Position Paper

Committee : International Relations

Topic : Gender Equality
Country :The Kingdom Of Thailand
University : Tanjungpura University

Gender equality is not only a basic human right, equal responsibility and
opportunity between men and women, but its achievement has enormous socio-
economic consequences. Empowering women can trigger economic development,
spur productivity and growth. However, gender inequality has always been deeply
rooted in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face job segregation
and gender pay gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health
care. Women all over the world experience violence and discrimination, even the
WHO estimates that a third of women experience physical or sexual violence, most
often from within a partner relationship and most cases go unreported.

“Where men and women have equal rights, societies prosper. Equality for
women is progress for all.”- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Over the years, the
United Nations has faced serious challenges in its efforts to promote gender equality
globally, as there is no single recognized driver for directing UN activities on gender
equality issues. In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly established UN
Women, which is specifically dedicated to gender equality and women's
empowerment. UN Women supports the UN Member States as they set global
standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil
society to design the laws, policies, programs, and services needed to ensure that these
standards can be implemented effectively and are truly beneficial. for women and
girls around the world. UN Women works globally to make the vision of the
Sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and supports the
statement that women are equal in all aspects of life and focuses on five priority areas,
namely increasing women's political leadership and participation, ending violence
against women, involving women in all aspects of the peace and security process as
well as humanitarian action, improving the economy of women's empowerment, and
realizing gender equality as a national center for development planning and
budgeting.

Gender inequality in the work environment, gender pay inequality, and

violence and discrimination against women are still rooted in Thai society. In rural
areas in Thailand, many women are affected by poverty, discrimination, and
exploitation. According to the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women,
discriminatory practices against women are still prevalent in rural areas in Thailand
such as labor practices, unfair treatment of female workers, and difficulty in accessing
resources. Thailand has legally promoted women's rights and gender equality
through ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1985, endorsed the Beijing Platform for
Action (BPFA) in 1995 and committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
in 2015. Thailand has also made significant efforts to integrate international principles
and instruments into laws and policies, as evidenced in the Royal Thai Constitution
BE 2560 in 2017, which stipulates that 'men and women shall enjoy equal rights. The
2015 Gender Equality Act established the Committee to Promote Gender Equality
(CPGE) to enforce the Law's policies and legal mechanisms to promote gender
equality. In addition, the Women's Development Strategy from 2017 to 2021,
developed by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, sets out goals,
targets, and targets in the area of gender equality which will serve as a guiding tool
for effective budget allocation. This is evidenced by Thailand's relatively good
performance, namely women with high power such as CEO/Director reaching 24%
compared to 20% worldwide and only 13% in Asia-Pacific. Slowly but surely, gender
equality in the political field, the representation of women as members of the DPR
increased three times, from 5.4% in the 2019 election results to 16.2%. UN Women is
co-leading the UNCT SDG Results Group on Peace and Governance with UNDP, and
the COVID-19 and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Sub-group in Thailand to address
needs, actions, and services to prevent and address GBV during COVID-19 and
service development, systems, and long-term structures to protect affected women
and girls, men and boys from all forms of violence, with the active engagement and
engagement of key government and civil society stakeholders.

We hope that UN Women as an organization under the auspices of the United

Nations specifically dedicated to addressing gender equality and empowering women
will continue to work closely with the Thailand government in efforts to improve the
welfare of women and children. And UN Women Thailand should pay more attention
to women in rural and remote areas who are still affected by poverty, discrimination,
and exploitation. To overcome this, countries must provide special employment
opportunities for women workers and ensure the welfare and protection of women
workers. Thailand believes that the world community should be given counseling or
campaign related to gender equality issues since school and provide the widest
opportunity for all women to participate in world development as a safe place for
women around the world.