IV. Political Organization
It is suggested that politics is the domain for men, whereas women are more
active in economic activities. It is women’s job to look after the family activities while
men are responsible for the outside tasks. Most of the village headmen are actually men,
though during the last two decades some women have managed to get into the village
headman posts. Even at the national political level, there are quite a few female
politicians in the cabinet. There is no barrier in Thai society against women to get into a
higher education. However, women in politics are still limited in number. Men still
constitute a majority both at national and local levels.
The village headman (Phu Yai Baan) is locally elected. He is responsible for
activities concerning order and regulations. He is semi-official responsible directly to the
district office. His salary comes from the government and his duty is to transfer and
interpret government messages to villagers. At the same time, he is the representative of
the village in dealing with outsiders and government officials. He thus actually has been
caught in the middle between being a lowest rank government official and a village head
man responsible for village interests.1 A successful village headman must perform both
of his roles effectively. He must serve both government demands as well as that of his
village people. His power and authority is derived from government officials so long as
he is accepted by his village fellows.