On-Paper Parity, In-Practice Gaps: Assessing Labour Rights Realization among Men, Women, and LGBTQ+ Workers in Thailand, 2015–2025
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study examines whether Thailand’s equality-related legal reforms have been translated into meaningful labour-rights realization for men, women, and LGBTQ+ workers during 2015–2025. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the study integrates province–industry labour-force analysis, firm-level disclosure evidence, and qualitative interviews with 15 key informants. The findings are interpreted through a five-dimensional Rights Realization Index (RRI). The results reveal positive but uneven progress in workplace equality. Improvements are more evident in administratively mediated outcomes, particularly benefit access following the equal-marriage reform effective on 23 January 2025, than in deeper labour-market outcomes such as wages. Over the study period, the RRI increased from 0.47 to 0.63, indicating moderate but incomplete convergence between formal legal recognition and realized workplace equality. Integrated evidence identifies four recurrent mechanisms shaping practical implementation: administrative friction, symbolic compliance, inclusive policy design, and uneven enforcement capacity. The Thai case shows that legal reform is a necessary starting point, but its practical impact depends on institutional capacity to translate formal rights into routine workplace practice.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
ลิขสิทธิ์ของบทความ
ผลงานที่ได้รับการตีพิมพ์ถือเป็นลิขสิทธิ์ของมหาวิทยาลัยหอการค้าไทย ห้ามมิให้นำเนื้อหา ทัศนะ หรือข้อคิดเห็นใด ๆ ของผลงานไปทำซ้ำ ดัดแปลง หรือเผยแพร่ ไม่ว่าทั้งหมดหรือบางส่วนโดยไม่ได้รับอนุญาตเป็นลายลักษณ์อักษรจากมหาวิทยาลัยหอการค้าไทยก่อน
References
Anamwathana, P. (2024). Working conditions of women factory workers in industrializing Thailand, 1960–1990s. Labor History, 65(5), 713–728. https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2024.2304 305
Berry, S., Scott, J., Ball, M., et al. (2022). Deploying nationalist discourses to reduce sex-, gender- and HIV-related stigma in Thailand. BioSocieties, 17, 676–694. https://doi.org/10.1057/ s41292-021-00238-4
Chan, S. K.-L. (2018). Deprivation of citizenship, undocumented labor and human trafficking: Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand. Regions and Cohesion/Regiones y Cohesión/Régions et Cohésion, 8(2), 82–106. https://doi.org/10.3167/reco.2018.080205
Chevasutho, P., & Jiamjarasrangsri, W. (2022). Occupational health and safety of sex workers: A review article. Biomedical Sciences and Clinical Medicine, 61(3), 144–152. https://he01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/CMMJ-MedCMJ/article/view/257852
Chuemchit, M., Linn, N., Han, C. P. P., Lynn, Z., Chernkwanma, S., Taneepanichskul, N., Sirichokchatchawan, W., & Somrongthong, R. (2024). Discrimination and violence against women migrant workers in Thailand during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed-methods study. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300388
Civil and Commercial Code Amendment Act (No. 24), B.E. 2567. (2024, September 24). Royal Thai Government Gazette, 141(58 Gor), 1–21. [in Thai]
Davis, J. D., Miles, G. M., & Quinley, J. H., III. (2019). “Same same, but different”: A baseline study on the vulnerabilities of transgender sex workers in the sex industry in Bangkok, Thailand. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 39(7–8), 550–573. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-01-2019-0022
Doane, D. L. (2010). Approaching basic and economic security for informal workers through national and local initiatives: Case studies of home-based workers in South East Asia. Social protection as development policy : Asian perspectives, 190-218.
Gender Equality Act, B.E. 2558. (2015, March 13). Royal Thai Government Gazette, 132(18 Gor), 17. [in Thai]
Hasan, S. (2025). Thailand’s journey to LGBTQ+ equality in Asia: A systematic review of progress, challenges, and the dawn of marriage equality. Thammasat Review, 28(2), 17–71. https://sc01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/tureview/article/view/241102
Hlaing, K. H., Hoang Dang, T. N., & Tangchonlatip, K. (2025). LGBT Myanmar migrants in Thailand: Unveiling diverse forms of abuse, healthy and unhealthy coping strategies. Journal of Homosexuality, 72(10), 2004–2030. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2024.2411226
Htwe, T. M. (2025). The impact of Thailand’s revised migrant labor policies: Progressive reforms and migrant integration under the Pheu Thai administration. In Advanced labor studies research and modern practice (pp. 305–335). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-1962-9.ch010
Intaratat, K. (2016). Women homeworkers in Thailand’s digital economy. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 18(1), 87–103. https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol18/iss1/7
Janyam, S., Phuengsamran, D., Pangnongyang, J., Saripra, W., Jitwattanapataya, L., Songsamphan, C., Benjarattanaporn, P., & Gopinath, D. (2020). Protecting sex workers in Thailand during the COVID-19 pandemic: Opportunities to build back better. WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health, 9(2), 100–103. https://doi.org/10.4103/2224-3151.294301
Jarernpanit, T., Kasemsaowaphak, P., & Wongkiam, P. (2025). Enhancing legal gender recognition frameworks: A comparative analysis between Ireland and Thailand. Sexuality, Gender & Policy, 8(4), e70032. https://doi.org/10.1002/sgp2.70032
Kirdnark, T. (2025). Paid to live my own life: Trans women influencers, self-governance, and platformization of creative works in Thailand. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(6), 1103–1119. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779251336476
Kongtip, P., Nankongnab, N., Chaikittiporn, C., Laohaudomchok, W., Woskie, S., & Slatin, C. (2015). Informal workers in Thailand: Occupational health and social security disparities. New Solutions, 25(2), 189–211. https://doi.org/10.1177/1048291115586036
Laikram, S., & Pathak, S. (2022). Ratification of ICRMW toward the ILO Conventions amid COVID-19 in Thailand. Emerging Science Journal, 6, 193–211. https://doi.org/10.28991/esj-2022-SPER-014
Lee, J., Rogovin, K., & Musikawong, S. (2024). Discrimination during COVID-19: Assessing migrant workers’ vulnerability to forced labor in Thailand’s seafood industry. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 33(1), 118–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/01171968241247649
Meyer, S. R., Robinson, W. C., Branchini, C., Abshir, N., Mar, A. A., & Decker, M. R. (2019). Gender differences in violence and other human rights abuses among migrant workers on the Thailand–Myanmar border. Violence Against Women, 25(8), 945–967. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801218805587
Naradech, K. (2023). Factors of gender discrimination against transgender women in private organizations in Bangkok, Thailand. Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Studies, 23(3), 593–608. https://doi.org/10.14456/hasss.2023.50
Newman, P. A., Reid, L., Tepjan, S., & Akkakanjanasupar, P. (2021). LGBT+ inclusion and human rights in Thailand: A scoping review of the literature. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1816. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11798-2
Nopas, D. S., & Ueangchokchai, C. (2025). “You can be queer, but not a teacher”: Institutional violence and LGBTQ+ erasure in Thai education. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2025.2569542
Ocha, W. (2023). Buddhism, gender, and sexualities: Queer spiritualities in Thailand. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 42(5), 685–705. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-01-2020-0025
Ojanen, T. T., Burford, J., Juntrasook, A., Kongsup, A., Assatarakul, T., & Chaiyajit, N. (2019). Intersections of LGBTI exclusion and discrimination in Thailand: The role of socio-economic status. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 16(4), 529–542. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-018-0361-x
Punnakitikashem, P., Maimun, A., & Rakthin, S. (2019). Supportive factors of job and life satisfaction: Empirical evidence from disclosed lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) workforce in Thailand. Journal of Management & Organization, 25(5), 711–730. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2017.32
Reid, L., Newman, P. A., Lau, H., Tepjan, S., & Akkakanjanasupar, P. (2022). A scoping review of LGBT+ inclusion in Thailand: Policy proposals and recommendations. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 19(4), 1731–1746. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-022-00751-6
Sanders, D. (2019). Thailand and “diverse sexualities.” Australian Journal of Asian Law, 20(1), 165–185.
Srikummoon, P., Thanutan, Y., Manojai, N., Prasitwattanaseree, S., Boonyapisomparn, N., Kummaraka, U., Pateekhum, C., Chiawkhun, P., Owatsakul, C., Maneeton, B., Maneeton, N., Kawilapat, S., & Traisathit, P. (2022). Discrimination against and associated stigma experienced by transgender women with intersectional identities in Thailand. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(24), 16532. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416532
Srinivas, K. R. (2022). Responsible research and innovation and India: A case for contextualization and mutual learning. In D. O’Mathúna & R. Iphofen (Eds.), Ethics, integrity and policymaking (Research Ethics Forum, Vol. 9, pp. 29–48). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15746-2_3
Suriyasarn, B. (2016). Discrimination and marginalization of LGBT workers in Thailand. In T. Köllen (Ed.), Sexual orientation and transgender issues in organizations (pp. 197–215). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29623-4_12
Villar, L. B. (2019). Unacceptable forms of work in the Thai sex and entertainment industry. Anti-Trafficking Review, (12), 108–126. https://doi.org/10.14197/ATR.201219127
Yasami, M., Zhu, H., & Dewan, M. (2023). Poverty, psychological distress, and suicidality among gay men and transgender women sex workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Phuket, Thailand. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 20(3), 1203–1219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-023-00793-4
