Book Launch & Discussion on Single Mothers in Thailand: Women, Motherhood, and Going it All Alone

You are cordially invited to join the book launch and discussion on Single Mothers in Thailand: Women, Motherhood, and Going it All Alone, organised by the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies. The Details are as follows: - 

About the speaker and moderator

Dr Herbary Cheung (he/him/his) is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Gender Studies at the Malaysia School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University. He received his PhD from The Education University of Hong Kong under the prestigious Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS). His research engages with gender and migration, family, marriage and health, intersectionality, and contextual mobility, focusing on Southeast Asia-Hong Kong connections. Before joining Monash University, he worked as a Research Assistant Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Dr Isabella Ng is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong.  She receives her PhD in Gender Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. Her research focus on Gender and Development in Asia, Feminist Geography, Feminist Research methods, anthropology of migration; migrants and diaspora, rural villages in Hong Kong and China and media studies, by drawing mainly on her training in anthropological research methods.

About the book

This book investigates a range of major sociological debates and policy studies related to gender, family, marriage, health, intersectionality, and social exclusion of single mothers in Thailand. It does so by analyzing ethnographic data gained from participant observation at NGOs and a psychiatric hospital, in-depth interviews with single mothers and social workers, and a review of government policy documents and reports from 2020 and 2021. The conceptual framework of the study draws on gender as a social construct and intersectionality as critical social theory. Using this framework, the book aims to offer new scholarly insights by looking at single mothers as a category of multiple and overlapping oppressions, marginalization, and exclusion, which intersect not only with gender, class, and ethnicity but also with other significant categories, such as hometown neighborhood, religion, and health conditions, all significant but under-researched subjects in the Thai context. Moreover, the book also provides policy recommendations to the Thai government to improve its social policies for single mothers and achieve gender equality in Thailand.

For enquiries, please contact the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies at ssps@eduhk.hk.