Strategic Human Resource Framework for Promoting Gender Equality in Organizations: Adapting HR Systems to the Context of Thailand's Aging Society

Abstract

This scholarly article proposes a strategic human resource framework to advance gender equality in Thai organizations amid the intensifying transition to an aging society. Thailand is experiencing a significant demographic transformation that is increasing unpaid care responsibilities, while persistent gender gaps in labor force participation, remuneration, and access to leadership positions persist. However, integrated human resource management scholarship that systematically incorporates both gender and age dimensions within the Thai context remains limited. This article, therefore, analyzes these structural challenges and proposes an integrated gender–age strategic human resource framework for Thai organizations, termed the Gender–Age Inclusive HR 4-Pillar Model.               The framework is developed through the synthesis of empirical evidence and policy lessons from both domestic and international sources, combined with Michel Foucault’s critical perspective, which conceptualizes HR systems as mechanisms of power that shape and regulate gendered and age-related subjectivities within organizations. Drawing on the concepts of the double burden, triple burden, and the motherhood penalty, the article identifies the structural roots of inequality and proposes four strategic pillars: (1) family-friendly and flexible policies and benefits, (2) bias-free and transparent HR management processes, (3) strategic career-path mechanisms to accelerate women’s leadership advancement, and (4) an organizational culture characterized by psychological safety and role-model leadership commitment. The proposed framework contributes to the strategic human resource management literature by reframing unpaid care work from an individual constraint faced by women into a systemic organizational risk that may threaten talent continuity and organizational competitiveness in an aging labor market. It also proposes indicators and enabling conditions that allow organizations to translate policy intentions into measurable outcomes in gender equality and age inclusiveness.