Social Media and Women’s Empowerment: A Case Study of the Semi-Urban Community in Bang Sai, Ayutthaya

บทคัดย่อ

This study examines how social media contributes to women’s empowerment in the semi-urban community of Bang Sai District, Ayutthaya, where women face the dual pressures of industrial employment and traditional household responsibilities. A qualitative approach was employed using Kabeer’s empowerment framework resources, agency, and achievements as the principal analytical lens, complemented by digital feminism, intersectionality, and uses and gratifications theory. The analysis focuses on how women use digital platforms to access knowledge, create economic opportunities, negotiate family roles, and reconstruct their social identities within a rapidly changing semi-urban context.

The findings reveal that social media promotes women’s empowerment in three interrelated dimensions. First, digital platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube function as learning resources that enhance vocational knowledge, digital skills, and access to economic opportunities. Second, these platforms strengthen women’s agency by enabling online entrepreneurship, greater control over income and time, and stronger bargaining power within households. Third, empowerment outcomes extend beyond economic gains to include increased self-esteem, social recognition, decision-making capacity, and the transformation of women from relatively voiceless workers into active agents of social change. The study proposes the Digital-Led Life Transformation Model, which explains empowerment as a transition from structural constraints, through strategic use of digital tools and digital bargaining power, toward dignity, autonomy, greater equality, and community leadership.