Heinrich Boell Stiftung Southeast Asia Regional Office

The 100 year anniversary of the international women’s day will be celebrated in many countries around the world in March 2011. To celebrate this event, the Website “Women’s Voices, Women’s Choices - 100 years of international women’s day” in English and German version was created by  Heinrich Boell Stiftung  in collaboration with its international and German Partners to increase public awareness concerning women and gender related topics. The website can be viewed at www.gwi-boell.de/womens-day.

HBS international offices in Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia share different voices of  women  and other gender identities in diverse contexts. The current feminist movement is one of the topics and features voices from Israel, Mexico and Brazil.  The development of the International Women’s Day in several countries such as Russia, USA and Serbia are presented by articles and interviews.  

Concerning Thailand, there are two pieces of work reflecting the gender situation. more»

 

Introduction
Religion has an important function in the public and political life of many societies that also affects the relations between men and women as well as the right to gender equality. Still, how do religion and politics mingle precisely and what are the concrete social and political consequences of this mixture from a gender perspective? To address these questions, we conducted an extensive research project in collaboration with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) which focused on 11 countries: Chile, India, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, Turkey, USA.

About the Project - Religion continues to have a public dimension throughout the world, and from the point of view of women’s rights to equality, there is much at stake in how religion and politics intertwine. Therefore, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, in close cooperation with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), launched a research project which explored the effects of this blending of religion and politics on women’s rights and gender equality.  more»

PUBLICATION SERIES ECOLOGY, VOLUME 21

The Future We Want- A Feminist Perspective

The Future We Want – the motto chosen by the UN in the run-up to the June 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) – is certainly forward-looking. Rio+20 is supposed to define routes towards a safer, fairer, greener, and cleaner world. But the blueprints for a green economy are devoid of gender perspectives. Christa Wichterich’s essay takes a closer look on the relations between feminism and ecology. more»

Publication

Single Motherhood

- The publication “Single Motherhood” is a collection of articles by Thai scholars on different aspects of single parenthood in Thailand.  Issues such as the Thai legal system and single motherhood, discourse of single motherhood, middle class single mothers and single mothers living in the city are examined. Furthermore, the issue of single fatherhood and its’ problems in Thai society are made visible. The following articles are abstracts from the Thai version. more»

Publication

Gender Discourse in Thai Politics

- February 27, 2012 - Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra’s sudden rise to the highest position in the Thai    political hierarchy is phenomenal and significant. That Thailand now has its first  female prime minister has provoked reactions from almost everywhere. To fully understand the phenomenon of the first-female-premier, it is firstly required to examine how women in politics and gender discourse are related. This article has summarized the discussion from academics, writers and civil society activists on the issues.
more»

Stereotypes dominate debates about Yingluck

- January 26, 2012 -  Six months have passed since Yingluck Shinawatra was elected to the first female Prime Minister in Thailand. Since her election she provoked a variety of debates, which are connected to her femininity. The article summarize some debates on Gender in political context which were highlighted in Thailand during the past months. Elisabetha Huber more»

Localizing Feminism: Women’s Voices and Social Activism in Thai Context

March 8, 2011 - "Localizing Feminism: Women’s Voices and Social Activism in Thai Context" is a paper by Dr. Chalidaporn Songsamphan, an associate professor of the Political Science Faculty at Thammasat University. This paper aims to present about the situation of Thai Feminism and how does it locate in Thai society.

 

more»

Women and Community Radio in Thailand

March 4, 2011 - Community radio (CR) is the best concrete example of media reform in Thailand, because radio is a medium that is highly accessible in rural areas, and involves low production costs and levels of necessary expertise. Since 2007, the Multiculturalism and Educational Policy Research Centre (Multi-Ed), Faculty of Education, Chiang Mai University is interested in women’s programs and in the number of woman broadcasters.
 
Sarintip Mansap and Sarod Wellmanee more»

Briefing Report: Women in Thailand

March 4, 2011 - The current briefing report on the situation of “Women in Thailand” provides information on the situation of Thai women in political, economic and social aspects. The report states that the share of women in the Thai Parliament is only 13.3 percent. It shows that although Thai women were given the rights to vote for eight decades, the political landscape is still dominated by men. Dr. Sutada Mekrungruengkul, Gender and Development Research Institute (GDRI) more»