The Privileged Lie of Gender Equality in Thailand

[Morakot]

The Privileged Lie of Gender Equality in Thailand

Jasmine Chia, March 30, 2016, HIR

When the Thai Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Pichet Duronkaveroj, came to speak at Harvard, he said, “Thailand doesn’t have a gender problem.” He was speaking to a room of forty students, of which two were female.

Facts and figures tell an interesting story about gender equality in Thailand. Women account for 80% of total employment in the ten largest export industries, and 45% of the manufacturing workforce. Rural Thai women have always had a central role in providing for the well-being of their families, and have been entitled to property rights and land ownership since those rights were established under the reign of King Rama V.

Today, Thailand has the fifth-most PhDs awarded to women as compared to men (57%) in the world, and has one of the highest proportions among Asian countries (51%) of female science researchers. According to the International Encyclopedia of Sexuality, “the status of women in Thailand is perhaps higher than other countries in Asia with the exception of Singapore.”

But there is a contradiction between statistics and reality.

http://hir.harvard.edu/privileged-lie-gender-equality-thailand/

Edited April 5, 2016 by Morakot

[isanbirder]

There are whores of both sexes (and somewhere in the middle).

(Sorry!)

[BudRight]

"Every Sunday, Thailand’s most widely circulated newspaper, Thai Rath, features a scantily clad female model on the front page – her body takes up more than 3/4 of the entire broadsheet."

What these gender warriors do not understand is that humans are both "subjects" (people) and "objects" to be admired, separate from their humanity. One does not diminish the other. Even ugly people are sex objects - they are unsexy objects. If we don't recognize this, we're led down a dangerous, moralistic path where the human body is censored and expressions of sexuality are denied. The results is identical to religious dogmas that demand people be covered, sex be controlled by the State and affection and flamboyance be suppressed as to not give offense.