Household Structure :
- Unrelated individuals: A single person household
or a person residing with non-related person.
- Nuclear family: Husband and /or wife with /without
unmarried children /unmarried relatives.
- Extended family: Husband and /or wife with married
and /or unmarried children.
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Figure 6: Household structure by sex of household
head, 1970,1980,1990
Table 16: Percentage distribution of households by
type and sex of household head, 1996
Marriage Patterns
Marriage patterns differ for women and men. Women tend to
get married at an earlier age than men, and are more likely to
be widowed. Compared to men, there was nearly proportion
married and a smaller proportion single among women in 1990
and 1995. However, the percentage of married women, as well as
married men tend to increase slightly with a decrease in the
proportion of the single persons.
Table 17: Singulate mean age at first marriage,
1970, 1980 and 1990
Figure 7: Marital status of the population aged 13
years and over, 1990 and 1995
Figure 8 : Percentage distribution of the
population aged 13-29 years by marital status and sex, 1990
and 1995
Figure 9 : Percentage distribution of the
population aged 30-59 years by marital status and sex, 1990and
1995
More women than men under age 30 were married, but at aged
30 and above, a higher percentage of men than women remained
married.
Figure 10: Percentage of currently married women
and men by age groups, 1990 and 1995
Household Head
Women are not usually enumerated as heads of households
unless they are either living alone or there are no adult men
in the households. Only about 24 percent of the households in
Thailand are headed by women, and over half of the women
household heads are widowed.
Figure 11 : Percentage distributions of household
head by marital status and sex, 1994 and 1996
Table 18 : Percentage distribution of households by
age and sex of household head, 1980, 1990 and 1995
3. Health
The improvement in the quality of health service delivery
in combination with the achievement and maintenance of a
better quality of life among the Thai population has resulted
in a remarkable reduction in mortality and in an increase in
life expectancy at birth.
Average life expectancy and infant mortality Women
live longer than men. However, the gaps between the average
expectancy of life for women and men has been widening.
| Average life expectancy is the average number of
years new born children may be expected to live if
subject to mortality risks prevailing for the
cross-section of population at the time of their birth.
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Table 19 : Life expectancy at birth (in year)
1985,1989,1991 and 1995
Table 20 : Infant Mortality Rate and Child
Mortality Rate, 1964-1965, 1974-1975, 1985-1986 and
1996-1997
Figure 12 : Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), 1964-1965,
1974-1975
The death rate among female infants is lower than the rate
for male infants. Since 1975, the gap between the two rates
has been narrowing.
Reproductive Health Reproductive health has a
pervasive effect on women's lives. It also influences their
life styles, life changes and personal alternatives. In
Thailand, maternal and child care has been remarkably
improved. However, along with late marriage, women are also
having children at a later age. As a result, older women
bearing children, especially the first child, face increasing
risk of complications during pregnancy and delivery
| Maternal deaths are deaths among women as a result
of complications of pregnancy, childbirth and
puerperium. |
Table 21: Maternal death rate, 1980-1997
Complications of labor and delivery are the main causes of
maternal death in Thailand.
Table 22: Distribution of maternal deaths by major
causes,1996-1997
Family PlanningThe proportion of currently married
women in the reproductive age using contraception is reported
to have increased between 1994 and 1997. Women constitute the
bulk of the new family planning acceptors; only 7 percent of
these acceptors were men.
Table 23 : Percentage of new family planning
acceptors by method, 1994 -1997
Figure 13: Percentage of new sterilization
acceptors by sex, 1994 - 1997
Malnutrition Time series data indicate that the
incidence of malnutrition among infants and pre-school
children has decreased considerably between 1991 and 1997.
This decline could largely be attributed to improvements in
health and education of the mothers.
Table 24 : Percentage of infant and pre-school
children suffering from various degrees of malnutrition,
1991-1997
Table 25 : Prevalence of malnutrition among
children, 1993 - 1997
Sex Differentials in General HealthSome diseases
are related to the sex, while others are probably related to
differing exposure to risk factors for women and men. In
Thailand, the first two leading causes of death between 1995
and 1997 were heart disease, accidents and poisonings. Men are
more exposed to the risk of death from these principal causes
than women.
Table 26 : Death by principal cause group, 1996 -
1997
Table 27: Population reported admission to hospital
by group of diseased and sex,1995
AIDS SituationIn recent years, AIDS has
become a growing public health concern in the country with
several hundred thousands feared to be infected with the HIV
virus. However, between September 1984 and May 1999, only
114,837 cases have been officially recorded, of which women
patients amounted to 20.7 percent. A very high proportion of
men and women infected with HIV virus are in the active
reproductive ages. Of great concern is the possibility of
infected mothers transferring the disease to their babies.
Figure 14 : AIDS patients by age group and sex,
September 1984-May 1999
Table 28 : Distribution of AIDS patients by risk
factor and sex, 1994-1998.
4. Education and Training
For the country as a whole, women appear to have a lower
level of education than men. The illiteracy rate among women
is higher than the rate of men. The proportion of persons with
no education is also higher among women than among men. The
educational situation of women has improved substantially
during the past two decades, at a rate faster than for men.
However, the gap between women and men still remains wide.
| Literacy: A person is deemed as literate
if she or he can read and write with understanding in
any language. A person who can merely read but cannot
write is not considered as literate.
|
Table 29: Illiteracy rate by area and sex, 1970,
1980 and 1990
Figure 15: Illiteracy rate by age group and sex,
1980 and 1990
Table 30: Percentage distribution of women and men
aged 6 years and over by grade of school completed , 1970,
1980 and 1990
Available data for the population as a whole shows that
women appear to have less access to education than men. This
is because the figures include the old generation women who
generally had limited access to education. But recent
statistics and indicators on education, such as number of
students in various levels, opportunity rates, indicate that
the present generation generally has equal access to
education. However, gender inequality still remains in terms
of major fields of studies. Women tend to enroll in courses
such as liberal arts and home economic which conform to their
socially defined roles.
| Opportunity rate at educational level A =
no. of student at level A X 100 0 no. of population who
are in the eligible age for level A
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Table 31 :Percentage distribution of students in
the formal school system by Educational level and sex Academic
year 1996 and 1998
Table 32 : Opportunity rate of students by
education level and sex , Academic year 1996 1998
Figure 16: Percentage distribution of students in
the formal vocational education under the Ministry of
Education by type of course and sex , Academic year 1996 and
1997
Table 33: Participation in courses of private
vocational institutes by sex , 1996-1998
Figure17: Percentage distribution of students at
undergraduate level in public institutions by sex , 1997 and
1998
Table 34: Percentage distribution of students under
thedepartment of non-formal by educational activities ,
1997
Table 35: Percentage distribution of graduates
under the department of non-formal by educational activities,
1997
Table 36 : Percentage of children and youth 6-24
year of age not attending school by level of education
completed and sex,1992 and 1997
Table 37: Percentage of children and youth 13-19
year of age not attending school by reasons for not attending
school and sex ,1997
Table 38 : Percentage of children and youth 13-19
year of age not attending school by most of the time used
after leaving school and sex ,1997
5. Work and Employment
Work / Employment Unequal Access to Employment for Women
and Men Although the number of women and men of working age
(13 years and over) is almost equal, more women than men have
consistently been classified as "not being in the labor
force". Among these, a large proportion are housewives, whose
contributions were unrecorded or who were considered as
economically inactive.
| Persons in the labor force include all persons aged
13 years and over, who during the survey week were
employed, unemployed or were classified as seasonally
inactive. |
Figure 18 : Percentage distribution of persons "in
the labor force" and "not in the labor force" by sex, August
1998
Figure 19 : Percentage share among women and men of
persons "in the labor force" and "not in the labor force" by
labor force status categories, August 1998
The female labor force participation rate in Thailand is
relatively high compared to expounding rate in many other
countries.
Table 39 : Percentage distribution of persons in
the labor force by residence and sex , August 1991-1998
Figure 20 : Labor force participation rates ,
August 1986-1998
Figure 21 : Labor force participation rates by age
and sex, August 1998
Table 40 : Percentage distribution of women and men
by labor force status, August 1994 - 1998
Women have consistently had higher rates of unemployment
than men over time but between 1997 and 1998 unemployment
rates of women and men had almost equal.
Figure 22 : Unemployment rates by sex , August
1989-1998
Table 41 : Percentage distribution of unemployed
persons by duration of employment and sex, August
1996-1a998
Table 42 : Percentage distribution of unemployed
women and men by duration of uunemployment, August
1996-1998
Both government and private sectors appear to employ more
men than women.
Table 43 : Percentage distribution of employed
persons in government and private sectors by sex , August
1991-1998
Women's Working World Differs from that of Men in
Regard to Employed Status, Type of Work and Amount of Pay
Women's employment status is relatively lower than that of
men. Although some well-educated women have achieved
considerable occupational advancement, many women still remain
concentrated in traditional and relatively low status work
Table 44 : Percentage distribution of employed
persons by employment status , August 1996-1998
Today, nearly half of the women in the labor force work as
unpaid family workers.
Table 45 : Percentage distribution of employed
women and men by employment status , August 1996-1998
ore women than men worked in sales, services, and
professional occupations,whereas far more men than women were
concentrated in transport, administrative and craft work.
Figure 23 : Percentage distribution of employed
persons by occupation , August 1996-1998
About half of the women and men in the labor force work as
farmers.
Table 46 : Percentage distribution of employed
women and men by major occupational group , August
1996-1998
Table 47: Percentage distribution of employed
persons by industry , August 1996-1998
Table 48 : Percentage distribution of employed
persons by employment status, sex and occupation , August
1998
Table 49 : Percentage share among employed women
and employed men by employment status, sex and occupation ,
August 1998
Working in Private Section In 1998 the
establishment, women's employment status was lower than men.
More men than women worked in Director, Department Manager and
Supervisor, whereas far more women than men were concentrated
in Officer.
The average monthly pays per capita by level of working
status were found that men were recieved more than women.
Table 50 : Percentage of worker in private section
by size of establishment, level of position and sex, 1998
Table 51 : Average monthly income of worker by size
of establishment, level of position and sex, 1998
6. Economic Status
Nowadays women participate in economic activity more than
in the past. Although the remarkable growth of the Thai
economy during the past decade has provided women with
increased income-earning opportunities,a high proportion of
women in the workforce continue to be classified as unpaid
family workers on farms or other family business enterprises.
Table 52 : Distribution of unpaid family workers by
industry and sex, August 1998
In 1998, the majority of employed persons earned less than
128 baht per day which was lower than the official minimum
wage during that time. This proportion was higher among women
(61.7 %) than men (55.2 %).
Table 53 : Employed persons by income and sex,
August 1998
Figure 24 : Percentage distribution of employed
persons by income and sex for selected occupation, August 1998
Table 54 : Percentage distribution of employed
women and men by income group and occupation, August 1998
Household Income
Households headed by women are generally poorer than those
headed by men, but it is contrary in 1996. The reason for this
may be, the households headed by women gained income from
current transfer (pension, scholarship and others, etc.)
Table 55 : Average monthly income of household by
source of income and sex of household head, 1996
Table 56 : Average monthly income of household by
socio-economic class, residence and sex of household head,
1996
Household Expenditures
The expenditures of households headed by women are less
than those headed by men. The expenditure for food and
beverage is highest. The households headed by men spend almost
twice for cigarette and alcoholic drink than those headed by
women. The other expenditures are not so different.
Table 57 : Average monthly expenditures of
houselolds by type of expenditure, residence and sex of
household head,1996
7. Dicision Making
Decision-Making
Political Power
Women's access to political power has been severely
limited, with women constituting less than 6 percent of the
total number of members of parliament. This is so partly
because of the low participation of women in politics, and
partly because of the unequal opportunities for women and men.
Many factors influence the chance of winning in a national
election; qualifications of the candidate; political party
affiliation; resources available and number of candidates
competing. Sex of the candidate may not be an important
factor. Statistics shows that being a woman does not limit the
chance of being successful in a national elections. However,
other than national elections, women appear to have less
opportunities than men in sharing power in politics. Thai
women were given the right to vote or to stand for election in
1932, but women were first elected to parliament only in 1949.
Table 58 : Number and percentage distribution of
members of parliament by sex, 1986 - 1996
The number of women candidates at national elections has
increased over the years.
Table 59 : Number and percentage distribution of
candidates for parliamentary election by sex, 1986 - 1996
Table 60 : Women and men candidates elected as a
percentage of number of candidates contesting national
elections, 1986 - 1996
In1996, more women than men voted at the national
elections. The proportions of actual voters to eligible voters
for women were also higher than men.
Table 61 : Percentage distribution of voters in the
national election, 1996
Table 62 : Actual voters as percentage of eligible
voters, 1996
Very few women were appointed by the government to be
senators, whose role is to assist the elected members of
parliament on legislative matters.
Table 63 : Number and percentage distribution of
senators by sex, 1988 - 1996
Participation in Administration
Women have limited opportunities for promotion to higher
level positions. Women officers are mostly concentrated in the
lower levels, whereas a very high proportion of positions at
the higher management and executive levels are occupied by
men.
Table 64 : Number and percentage distribution of
government officials in the diplomatic service by sex, 1997
and 1998
Women's participation in the decision-making process at
local level through either appointed (Provincial
Administrators) or elected positions (Local Administrators) is
lower than men. It was only in 1995 that women were appointed
as Provincial Governor and Assistant District Chief Officer
for the first time.
Table 65 : Number and percentage distribution of
provincial administrators, 1999
Table 66 : Number and percentage distribution of
local administrators, 1999
8. Crime and Violence
Crime and violence have to call for a special attention.
Violence taking place at home or at work is rarely reported,
while other reported cases of violence are under-reported.
Table 67 : Number of inmates by sex , 1993
-1998
Between 1991 and 1997, men who commit suicide are more
than women.
Table 68 : Reported cases of suicides, 1991 -
1997
Table 69 : Reported cases of suicides by sex and
marital status,1993 - 1997
Table 70 : Number of prostitutes by place of
services,1989 - 1998
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