Urgent Action Needed to Break Male Dominance in Thai Govt.

Urgent Action Needed to Break Male Dominance in Thai Govt.
Thai women face major prejudice in politics and stark under-representation
in the upper tiers of the Government, according to a United Nations-backed
report launched today that sets out a raft of concrete recommendations for
speeding progress in reducing gender disparities, including the use of
quotas.

Holding one ministerial post out of 36, with one governor out of 76, and
only 10 per cent of parliamentary seats, women are strikingly
under-represented in positions of power, according to the report - Women's
Right to a Political Voice in Thailand - issued by the UN Development
Programme
(<"http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/preview/march-2006/women-lack-political-voice-in-thailand.en?g11n.enc=ISO-8859-1";>UNDP)
and the Women for Democratic Development Foundation (WDDF).

"Gender equality in politics cannot be achieved without a major shift in
attitudes of people in general and in particular men," the lead author of
the report, Juree Vichit-Vadakarn said. "This will require an unprecedented
mobilization of government, political parties, media, education system, and
advocacy groups in an all-out effort to promote women's right to a
political voice in Thailand."

Although Thai women have made visible progress in terms of life expectancy,
maternal health, and education and literacy standards, they continue to
suffer the cultural and traditional prejudices of a male-dominated society,
with consistent discrimination in the government's administration, the
report noted. Without a strong voice at senior levels, women will not be
able to determine their own future, it added.

With women representing only 10 per cent of the outgoing members of
parliament and senate, Thailand places 113th out of 185 countries around
the world, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. In East and
South-East Asia region, only Cambodia, Malaysia and Japan rank below it.

For the world as a whole, the average of women in the lowe
parliament is 16 per cent, and in the upper houses is 15 per cent, while
for Thailand the respective proportions are 10.4 per cent and 10.5 per
cent.

In the lead-up to the 2 April election, women make up only eight per cent
of party list candidates and 11 per cent of constituency candidates of the
governing Thai Rak Thai Party for an overall average of 10.4 per cent.
Women make up 26 per cent of the party list and 23 per cent of constituency
candidates of the seven small parties.

The report calls on the Government to show strong leadership by setting
time-bound targets for increasing the number of women in senior positions,
government committees, and independent bodies; reducing the male dominance
of promotion and evaluation committees; sensitizing civil servants about
gender equality; and strengthening the hands of Chief Gender Equality
Officers and Gender Focal Points in public agencies.

It urges political parties to recruit more women candidates, and set
targets and quotas for women's representation on party lists. The media and
civil society groups must also play a leading role in changing public
attitudes toward women, by engendering fresh perspectives among young
people and working against stereotypes, it said.

Source: United Nations News Centre

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