For the first time in the nation’s history, women in Thailand have come forward to speak out openly against three of Thailand’s highest, most integral, and also sexist pillars—the monarchy, the military, and the Buddhist monkhood. This unprecedented move has been galvanized by continued and increasingly vociferous anti-government protests, which will mark their one-year anniversary next month. Although protests against the government are not new to the region, the inclusion of previously disenfranchised communities like LGBTQIA+ and women is. But, what brought about this seismic shift?
Since Thailand transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one in 1932, the nation has more or less been ruled by the military. The military, who also wrote the constitution, formed an interdependent relationship with the royal family, wherein speaking out against the monarchy has not merely been a social taboo, but also a legally-punishable offence. The Lèse Majesté Law, which directly translates to “to do wrong to majesty” in French, is a highly restrictive constitutional provision that allows for the prosecution and punishing of citizens and non-citizens alike who are found guilty of exhibiting disapproval of the current, and even past monarchy, for up to 15 years. The archaic, undemocratic law has allowed both the military and the government to continue enjoying unbridled power over the nation.
Aside from the authoritarian tendencies of the Thai regime, the 2014 military coup and the resultant Prayuth Chan-ocha government have also further perpetuated male supremacy in Thailand. Only 14% of the national parliament is comprised of women and their powers in the monarchy are negligible. In a speech delivered in 2016, the controversial PM acknowledged how there is growing demand to extend justice and equal rights to women, but added that the Thai society would only weaken with this thought process. He further went on to add that the authority of women only extended to the household, outside of which, men reigned supreme. These remarks are deep-rooted in the government and monarchy’s outdated ideas on gender roles, and run counter to the evolving views of a population that has seen women attain a higher level of education, employment, and financial independence. This desire to reconfigure women’s role in Thai society has formed one of the key pillars of the ongoing protests. Hence, the platform provided by the nationwide protests has emboldened women to utilize the forum to catapult feminist issues directly into daily public discourse.
The 2020 protests have been led by students, many of whom are young girls and women, and were triggered by the dissolution of the leading reform party Future Forward, unexplained abductions of political activists, the continued ‘illegitimate’ government led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, and the government’s incompetence in handling the coronavirus pandemic (with the constitutional monarch conveniently abandoning the nation to vacation in Germany). The activists’ demands include rewriting the military-based constitution, dissolving the parliament, and putting an end to apprehending and intimidating government critics. The most shocking demand of all has been to reform the country’s monarchy, a subject that formerly remained unmentionable. Against this backdrop, social media savvy women are now using this historic shift in momentum to galvanize their own movement and ambitions for change.
Thai women are now openly debating previously taboo subjects like why they are barred from being ordained in the influential Buddhist monkhood. They have also been overt in their disapproval of the Thai monarchy as a sexist institution; this claim is based on the fact that the King’s cabinet of ministers is composed of only male members, and on the fact that the traditional transfer of power only benefits male heirs. In the past, the King has also made it abundantly evident that women form a disposable part of the monarchy; two of the monarch’s previous four wives were banished from the royal court, and his current royal consort was stripped of all titles for vague reasons, although they were later reinstated.
Outside the realms of religion and the monarchy, against the backdrop of a struggling economy, regular middle-class women—without ostentatious wealth, power or influence—have taken to the streets of Bangkok to question the unfair wage gap, which UN Women estimates at 2.5%. This has also led to the introduction of other tangential concerns. For instance, menstrual hygiene products are classified as cosmetics in Thailand, which makes them eligible to be taxed higher to the point that they are unaffordable to most. Further, the restrictive abortion laws of the country were also thrown into the debate, with women arguing that a truly democratic government cannot have control over their bodies and agency, or infringe on their reproductive choices.
At the school level, teenage girls have shown solidarity with the protests by wearing white ribbons and holding up a three-fingered sign during the national anthem as an homage to the popular uprising seen in Hollywood film ‘Hunger Games’, which takes place in a dystopian alternate reality where a teenage girl from a poor district challenges a powerful central government. The symbol of protest became so popular it was officially adopted by the Future Forward Party.
Many female students have also campaigned against absurd school policies that enforce notions of outdated norms of femininity. Thai schools have been known to espouse strict dress codes that many view as further sexualizing underage girls. Additionally, rape culture is not just common in schools, but also fosters a culture of impunity around it. Thus, the ‘Bad Student’ group formed by high school girls has called for a curriculum overhaul and relaxation of rigid and sexist school rules that dictate most spheres of girls’ lives. They have also demanded the resignation of the Education Minister and staged his mock funeral as well.
Following protests in February, the government banned mass gatherings and travel under the guise of an emergency decree, in an attempt “to stop the spread of the coronavirus” in late March of this year. This formed just one of the several roadblocks introduced by the government to dissuade protestors. The Thai police has also fired water cannon and tear gas at protestors and there has been an uptick in the abductions of government critics. However, activists have found ways to circumvent these obstacles and have stood firm in the face of these scare tactics. Demonstrators have kept the movement alive through online campaigns and resumed in-person demonstrations since July when COVID restrictions were eased.
Nevertheless, the movement has not come without its casualties. For example, one of the prominent female student leaders of the demonstrations, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, was arrested in late October. Similarly, popular local singer and actress Inthira Charoenpura lost multiple work contracts after she paid for thousands of food and drink packages for protestors. Likewise, some young members of the ‘Bad Student’ group are now being charged for participating in the banned protest.
The catapulting of women’s issues into the mainstream has also revealed that the patriarchal structures that female demonstrators are attempting to challenge run deep not only within the government and the monarchy but within Thai society at large. For instance, a beauty pageant winner who voiced her support for the pro-democracy movement was then harassed online for being dark-skinned, which merely underscored the notion that woman’s value is tied to her physical appearance.
At the same time, these paternalistic and patriarchal tendencies have also revealed fissures among protestors as well, with some male activists accusing the LGBTQIA+ community and female activists of piggybacking on the momentum generated by the movement as a whole.
In spite of these developments, however, the movement has inspired millions both within Thailand and in the international neighbourhood. For example, pro-democracy activists from Thailand, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have shown their support for each others’ parallel struggles through the online group Milk Tea Alliance. Hong Kongers have been restlessly fighting for democracy against an aggressive Beijing-backed government, an issue that Taiwan also struggles with. Democracy in Myanmar and the Philippines also remains fragile and citizens have expressed dissatisfaction with their governments, causing citizens in those countries to express solidarity with their counterparts in Thailand. Outside of pro-democracy movements, Thai protestors have also drawn inspiration from gender-specific protests in other countries. For instance, South Korea is also witnessing its own women’s movement for decriminalizing abortions to tackle the rampant problem of illegal and dangerous abortions.
The dissatisfaction of protestors has only been amplified due to the coronavirus-induced frustrations, with the country at the cusp of a recession for the first time in 60 years. Although there have been similar protests in the past, this iteration of protests is characterized by a more uncompromising will to achieve change. At the same time, the demands and criticism of demonstrators have been more far-ranging. The inclusive nature of these protests has facilitated the entry of women and the LGBTQIA+ community, whose concerns have typically been pushed to the margins of such movements or been entirely absent. In the face of a swift and brutal crackdown by the government, and resistance from conservative citizens, even from those who form part of the pro-democracy movement, it is clear that there are significant obstacles to overcome in the battle to redefine gender roles and norms in an inordinately patriarchal society. However, the sheer volume of support and the relentlessness of protestors offers hope of tangible change for Thai women.
Thailand’s Ongoing Protests Have Catapulted Women’s Issues Into the Mainstream
Women in Thailand are using the international platform provided by ongoing political protests to candidly speak out against the country's patriarchal institutions.
November 25, 2020
SOURCE: Associated Press