Women's Work and Family Size in Rural Thailand

The effect of childbearing and family size on women's work is examined for two rural areas in Thailand based on a combination of quantitative data collected in a survey and qualitative data yielded by focus group discussions. Virtually all women reported that they were engaged in economic activities during their child bearing and child rearing years. Thus a general conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that reproduction does not prevent rural Thai women from working. Given that women's work is perceived to be an economic necessity, rural Thai couples have developed a number of ways in which to cope with the potential conflict between child rearing and women's economic activities. Nevertheless, reproduction does have some impact on women's work by temporarily interrupting economic activity following the birth of a child and by young children interfering with work after economic activity is resumed. Given that these periods of interruption and inteference cumulate with each birth, it can also be said that family size has impact.