Social gender norms deepen elderly care burdens for Thai women
As Thailand has experienced a rapid increase in its elderly population, a new study published in has found that 鈥渟ocial gender norms鈥� - shared beliefs about how 鈥渁ltruistic鈥� women or men should be in society - are overburdening women in the country with elderly care.
Alongside Dr Minh Tam Bui from Srinakharinwirot University in Thailand and Professor Ivo Vlaev from the National University of Singapore, 51福利社鈥檚 Dr Katsushi Imai analysed national time-use survey data covering over 70,000 Thai adults to see how men and women care for their elderly family members. The study shows that women offering elderly care spend 2 to 2.5 hours on unpaid elder care each day - far more than men.
This imbalance is partly due to the social norm about how 鈥渁ltruistic鈥� women or men should be in society. In many communities in Thailand - particularly in rural areas - this social norm often forces women to be more altruistic than men as caregivers, because men are supposed to work outside. In areas with stronger gender norms, men spend much less time on elderly care than women do. Dr Bui emphasised the importance of digging deeper into the roots of caregiving inequality:
鈥淲e all know that there is a persistent gender care gap - women carry more of the burden in childcare, elder care and household work nearly everywhere in the world - but the underlying reasons for this are often understudied. We wanted to find out why and how this happens by looking at social gender norms around altruistic behaviour.鈥�
鈥淲e found that women swap paid work for elderly caregiving, but men do not. This unequal division of care responsibilities can lead to gender gaps in employment and wellbeing, and is worrying in terms of achieving both equality and efficiency in Thailand,鈥� she added.
The research team urges policymakers to recognise the value of unpaid elderly care, allocate more budget for long-term care insurance, and introduce nationwide campaigns to encourage men to engage in family care duties. This would help the country achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality by offering critical insights for building more equitable care systems and behavioural change in ageing societies.
This is not just an issue for developing countries 鈥� it also affects high-income countries like the UK. When elderly care needs arise in the family, it is often assumed - sometimes unconsciously - that women should be responsible for them. Men should change their mindset to start a small action to make a large change.
The study informs a process that takes place in many countries worldwide where women are overburdened with care responsibilities. As populations age and family structures change, how societies value and share care work may become one of the defining social issues of the century.
The authors also raise concerns over the discontinuation of the Thai national time-use survey by the National Statistical Office. They advocate for its urgent resumption, stressing that time-use data is critical for understanding gender inequality, strengthening the care economy, and helping the government monitor its progress toward the SDGs. Without such data, key dimensions of unpaid care work remain invisible in policy design and economic planning.