Parental Views on Gender and Schooling: Qualitative Evidence from Rural Thailand

This study provides an analysis of qualitative data on the attitudes and opinions of rural parents about educating sons and daughters past the primary level. The focus is on issues related to the sex of their children. The data come from a series of focus group discussions held in 1991 and 1992 in rural districts of Thailand, one in the Central Region (Sankhaburi, Chai Nat) and the other in the Northeast (Sawang Dan Din, Sakhon Nakhon). The qualitative nature of the data permit an in-depth examination of the concerns underlying the results of the nationally representative 1988 Social Attitudes Towards Children Survey, which indicated that most parents believe either that their sons and daughters should receive the same education or that level of education should depend on a child's ability rather than gender. The views of the focus group participants are quite consistent with the survey, although a substantial minority expressed views favoring educating one sex (generally boys) more than the other.