Research on barriers and opportunities to improving outcomes for Women Migrant Workers through skills development in Thailand

Recognising gender equality in skills development and recognition is fundamental to closing the gender wage gap and ensuring all women benefit from safe migration for decent work. Under PROMISE, UN Women has commissioned the research on Barriers and Opportunities to Improving Outcomes for Women Migrant Workers through Skills Development in Thailand with the aims to understand what are gender-based barriers and opportunities to women migrant workers from Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Myanmar to participate in skills development and skills recognition in target sectors: construction, manufacturing, hospitality, and domestic work in Thailand, and to understand what benefits participation in these schemes offers to women migrant workers who already participate in them.

Skills development is key to economic empowerment of women migrant workers and improvements of their lives in Thailand and after returning to their countries of origin. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, skills development become more necessary and should be given to women migrant workers to overcome inequalities in economic and social development which are increasingly exacerbated. Skills development can improve productivity and help women migrant workers diversify their employment opportunities enhancing their possibilities to secure employment during the crisis and as part of recovery.

This research employed mix methods using a survey for collecting quantitative data from 150 women migrant workers from the three countries residing in Thailand,