On Friday, 9 April 2021, from 9:30am to 1pm Bangkok time, Thammasat University students are cordially invited to participate in a webinar by Zoom presented by the Gender Law and Policy Program (GLLP) of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law.
This Gender and Development Workshop on Gender Sensitivity will be led by Professor Nathalie Africa Verceles, DSD; Professor Excelsa Tongson of UP Center of Women’s and Gender Studies, and Professor E. (Leo) D. Battad, Program Director of the UP GLPP.
The Thammasat University Library collection includes several books on gender sensitivity and gender equality in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) community and around the world.
Students are invited to register for the event at this link.
As students of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program (WGSSP) of the College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Thammasat University are aware, gender equality in the Kingdom in a work in progress.
As Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn of the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University, wrote in The Bangkok Post in 2018,
There have been some notable gains since the 1990s. Today, there is little discrimination left on the books and the country’s 20th constitution entrenches the principle of non-discrimination. Moreover, the family law has been reformed so that the grounds for divorce are the same for a man or a woman.
The picture is less sanguine in reality. Women’s access to high levels of decision making is all too limited, as seen by the few women appointed as ministers. Discrimination, in practice, is ever present, such as in regard to unequal pay. Gender-based violence rears its ugly head such as in the domain of domestic violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, forced labour and human trafficking. A study supported by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security has found that it is primarily men who commit violence against women, and much of it is due to alcohol abuse.
Strong partnerships need to be built from a young age so that both men and women can take part in preventing such violence.
While it is true that since 2015 the country has enjoyed the presence of the Gender Equality Act, that law suffers from two over-broad exceptions: national security and religion. Lack of access to remedies remains a critical issue.
On another front, the country’s Anti-Domestic Violence Act 2007 not only prohibits such violence but also imposes a duty on witnesses to report the situation to the authorities for follow-up action. Yet, it is weakened by the over-use of mediation or conciliation and the failure to punish adequately those who commit crimes against women and children.
The impact of national security law enforcement on human rights, in general, and on women’s rights, in particular, deserves analysis…
Protection of women’s rights requires a comprehensive range of actions, including good laws, practices, mechanisms, personnel, monitoring with disaggregated data, education and remedies. Emergency laws should not be enforced, unless they comply with international standards which test such laws on the basis of whether they are necessary and proportionate to the circumstances.
Concomitantly, there is a need for effective checks and balances against abuse of power by the state authorities and related groups. This invites effective, transparent and independent mechanisms such as gender-sensitive judiciaries, national human rights commissions and women’s commissions with investigative powers and follow-up action.
There can be no substitute for strong civil society networks. Where the local remedies are weak or deficient, access to UN mechanisms may help to pressure for improved protection and assistance. This includes resort to the various UN special procedures, such as the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, all of whom accept complaints of violations of human rights and human rights defenders. Another channel is the UN’s hotline for receiving complaints on reprisals which can then reach up to the higher echelons of the UN system for additional leverage (see www.ohchr.org).
The website of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) lists gender equality among sustainable development goals:
Ending all discrimination against women and girls is not only a basic human right, it’s crucial for sustainable future; it’s proven that empowering women and girls helps economic growth and development.
UNDP has made gender equality central to its work and we’ve seen remarkable progress in the past 20 years. There are more girls in school now compared to 15 years ago, and most regions have reached gender parity in primary education.
But although there are more women than ever in the labour market, there are still large inequalities in some regions, with women systematically denied the same work rights as men. Sexual violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public office all remain huge barriers. Climate change and disasters continue to have a disproportionate effect on women and children, as do conflict and migration.
It is vital to give women equal rights land and property, sexual and reproductive health, and to technology and the internet. Today there are more women in public office than ever before, but encouraging more women leaders will help achieve greater gender equality.
In 2014, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) website launched a program, Improving gender equality in and through the media in Thailand:
With the support of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) has marked its commitment to making gender equality issues a priority by implementing the project “Assessing Gender-Sensitivity in Thai Public Media”.
The project is part of the follow-up to the Global Forum on Media and Gender that was convened by UNESCO and partners in 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand.
In Thailand and in the Asia-Pacific region, women in the media are still significantly underrepresented at decision-making levels, in senior management positions, and in the newsgathering and news dissemination processes. In addition, gender-based stereotypes are pervasive in commercial advertising and the entertainment industry, often reinforcing gender prejudices and the misrepresentation of women
This project is focused on the application of UNESCO’s Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media (GSIM). The GSIM are a tool which media organizations can use to assess their gender sensitivity, formulate necessary strategies and policies, set measurable goals and monitor progress towards the achievement of gender equality in and through the media. A GSIM manual tailored to Thai PBS will be produced in early 2015 based on the findings from this exercise.
Within the framework of this project, a series of training workshops will take place in Bangkok in October and November 2014. These comprise a one-day seminar in Bangkok with 10 media executives at Thai PBS with a focus on gender balance at decision-making levels; and a two-day training workshop with 20 Thai PBS journalists and media content producers, with a focus on fair gender portrayal in news, current affairs and advertising.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)