Struggling Alone: Gender, Migration and Domestic Violence among Thai Women in Bangkok

Abstract

Female rural-urban migration has significantly contributed to the economic growth of Thailand in the last three decades, particularly in industry and tourism. What is less known, however, is how migrant women navigate their lives in the city and, in particular, their experience of violent relationships from which they attempt to free themselves. Such action runs contrary to earlier notions of women as passive victims of domestic violence. On the basis of interviews with rural migrant women in two Bangkok shelters, we argue that poor women experience major constraints in freeing themselves from violent relationships, which cannot be solely attributed to the cultural system of male domination in Thai society. Gender inequality alone cannot explain the response of women to domestic violence, since it intersects with other systems of power and stratification. This “inter-sectionality’ shapes the nature of women's response to domestic violence, how it is experienced and whether escape and safety are indeed possible for them.