How Myanmar Female Workers Negotiate In Their Workplace At Chiang Rai, Thailand

Tin Moe Yi

doi:10.14738/assrj.61.5911

Abstract

In Thailand, there are many migrants from Myanmar who distributed in five top sectors which are agriculture, construction, fishery related, agriculture related and service. The total number of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand today is estimated to be about between 1,500,000 and 1,600,000 with over 100,000 women from Myanmar employed as domestic workers. In Myanmar, in the political affairs, women are effectively excluded from participating in the negotiations for peace. In this article, the researcher explored how woman workers negotiate at their workplace. The present study was based on the case study of Myanmar female workers’ attitudes towards whether and how they negotiated in their workplace. To assess their attitude, three categories focused by Weaver (2011) were applied to get the information. It is observed that most of the female workers had the same attitude that they did not ask any more to their employer and did not want to negotiate because some were satisfied with their jobs as their head solved their problems on behalf of them and some were lack of confidence. The women are weak, emotional and submissive so they might not be successful negotiators.

Highlights

According to Awatsaya, 2004 cited in Doncha-um, [2], over the past two decades, Thailand has experienced a large scale immigration of illegal migrants coming from neighboring countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao
The total number of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand today is estimated to be about between 1,500,000 and 1,600,000 with over 100,000 women from Myanmar employed as domestic workers
In this research, the researcher explored how woman workers negotiate at their workplace

Summary

Introduction

According to Awatsaya, 2004 cited in Doncha-um, [2], over the past two decades, Thailand has experienced a large scale immigration of illegal migrants coming from neighboring countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao. In Myanmar, in the political affairs, women are effectively excluded from participating in the negotiations for peace. Less than handful women have been part of the official talks held between the State and the armed groups. They have been effectively excluded from participating in local and national decision-making processes and from negotiation. It is a little difficult to talk about women’s participation in the process of negotiation and in politics because in Myanmar culture and tradition, the men feel they have to do these things which are their duty. There is gender discrimination between male and female

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion