Behind Every Successful Woman

"A man is the foreleg of the elephant and the woman the hind leg," according to an old Thai saying. If that is so, the hind legs are doing more than their share of the walking in present-day Thailand. In increasing numbers, the women of Thailand are abandoning the sheltered life of the home to pursue careers in business. For all their delicate femininity -- their diminutive, porcelain prettiness, their singsong voices and their flowing silk robes--they have proved to be tough businesswomen whose impact on their country has already been extensive.

Far-Flung Fiefdoms. Wealthy Princess Chumbhot, 56, who impishly professes to know nothing about banks except that "you keep money in them," recently presided over her first board meeting as chairman of Bangkok's new Asia Trust Bank, Ltd. Across town, Mrs. Somsri Charoenrajapark, 41, revealed plans to build a mammoth combination bowling alley, restaurant and parking garage, thus expanding her existing interests in apartment buildings, supermarkets and the rapidly rising $1,600,000 President Hotel. Mrs. Suni Telan, 44, has just announced that she intends to sell stock in a new holding company that will be set up to control her far-flung business fiefdom, which includes hotels, an export-import firm, rice mills, teak and mining companies, an aluminum-fabricating plant, and real estate.

Behind the surge of feminine enterprise are some powerful new social and economic forces. Most of the Thai businesswomen started with at least some inherited wealth but, like women the world over, were encouraged by education to escape the housewife's role and test themselves in man's arena. Furthermore, as living costs have risen so has the women's desire to help their husbands earn a larger share of the good life. Thai husbands, who have a strong preference for dignified but low-paying careers in civil service and law, left a vacuum in the business community that the women have rushed to fill. Consequently, their roles cut across the entire spectrum of Thailand's commerce and industry. Women own about 90% of Bangkok's real estate and have heavy interests in transportation companies, construction firms and restaurants.

Running Around. "I think we are better in business than men," says Supapan Mejudhon, 21, who helps her mother run a flourishing 49-boat ferry fleet on the bustling Chao Phraya River. "They like to sit at a desk and do routine jobs, while we like to run around." Mrs. Bessie Punyanitya Samargachan, 37, has expanded her Boon Vanit Travel Agency from a tiny concern with one part-time guide into one of Thailand's biggest agencies, with 80 employees and a fleet of 20 buses and cars. Perhaps the most eminent Thai businesswoman of all is Mrs. Lursakdi Sombatsiri, owner and operator of Bangkok's biggest bus company, the White Bus Line. Trim, thirtyish Mrs. Lursakdi, a former Thai golf champion, inherited the company from her father, built it into one of the country's most progressive businesses. It provides workers with housing, healthy annual bonuses and profit sharing, has helped the emancipation of Thai women by hiring 80 of them to collect fares.

As the businesswomen make ever deeper inroads into Thailand's commerce, they exercise great tact and diplomacy in dealing with their men. They take the position, in fact, that behind every successful businesswoman is a loving helpmate.

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