Siam and the High Social Status of Women, 1850-1950

Kamala Tyavanich's book, The Buddha in the Jungle, contains a collection of foreign and Siamese stories that vividly describe life and thought in late 19 Siam.^e and start 20^e century. Most of the stories are set in a Buddhist context: village monks meeting gigantic snakes, monks as healers and painters, a missionary being gored by an elephant, but also bandits and rowers, midwives and, of course, ghosts. It evokes an image of a lost world, the differences with the West and later modernization without idealizing the past. It's a celebration of memory.

She obtained much of her information from so-called cremation books in which the life of the deceased is described, and also from biographies and travelogues by foreigners. It was a surprise to me how much was written in those days.

Chapter 43 is titled 'Backward or Enlightened?' and is largely about the role of women in the Siam (and related Burma) of the time as perceived by foreign travellers. That is what this article is mainly about.

What foreigners had to say about the position of women in Siam and Burma about 1850-1950

Western travelers in nineteenth-century Siam, who had also visited India, China or Japan, were particularly struck by the high social status of women in the area now called Southeast Asia.

Bishop Bigandet, a French Roman Catholic priest who spent XNUMX years in the Shan states (Northern Burma), testified to the high position enjoyed by women and attributed it to Buddhism. 'Women and men are almost equal,' he wrote, 'they are not shut up in their houses but roam freely in the streets, managing shops and market stalls. They are the companions and not the slaves of men. They are diligent and contribute fully to the maintenance of the family.'

James George Scott (1851-1935) wrote in a memoir in 1926 that 'the Burmese women enjoyed many rights that their European sisters still fought for.'

Women did the same (heavy) work as men. In part, this must be attributed to the four-month chore shifts that took men away from home. John Crawford in 1822 saw women performing all kinds of labor such as carrying heavy loads, rowing, plowing, sowing and reaping, not unlike the men. But all the men went hunting.

A geologist, H. Warrington Smyth, who lived in northern Siam between 1891 and 1896, noted that women were the workers, and nothing could be done without consulting wife or daughter.

Around 1920, the Danish traveler Ebbe Kornerup and his assistants took a boat trip on the Ping, a river rowed by a woman. He writes: “After the rains the river was wide but sometimes so shallow that we have to wade through the water. The rower was a plump and pleasant woman with short hair. She was wearing pants and a Siamese phanung and the betel and fermented tea leaves she chewed turned her lips dark red. She chuckled happily as the water splashed over her pants. She talked on and on with her supervisors.

In 1880 the British engineer Holt Hallett (Erik Kuijpers wrote a wonderful story about his journey) made a journey from Moulmein in Burma to Chiang Mai to investigate a road for a railway line. He noted that 'women were treated very well by the Shan (the people of northern Thailand, also called Laotians or Yuan). This is especially noticeable in a case of a woman against a man where a woman's testimony is seen as indisputable evidence. Child marriages do not exist, marriage is a matter of personal choice and not of trade'.

Lillian Curtis, however, attributed the high position of women in Laos and Siam not to Buddhism but to much longer cultural roots. This is evidenced by ancient chronicles and the fact that women occupy an important place in those tribes that have never converted to Buddhism. The woman is free to choose a marriage partner and marriage is not a religious ceremony. The man moves in with his wife's family who manages all the property. Divorce is easy but rare and often in favor of the woman.

Two other writers also praised women's independence in similar terms: they did not rely on man's affirmation or help. Children grow up with a mother, not a father, who manages the finances.

The changes from the beginning of the twentieth century

King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, is also known as the Great Modernizer. His son King Vajiravuth, Rama VI (reigned 1910-1925), continued that policy. He was the first, but not the last, Siamese monarch to receive part of his education abroad and may have derived some of his ideas from that experience. In 1913 he enacted a new law requiring every Thai to adopt a surname. Wives and children should take the husband's and father's surnames. Where previously genders were often seen in the female line, the Thai community gradually moved more towards a patriarchal system. This is undoubtedly partly due to the fact that the noble elite had a completely different view of male-female relationships than the rest of the people. In the nobility, the man was superior and the woman was locked up in the palace. Defilement of the royal line was thus prevented.

In my opinion, it is these two causes, the increasing influence of the palace and the nobility on the whole of Siam (now also on the more remote parts) and the associated Western influence, that have influenced the position of women from the beginning of the 20th century.^e century undermined. The change from village Buddhism to Bangkok-sponsored state Buddhism is another factor.

Carle Zimmerman's testimony

Harvard-educated sociologist Zimmerman conducted extensive research in rural, central and periphery Thailand in the years 1930-31. He gave an overview of the economy, the state of health, the level of education and much more about the condition of the still mainly farming population.

Let me quote him:

'The Siamese have a high spiritual, non-material standard of living. In Siam you will not find any trade in children and child marriages do not exist. They were generally not greedy before the economic boom of 1960. ' He further noted that 'the Siamese are highly developed in art, sculpture, silverware, niello work, silk and cotton weaving, lacquerware and other matters pertaining to artistic expression. Even in the most primitive communities one can find a beautifully carved door, a piece of pottery, an artfully woven cloth and carvings on the back of an oxcart. '

Personally, I can add that there was a lively and exciting literary tradition where stories were regularly told in most villages, often performed with music and dance. The 'Mahachaat', 'Khun Chang Khun Phaen' and 'Sri Thanonchai' are three examples.

Frank Exell, who spent a long time (1922-1936) in Siam as a teacher and banker, regretted in his memoirs Siam Tapestry (1963) that Siam had lost its charm as a 'forgotten area' ('backwater') and had become a land of 'progress'. In his book Siam Service (1967), when Thailand was ruled by the military who listened to the Americans, he sighed 'We can only hope that the country will be able to find good leaders'.

How do dear readers rate the status of women in Thailand today?

Source reference:

• Kamala Tiyavanich, The Buddha in the Jungle, Silkworm Books, 2003
• Carle C. Zimmerman, Siam Rural Economic Survey, 1930-31, White Lotus Press, 1999