Thailand Case
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Thailand Research Paper – Current Issues (300 Level Course)
Thailand Research Paper – Current Issues (300 Level Course)
Kingdom of Thailand
Ruler: King Bhumibol Adulyadej
Prime Minister: Thaksin Shinawatra
Capital and Largest City: Bangkok
Monetary Unit: baht
Government: Constitutional Monarchy
Geography
Area: 198, 455 square miles
Boundaries: Burma 1,800 km, Cambodia 803 km, Laos 1,754 km, Malay 506 km
Climate: tropical, rainy, warm, cloudy, monsoons
Terrain: central plains, Khorat Plateau in the east, mountains
Demographics
Population: 65, 444,371
Ethnicity/Race: Thai 75 %, Chinese 14 %, other 11%
Languages: Thai (Siamese), English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects
Religions: Buddhist 95%, Islam 3.8%, Christian 0.5%, Hindu 0.1%, other 0.6%
Education
Thailand has a very high literacy rate of 96% for men and women. The ratio of male to female enrollment in primary school between the years 1998-2000 is 100 to 96; and the male to female ratio for enrollment into secondary school is 85 to 81. Thailand has 26 privately operated universities and colleges. There are presently 42 universities and 36 teacher colleges. These universities offer a wide variety of courses at the Bachelors degree level in fields such as Arts, Business Administration, Education, medicine and many more (“2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake”). Thailands population is literate and educated as seen in the table below:
Attendance of Males
Females
Adult literacy
Secondary School
Primary School
Communication
Thailand has 5.6 million telephones, 3.1 million cellular phones, 13.96 million radios, 15.19 million televisions, 1.2 internet users. There are 5 broadcast stations in Bangkok and 131 repeaters; as well as 204 A.M., 334 F.M., and 6 shortwave radio stations.
Economics
Thailand has industry in tourism, textiles, garments, agricultural processing, beverages, tobacco, cement, light manufacturing, furniture, plastics, producer of tungsten and tin. Natural resources available within the region include: tin, rubber, natural gas, tungsten, tantalum, timber, lead, fish, gypsum, lignite, fluorite, arable and land. Agricultural crops in Thailand consist of rice, corn, rubber, cassava, sugarcane, coconuts, and soybean. The Labor force represents 36.43 million in revenue from the following areas: agriculture 54%, industry 15%, service 31% (“2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake”); see graph below:
Thailands GDP (gross domestic product) and PPP (power product parity) total $524.8 billion; $8,100 per capita. The unemployment rate is 1.5% and the mean income per household is $160,000 baht.
Role of Women
Women in Thailand are recognized toward contributions made in Thai society. Their roles have changed from a once perceived equal role in early history during the Sukhothai period to being discriminated against during the Ayudhya period. In early Thai history women were reveled as having high esteem and being treated well. Women were though to be business savvy and dominated their husband over financial matters in the home. With outside influences this equilibrium in gender roles faded to a period of much discrimination known as Ayudhya. The Ayudhya period of the fourteenth century was characterized by husbands practicing polygamy and wives being divided into different classes. A saying of this period was “Women are buffaloes. Men are humans.” The extreme legal oppression of women continued until the nineteenth century into the current Ratanakosin period.
In 1985 the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination was held and as a result social changes for women were made in work, education, and legal matters; although this is not widely accepted by Thai men. Discrimination in higher education was reported in smaller colleges. Philosophy of using quota systems to attempt to control the number of women enrolled in science programs still exist. In the workplace women were able to receive equal pay, but are still unable to perform duties considered dangerous or strenuous labor. Thai women also experience difficulties with divorce laws. Divorces are more difficult for women to obtain, the responsibility of child support falls on the women, and nationality laws affect the identity of children born out of wedlock. Despite these setbacks women are making strides in the political arena, receiving better education and involvement in diverse career settings.
Women represent 45.4% of the labor force in Thailand (“2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake”)
Total Fertility Rate
The current less than 5% infant mortality rate was 148 in the 1960s and has dropped a great deal to 26 since 2003. Nine percent of infants were born with low weight from the years of 1998-2003.