High rise, low pay: Experiences of migrant women in the Thai construction sector

This study presents the experiences of women migrant workers in the Thai construction sector and was commissioned to address the knowledge gap on the employment conditions of these workers. The hope of this exploratory study is to pave the way for a broader sectoral assessment of the Thai construction sector. Despite being a vital part of the construction sector, women migrant workers are marginalized within this male-dominated industry. Women work in a precarious working environment with inadequate documentation and where they are not paid or treated equally to men or Thai nationals. This paper identifies specific decent work deficits and gender-specific challenges, and the qualitative findings and centrality of workers’ voices in the study’s design and findings shed crucial light on the experience of migrant women workers in the construction industry.