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The Impact of Thailand's Migrant Worker Law on Literacy and Social Media among Ethnic Shan Female Migrants from Myanmar
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2022
Abstract
This article studies the social and technological barriers that prevent documented and undocumented female migrants in Thailand's Chiang Mai Province from improving their literacy skills and using social media such as Facebook. In July 2019, our team conducted nine focus-group discussions (FGD) with 38 participants using a picture sorting activity. Using graphics in the FGDs helped us to better engage with migrant populations with low literacy skills. Demographic information of each FGD participant was also collected. Findings show that Thailand's current laws for migrant workers are the barrier that have negative impacts on literacy improvement and social media usage among both documented and undocumented ethnic Shan female migrants from Myanmar. As Thailand's law only permits migrants to work in labor-intensive jobs with minimum wage and no benefits, they do not have time and energy to spend on learning the Thai language and other skills. This reduces the migrants’ abilities to interact with Facebook. Additionally, undocumented migrants could not buy a SIM card with the cellular data plan to use their Facebook account directly from their cellphones because Thailand's laws require all network providers to officially register all SIM card purchases and only sell to documented persons.
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- Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by International Association of Law Libraries
Footnotes
1
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the organizations and funders with which the authors are affiliated.
2
© Channarong Intahchomphoo 2021. (Corresponding author, cinta088@uottawa.ca) Dr. Intahchomphoo is a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa, Canada and an Affiliated Researcher at the University of Ottawa's Canadian Robotics and AI Ethical Design Lab (CRAiEDL). He is currently employed as a Data Research Librarian at the University of Ottawa Library.
3
© André Vellino 2021. (avellino@uottawa.ca) Dr. Vellino is an Associate Professor at the School of Information Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada.
4
© Odd Erik Gundersen 2021. (odderik@ntnu.no) Dr. Gundersen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway.
5
© Piyapat Jarusawat 2021. (piyapat.j@cmu.ac.th) Dr. Jarusawat is a Lecturer at the Department of Library and Information Science, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
6
© Pranee Wongjamras 2021. (pranee.w@cmu.ac.th) Ms. Wongjamras is a Retired Professor from the Department of Library and Information Science, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
7
© Naomi Tschirhart 2021. (ntschirh@uottawa.ca) Dr. Tschirhart is an Adjunct Professor at the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada and the Department of Family Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. She is also an Affiliated Researcher at the Centre for Global Health, University of Oslo, Norway.
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