Historically, women in Thailand have been active in a variety of economic activities. During the era of Ayutthaya Kingdom (1350-1767), under the sakdina system, every freeman had to be registered as a servant with the local lords, under whom the prime-age men were forced to be away from home to work for the crown or to serve military services.[9] Women were left behind to take care of their families and farms and it became traditional for women to take responsibility for housework and economic activities while men are in charge of economic and political activities.[1] Women and men, together, have continued to have high economic participation since then, which is reflected in the high female labor force participation rate of Thailand, which is one of the highest in the world in the last decade.[1] In 2010, the female labor force participation rate of Thai women over the age of 15 years was reported to be at approximately 64% and in 1990 was reported to be as high as 76% .[10] In 2011, women's labor force participation rate of Thailand was 65.5% while men's labor force participation rate was 80.7%.