Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming

The report examines gender inequalities in Thailand, specifically within rice farming, noting that while women are active in agriculture and often manage household finances, they are frequently categorized as 'unpaid family workers,' making their contributions invisible in policy. It identifies significant barriers including a gender wage gap, heavy burdens of unpaid care work, and under-representation in decision-making. The document argues that women are key drivers for adopting climate-smart technologies due to their attention to detail and cost-sensitivity, but they require targeted support to overcome structural inequalities and be recognized as entrepreneurs.

• Women in Thailand's agricultural sector are often invisible in policy and programming because a majority (53%) are classified as unpaid family workers, which leads to a deficiency in support for their specific farming activities.
• A distinct gender division of labor exists in Thai agriculture; men typically perform physically strenuous tasks and operate machinery, while women handle management, weeding, and supplementary transplanting, often resulting in lower pay for women.
• Women are identified as effective adopters and advocates for new agricultural technologies and organic methods because they are more patient with details and sensitive to the costs of new technologies.
• Women bear a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, including childcare and elderly care, which persists even as they take on larger roles in agricultural production.
• There is a significant gender wage gap among migrant agricultural workers; for example, in some harvesting jobs, men earn 500 baht while women earn 300 baht, justified by the different nature of their tasks (harvesting versus packaging).
• Women are severely under-represented in local political decision-making bodies, with only 1.32% of provincial governors being female.
• Thailand lacks sufficient sex-disaggregated data, which hinders the government's ability to design specific interventions for rural women and those affected by climate change.
• Women's income-generating activities, such as producing bio-fertilizers, are often viewed as extensions of household work rather than serious businesses, limiting their potential to grow as entrepreneurs.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2023). Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/b37-fp214-gender-assessment-cover.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming. 2023. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/b37-fp214-gender-assessment-cover.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming |date=25 October 2023 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/b37-fp214-gender-assessment-cover.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2023thai, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/b37-fp214-gender-assessment-cover.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }