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Published on December 14, 2007

Political parties are competing to provide policies to increase family incomes and cut expenses to reduce the burden on women, yet questions remain about government sources to fund such policies.

Female MP candidates discussed the role of women in politics at The Nation office yesterday and were joined by female academics and celebrities.

Democrat candidate Pusadee Tamthai said the party would provide support for women, from pregnant mothers and new-born babies to the elderly.

The party is promoting government-provided nurseries, supplementary food and free education, uniforms and textbooks until Mathayom 6 and a Bt500 monthly allowance for seniors, as well as Bt20,000 for seniors' activities in each tambon, she said.

A study into the 1997 economic crisis found 80 per cent of women's income, and 50 per cent of men's, was spent supporting families, so reducing household expenses would certainly help women, Pusadee said.

People Power candidate Suparat Nakbunnam said the party would provide policies to promote happy families by reducing their expenses and increasing their income via savings. It would also try to eradicate vices such as drug addiction, alcohol, porno VCDs and destructive computer games for children.

Dr Kritika Kongsompong, a marketing lecturer at Chulalongkorn University's Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, questioned where a government would get the money for such policies.

She said there continued to be problems of students who lacked money for food, which forced children to work underage. She also questioned PPP's policy to legalise the 2- and 3-digit lotteries, saying gambling was a vice.

Pusadee said the government would have to revise how to spend its Bt1.6 trillion budget.

Suparat said the two-and three-digit lotteries would solve the problem of illegal lotteries and at the same time fund education for children.

Puea Pandin candidate MR Kittiwattana Jayant Pocmontri said the party would revisit the laws relating to "internal affairs" and create better job and educational opportunities for women.

She said it would provide education for prostitutes and support them to produce community items via Otop (One-Tambon-One-Product), as well as embracing the sufficiency economy philosophy.

Celebrity Darunee Kritboonyalai said women who were forced into prostitution by economic problems might not adjust to a much lower income. Moreover, their parents might have forced them to work in the sex industry.

Chart Thai candidate Janista Liewchalermwong said the party would promote business operators to set up community nurseries and the government might use tax measures to motivate them.

It would also promote better health protection by encouraging women to have medical checks for high-risk diseases such as breast and cervical cancer.

Kritika said businesses might not be convinced to set up nurseries, if it was not profitable.

Teacher-turned-businesswoman Apiphawadee Kruesopon said besides the availability of child-care centres, safety in nurseries and schools was a very important concern, especially in the provinces.

Matchima Thipataya candidate Supaporn Saengthong said the party would promote a development fund for village women, eradicate drugs and provide a Bt1,500 monthly allowance to the elderly if the party takes office.

Dr Kornvipa Whillas, a gender studies lecturer at Thammasat University, said Thai values should be changed from seeing women's main role as housewives to people who can be leaders.

Meanwhile, female politicians should accomplish more to prove they could lead in their own ways.

If elected to Parliament, female politicians should join hands to push for laws that provide better status and rights of women, such as laws related to titles (Miss, Mrs, Ms) and abortion, to premature pregnancies.

Businesswoman Rapeephan Lueang-Aramrat said she wanted to see more leading roles for women in international trade, such as a female Thai Trade Representative, as women could have views different from men.

Kornchanok Raksaseri

 The Nation