Thailand's Hidden Workforce

Millions of Burmese women migrate into Thailand each year to form the basis of the Thai agricultural and manufacturing workforce. Un-documented and unregulated, this army of migrant workers constitutes the ultimate 'disposable' labour force, enduring grueling working conditions and much aggression from the Thai police and immigration authorities. This insightful book ventures into a part of the global economy rarely witnessed by Western observers. Based on unique empirical research, it provides the reader with a gendered account of the role of women migrant workers in Thailand's factories and interrogates the ways in which they manage their families and their futures.

Table of Contents

1. Thailand's Hidden Workforce: Burmese Women Factory Workers
2. Thailand's industrialization and labour migration policies
3. Burmese women migrant workers in Thailand's export industries:
4. Migrant women in Thailand's factories: working conditions, struggles and experiences
5. Burmese migrant women and families in Thailand: reproduction, children and care
6. After the crisis: new struggles and possibilities
7. Burmese Migrant workers between two worlds
Bibliography
Appendix One - history of registration schemes
Appendix Two - currency exchange rates

About the Authors:

Ruth Pearson is Professor for Development Studies at the University of Leeds.

Dr. Kyoko Kusakabe is an associate professor at Gender and Development Studies, Asian Institute of Technology. She has been living and working in Thailand/ Cambodia for nearly 20 years, and have been engaged in various research on gender issues in the Mekong Region in Southeast Asia. She has written many papers on women in the informal economy and on gender analysis in border areas in the region. Her recent research interests are in gender issues in mobility, work, citizenship and care in the Mekong Region under the regional economic integration.