ABSTRACT
Traditionally women have always worked with men in the fields in addition to maintaining the household. There is a class of women practitioners of religion known as mae chii, whose changing roles are increasingly recognised as indicative of a more positive attitude towards women among Thai Buddhists. It is claimed that Thai women have the highest level of work participation in the world. Scholars differ over the extent to which Buddhist values are responsible for the low status accorded to women in Buddhist societies. Until the late ninteenth century, all Thai education was under the aegis of ecclesiastical institutions. There is also historical evidence that mae chii not only served monks and generally assisted them, but that they also undertook various forms of social service, such as visiting the poor. The 1993 questionnaire and interview investigation were designed primarily to study the educational backgrounds of mae chii and their involvement in different sorts of social service activities.
