All Normal Occupations are Sunny and Joyful: Qualitative Analysis of Thai Ladyboys’ Occupational Wellbeing

BACKGROUND: As the modern social division of labour is becoming increasingly specified, various occupations have emerged. Ladyboy, as a special occupation, is receiving a surging amount of attention from society and academia. Ladyboy is an individual who is engaged in performing with female psychology but still retains male sexual characteristics, and this special characteristic has an impact on their occupational identity and occupational satisfaction. METHODS: This study investigated the current situation of ladyboys’ occupational wellbeing through interviews, and analyzed and coded the interview texts via Nvivo 11.0 guided by Grounded Theory. RESULTS: Through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, the study found that ladyboys’ occupational wellbeing was generally high, and they were still full of love and confidence in their occupation even in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic. CONCLUSION: Concurrently, the study also found that for the profession of ladyboy, there are still many areas for improvement in society, such as the lack of supporting facilities, absence of supportive and protective policies, and unemployment livelihood security, etc. Feasible measures were then proposed for these specific problems.