All the household chores fell on their shoulders and they had no voice at all in their husbands' decisions, even those that might cost them a lifetime of misery.

Thanks to modern culture, Thai women today can study to the highest academic levels and earn as much as men, too (though nearly all corporate leaders are still male and only a few female MPs are sprinkled about in the House of Representatives).

With all this social upheaval, more and more women today don't want to lose their freedom too soon.

Many delay marriage and delay further the day they give birth to their first child.

What matters most is that it takes time to find the right man - one who can makes them feel it is worthwhile to lose the freedom of the single life in return for lifetime companionship.

Indeed, they are living an enviable life. Not all women around the globe are so lucky.

National Geographic magazine this month published a very interesting article about the age that women around the world get married.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 74 per cent of girls aged 15-19 are married. In Nepal, 7 per cent of girls are wed before they turn 10.

The earlier they marry, the higher health risks they face. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, their chance of contracting HIV substantially increases after they marry.

What's interesting is the magazine began the article with the notion that

"Where food is scarce and violence common, parents may try to cope by marrying their daughters off - usually to much older men - as soon as the girls enter puberty."

Such unions end girls' education and trigger significant health risks.

Pregnancy is the No-1 cause of death worldwide among girls between 15-19, and a child is statistically likely to be born within the first two years of marriage.

The situation is sad.

These girls could have done much more for their economies if they had been allowed to continue their education and find a job in the free market.

 And education would tell them how to prevent health risks.

Even in the old days, Thai women were luckier than these girls.

But without modern media, they simply didn't know what conditions were in various parts of the world, which goes a long way to explain why they were so happy in the kitchen or cleaning the house.

achara_d@nationgroup.com