"I knew it was going to be like this and that the result would be a lack of interest in the issue," said Sodsri Satyatham, one of only three female drafters. "They all believe that equality has mostly been achieved."

On Tuesday, Sodsri urged fellow drafters during the meeting of the Constitution Drafting Committee to ensure that gender equality is achieved in reality - and not just on paper.

Her suggestion was met with no response. Male charter-writers simply went on to discuss other issues.

Sodsri said she hoped the discriminatory title in the Thai language, which differentiates between married and single women through different titles, should be abolished.

In Thai, once a woman is married, she is officially referred to as narng for the rest of her life - whether or not she later divorces.

A Thai male is designated with the term nai, or mister, for all his adult life - regardless of his marital status.

"I don't think the issue of title will be supported. I now realise the other male drafters must think it's a joke. In the West, women these days simply use the title Ms, whether you're married or not," she told The Nation on Thursday.

The fact is, there remain many other examples of gender inequality in Thai laws, despite the 1997 so-called People's Constitution that guaranteed gender equality in Article 30. Part of the article stated that: "Men and women are equal and any discriminatory treatment ... cannot be committed."

Virada Somswasdi, a leading feminist and founder of the Women Studies' Programme at Chiang Mai University, said the patriarchal structure was still entrenched in Thai society.

Virada reasoned that the new constitution should contain a clause requiring that any law that goes against or is contrary to the principle of gender equality will have to be amended or discarded.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation