Thailand and Southeast Asia Regional Office

Women's Studies Centre (WSC)

A Question of Rights

by Naurin Ahmad-Zaki

Almost every day, village people in a medium-sized community in Pasang District in Lumphun province in the north of Thailand come to Srinuan Pengkamta seeking her help in questions related to legal matters. ``A few days ago a policeman from our community came to see me, and although he was very embarrassed because of the nature of the problem, he saw no other way out than to ask me for guidance. He told me that his aunt, who lived with her in-laws, had been raped by her brother-in-law, and he just did not know how to tackle this sensitive issue. He wanted his aunt to move in with him, but she flatly refused.´´ Srinuan advised the policeman to ask monks from the area and other respected community members to persuade her to come and live with her nephew for the time being. Secondly, she urged him to get a medical examination of his aunt, which might be needed in case they decided to file a case in court. Srinuan, a community leader with many years of experience in the NGO sector, is qualified to give legal advice to her fellow community members, after having attended the recently concluded Paralegal Training for Rural Women in Northern Thailand Project organised by the Women's Studies Centre (WSC) in Chiangmai, along with 19 other participants.  

This project, which is the second of its kind - the first two-year-project was successfully conducted from 1991 - is designed with the objectives of developing consciousness and awareness among the rural women of northern Thailand about their legal, political and socio-economic status in society. Secondly, it aims at helping to lessen the legal illiteracy problem in the rural areas. Other objectives of the project are to strengthen rural women's groups and contribute to the creation of a network of organisations involved in the work of women's development in northern Thailand.

But the training does not only serve to benefit women’s groups. One of the key objectives is to obtain first-hand information and assess the situation of women in rural northern Thailand in order to bring their plight to the attention of the public and the policy makers. In order to obtain these objectives, the project aims to encourage academics to disseminate legal knowledge to northern rural communities.  

During the programme, legal training was given to women from 13 provinces of the north of Thailand. The participants were chosen from among official community leaders, such as sub-district heads, as well as from natural community leaders who don't hold any office, yet have a powerful voice within their communities.  

``Before the selection of the participants for the second project, the WSC held meetings with NGOs, the academic staff of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Chiangmai, of which the WSC is a department, and the volunteers of the first project. Applications were sent to NGOs and sub-district heads who were asked to nominate potential participants,´´ explains Saifon Somrit, the project co-ordinator for WSC. ``But after selecting the participants, we also visited them in their communities in order to get a better idea of their lives and their commitment.´´ The duration of the workshop was ten days, divided into two sessions of five days each.  

The purpose of the training was that after its completion, the participants would go back to their communities and serve as paralegals, who would educate and inform their fellow community members about legal issues and their legal rights. It was also suggested to them by the WSC to acquire more legal knowledge through auto didactic methods; however, they still heavily rely on the WSC whenever they feel a specific legal issue is too complicated for them and legal advisors are sent to the communities for this purpose on a regular basis.  

During the workshop, the trainees were also taken to visit other organisations which deal in similar issues, so they could get acquainted and later on make use of their contacts with these organisations. One particular field trip that was organised during the project training was one in which the participants were taken to meet the parliamentarians in the capital.  

After the completion of the project, each participant was asked in a recently conducted meeting to give her evaluation of the programme. This meeting was also attended by the media, the academic staff of the university and NGO workers as well as being open to the general public. Later on this year, the project will be compiled into a publication for further reference.  

``Most of the cases I deal with in our community are family-related issues such as inheritance, land disputes and sometimes, as was the case with the aunt of the policeman, rape, but that is quite rare,´´ elaborates Srinuan. ``I have come a long way, in the beginning it was hard to find acceptance as a woman community leader, especially with some of the men in the village. I think I have had to work much harder and even now some men don't accept me. They say, 'Everything she does is very good, but she is a woman.' I had to prove my worth by becoming economically better off than the others. Right now I am the wealthiest woman in the whole community.´´

Women are now protected by the new constitution which has been in place since 1997 and which grants them equal rights and an equal status with men. But Dr. Virada Somswasdi, who runs the WSC project, is not satisfied with its implementation. ``This clause in the constitution does not mean that we have reached our target. Right now, equality is only on paper, but it is a long process from there till the time when all the by-laws and other legislation are issued in accordance with that new constitution. But the positive aspect is that we now have the option of fighting for our rights on a legal basis and should there be any conflict, we can take our battle to the court house.´´ Laws like the family laws still tend to grant men power over women, and it is often the social acceptance of and traditional ties with these laws, which makes it almost impossible to break them.  

The role of religion plays also a significant role in Thai society, which is predominantly Buddhist. Says Dr. Somswasdi, ``Men in Thailand, no matter how poor they are, can become monks and will thus be taken care of and will be highly respected, but women don't have this option in Thailand. It is a common misconception in our society that only women who have problems with their marriages and their families will become nuns, and nuns are in any case, not regarded with the same respect as monks.´´ In order to 'make merit', and 'show your gratitude' which Buddhists are required to do in order to be granted a higher status in their next life, women can provide and look after their parents. ``This is one of the major reasons why we have so many women, especially from the North and the North-East, who become prostitutes. The relatives and parents of young girls send them to the big cities to become prostitutes and send back money to their families. Unfortunately not much is done about this problem. The government and the policy makers might claim that they are concerned about this issue, but it suits their purposes, firstly because of the sex tourists who come to Thailand en masse and secondly because of the patriarchal structure of our society,´´ laments Dr. Somswasdi.  

For its third project, WSC is planning to include women from the poorest region of Thailand in the north-east where most prostitutes come from and where the legal illiteracy rate is extremely high. Srinuan, the participant in the training programme from Lumphun province, is one of the success stories of the project, ``It is women like me who become role models for the other community members. I give them hope and serve as an example that women through their own efforts can be as efficient and wealthy as men.´´ Many women in her community have started their own hand-weaving business and are becoming economically independent from their men. ``Traditionally men don't help their women with household chores, but since the weaving business has taken off so well in our community, more and more men are willing to help out their women, not only with tasks related to the business, but also inside the house. My neighbour is constantly quoting my example to his son, who has a well-paying job in the government, saying, 'Look at Srinuan. Her husband is doing so well, yet he is always helping her in everything she does.´´ Even though it is still a very small percentage, more and more women are becoming aware of their legal rights and the role they could play in society and in the political arena at various levels. Training programmes like the two concluded projects of WSC will ensure that this awareness is not only confined to women living in urban towns, but also reaches women in the more remote and underdeveloped rural areas throughout the country.