National review to UN admits that Thailand still faces gender inequality issues

[webfact]

Subtle signs of gender inequality
Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation

National review to UN admits that Thailand still faces gender inequality issues, which manifest in the form of violence

BANGKOK: - THOUGH women in Thailand enjoy a relatively high degree of freedom, gender inequality still manifests itself in violence, trafficking, stereotypical attitudes to employment and gender-related roles, the latest national review on progress in gender equality submitted by the Thai government to the United Nations showed.

The report was submitted under a process dubbed "Beijing+20 Review".

"The biggest challenge is that some people are still not fully aware of direct and indirect gender discrimination and substantive gender equality in society. In addition, some media reproduce stereotypes of women and men. Raising awareness and improving the status of women are our main priorities in the Women Development Plan," the 51-page national review on the progress and challenges in bridging the gender equality gap recently submitted by the Thai government stated. This voluntary submission was part of Thailand's commitment to realise gender equality under 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

The report cited the need to tackle sexism, gender bias and gender-related stereotypes that may exist in school textbooks, adding that if such stereotypes go unchallenged, "these negative norms of behaviour and attitude could be institutionalised and gradually become part of our social and cultural code".

Other remaining challenges in bridging gender inequality include tackling what the report refers to as the "feminisation of poverty".

'Deadlock on legalising abortion'

"Factors contributing to poorer women are limitations of access to resources and services, such as credit, land, assets, education and training, information, welfare, as well as salary gap. Labour mobility, specifically the migration of male family members into big cities, divorces, pregnancy out of wedlock, neglectful husbands and the fact that more women prefer to remain single are some of the reasons," the report said.

"This is partly due to the fact that women in Thailand are still under-represented in decision-making and high-administrative positions, both at local and national levels.

"As a result, many decisions on important issues or areas are based on insufficient gender perspectives and consideration, such as the allocation of micro credit, utilisation of the Village Fund, or the selection process of participants in the new vocational training programmes."

In 2011, women accounted for just 16 per cent, or 79 out of 500 parliamentary seats, even though women constitute more than half of the Kingdom's population.

Paweena Subhimaros, a social development officer at the Bureau of Gender Equality Promotion, pointed out that one issue where Thailand was at a deadlock is on the legalisation of abortion.

Paweena, whose bureau comes under the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, took part in last week's Asia-Pacific regional meeting organised by UN Women and UN Escap in Bangkok with some 50 countries participating.

The review also listed achievements such as the fact that there is an even number of women and men on social media in the country, with Facebook accounting for some 51 per cent women and 49 per cent men.

It also cited the setting up of a "lady parking" area in Suvarnabhumi Airport, with 450 slots in August, as well as the "lady zone" cluster of seats for women passengers on the Nakhonchai inter-province buses.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Subtle-signs-of-gender-inequality-30248635.html

-- The Nation 2014-11-27

[Fred Flinstone]

I think this will be a long slow road

But a female Thai PM shows anything is possible

So good luck and great idea

[Krataiboy]

Thailand doesn't need the United Nations to remind it that women get a raw deal here. The disgraceful reality is writ large in every aspect of Thai society, from the national religion and workplace to the mass media portray of women as mere sex objects.

How "subtle" can gender inequality be in a country with an official rape rate is around one every 15 minutes and where Ladies Only railway carriages were recently introduced to deter sexual assaults against female passengers.

Measures like this, together the highly-publicised allocation of women-only parking at Suvarnabhumi Airport and lady zone seating on Nakhonchai inter-province buses, are not "achievements", as the administration claims. They are a tacit admission that Thailand's culture of violence and discrimination against women cannot be changed, only constrained.

This is simply not good enough. The Gender Quality Promotion Bureau needs to start living up to its highfaltin name by shunning further sticking-plaster solutions. It needs to come up with practical solutions guaranteed to transform Thailand's prehistorically misogynistic culture.

Anything less will be viewed as just more window dressing, not just by the UN and the entire international community but also by more than half the Thai population who just happen to be women.

[rickirs]

"It also cited the setting up of a "lady parking" area in Suvarnabhumi Airport, with 450 slots in August, as well as the "lady zone" cluster of seats for women passengers on the Nakhonchai inter-province buses."

As Gen. Prayuth likes to say, "You just don't understand."

Gender segregation is not a solution to gender inequality. It reinforces gender inequality. Will BTS have women only cars as do some trains now? What about women only stairs, elevators and street pedestrian walks. Unfortunately, Gen. Prayuth has set the tone of women inequality by his archaic viewpoints on the behavior and dress of Thai women that comply with 19th century standards. One cannot look to this government to lead women's equality into the 21st century.

[Robby nz]

Have a read of the article in this mornings BKK post on the subject it paints a slightly different picture.

For instance the BOT has more woman execs than men, more than any other bank in the world and there are more female uni students than male.

Should not be a matter of putting someone in any position just to fulfill some sort of quota or to satisfy equality, the criteria should be the best person for the job.

There will always be those women who want to get married, have kids and have a husband who provides for them, just because they are not in the work force and don't want to be doesnt mean their contribution to the family, and the country for that matter, is any less.

[smellthecoffee]

Political correctness? Yes or No. Do you think every corner of the earth must be plagued by this utter nonsense?

It's why most of us are in Thailand in the first place to get away from the poison. On your way UN