Returning Home: The Middle‐Income Trap and Gendered Norms in Thailand

We personalise the middle‐income trap by exploring the experiences of migrants from north‐east Thailand, most of whom return to their natal villages as a result of family decisions based on more than achieving higher incomes. Whereas men are largely content, women have to balance a range of roles because of prescribed gender norms. Increased education and migration did not lead to higher value work on their return because of lack of investment and opportunity, but also because of gender norms and relationships that reflect rather than challenge the norms that would allow women (and men) to develop new employment opportunities.