From Market to the Street: the Journey of the Red Shirt Woman Traders

Abstract

This article investigates the living, working, and family conditions that motivated women, as traders, to participate in the Red Shirt movement. Focusing on a group of women traders in Chiang Mai’s Sankamphaeng marketplace as a case study, the article highlights two sets of findings. First, the study found that engaging in the occupation of trader has provided an opportunity for women to have a greater role in the public sphere. As this career path requires a significant shift from more traditional roles related to family and household, it has also given women the freedom to travel and experience more cosmopolitan environments. Secondly, the study shows that the changing contexts and social dynamics of the Sankamphaeng marketplace resulted in a sense of community among traders; it was out of this community that the local Red Shirt movement, called “Sankamphaeng Ruk Prachatippatai (Samkamphaeng Love Democracy)” emerged. The article argues that the establishment of the local Red Shirt movement was shaped by the Thaksin government’s policy, which linked economic and political spheres together. It also illustrates the transformation of identity and awareness among women traders that resulted from their participation in the Red Shirt movement.