According to the 2001 UNDP Gender-Related Development Index, on which Thailand ranked 66^th out of 162 countries, Thai women are faring remarkably well compared to many of their global counterparts. The ranking, however, is relative, and the mere existence of the index reflects the unfortunate reality that no country in the world today has achieved the elusive yet fully imaginable goal of gender equality.

Yet there must be some more identifiable way to measure the progress of individual countries and the world as a whole towards reaching some determined level of acceptability in gender relations. Many measure world progress by the number of signatories and degree of compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Efforts by individual countries, however, are necessarily more difficult to calculate, as each state must take into consideration its own history and its social, political and economic culture and circumstances.

Fortunately, there have already been attempts to devise some system of measurement of gender accountability at the state level. This paper will utilize the definition set forth by Nüket Kardam and Yakin Ertürk to analyze the extent of gender accountability in Thailand:

We define gender accountability as responsiveness to the

equality and a political culture where women’s interests are

freely voiced, heard and acted upon. (Kardam and Ertürk, 169)

This paper will first analyze to what extent gender accountability exists in Thailand on a general scale, and then will take a more focused approach by considering governmental and societal efforts to address the commercial sex industry and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Thailand. In so doing, the author will attempt to highlight the positive efforts, as well as the remaining obstacles, in furthering the country and its citizens towards the goal of a gender equal and gender accountable state.

A famous Thai proverb states that "Women are the hind legs of an elephant," meaning that though their role is just as important as that of the front legs (men), their proper place is considered to be one step behind. The reality of this concept can be seen through women’s historical place in the country; the key roles long assumed by women in both the domestic and economic spheres have not been accompanied by social valuation and recognition of gender equality. The husband and father continues to be socially accepted as the official head of the family, and despite the contributions to family finances generated by large numbers of female laborers in the public sphere, women continue to be paid less than men in jobs with harsher conditions and fewer benefits. How, then, did Thailand achieve such a high ranking on the UNDP Gender-Related Development Index?

Several of the major efforts by the government of Thailand to address gender equality have been largely in response to events in the international gender arena. Soon after the 1975 Mexico City conference, at which the achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women were reviewed, the Thai government established a national women’s committee to prepare the country’s first long-term (1982-2001) Women Development Plan. It also included women for the first time as a special target group in the government’s Five-year National Economic Development Plan. CEDAW was ratified just before the 1985 Nairobi conference, and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action has also prompted great response from the Thai government.

Thailand officially signified its support for the emerging gender equality regime when it ratified CEDAW on 9 August 1985, and again reaffirmed that commitment by ratifying CEDAW’s optional protocol in 2001. Although the government initially attached seven reservations to their CEDAW ratification, five have since been removed. The reservation on allowing the International Court of Justice to settle disputes is unlikely to be removed, however, as it is indicative of the Thai government’s position in other treaties with provisions seen as challenges to its sovereignty. The marriage and family life reservation also remains in force because several Thai family laws must first be amended before the reservation can be removed. One law that contradicts the provisions of CEDAW is the Civil and Commercial Code, which allows only men to initiate betrothal and states that men may claim compensation from any man that has had sexual intercourse – including cases of rape – with the man’s fiancée. The 1982 Name Act requires women to add the "Mrs." prefix to her name upon marriage, without making similar requirements of men. Thai family law also does not allow women to retain their family names upon marriage and provides for different grounds for husbands and wives in applying for divorce. Though the government’s national women’s machinery, known as the National Commission on Women’s Affairs (NCWA), has attempted to introduce legislation to address these inequalities in the family name and divorce laws, it has met with much opposition from the male-dominated political structure and social norms. Proposals by the NCWA to amend the divorce law were rejected by the Council of State, and the name-change legislation challenged the "strong feelings" of Thais towards patriarchal lineage.

In accordance with their CEDAW obligations, the Thai government has turned in fairly extensive yet delinquent reports on its efforts to comply with the Treaty. Though reports are due the year after acceding to the Treaty and at least every four years thereafter, the Thai second and third reports were submitted as one, and were considered by the Committee during the January 1999 session – fourteen years after the country’s ratification of CEDAW. The government’s fourth report was due on 8 September 1998, but as of November 2002, no report had been published.

This, however, is not to say that Thailand has not been implementing gender-based reforms nor reneging on its obligation to promote gender equality. The government signed the Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women in the Asia-Pacific Region (the "Jakarta Plan") and has diligently emphasized the Beijing Platform for Action. The latter was translated into Thai, and five regional seminars were held to educate the public on the Platform’s content and to seek support from grassroots and women’s organizations for its implementation. The Thai government has placed its focus on the Beijing Platform issues of gender equality, human rights of women and the girl-child, violence against women, and trafficking in women and children.

Perhaps the most notable sign of the Thai government’s commitment is the new Constitution, promulgated in 1997. The end of absolute monarchy in Thailand in 1932 was followed by over fifty years of coups and political unrest. The post-Cold War era, however, brought international support to pro-democracy movements in Thailand, and as with other transitional democracies, allowed women’s organizations to take advantage of space created within the political confusion. These maneuverings led to the promulgation of the 1997 Constitution, which was the result of the first concerted and truly democratic effort to incorporate many contributions from civil society – including women’s groups.

Section 30 of the new constitution guarantees equal rights for men and women and specifies gender-based discrimination to be unconstitutional. It also establishes the National Commission on Human Rights, an independent body of which one-third must be women. This body is responsible for monitoring Thailand’s compliance with relevant international instruments on human rights and for receiving complaints regarding human rights violations within the country.

Yet the Constitution is not without its flaws. While it prohibits gender-based discrimination, the Constitution fails to provide any sort of definition of what the term "discrimination" might include. Though this lack of specification could be interpreted to cover a broad range of actions and assumptions, it also resulted in the rejection by the Thai legislature of proposed anti-discrimination legislation because discrimination on the basis of sex was already prohibited under the Constitution. The Constitution also lacks effective law enforcement mechanisms, and already existing laws must be changed to conform to the new constitution’s provisions. One example of a law that was changed in accordance with the new constitution was the Labor Protection Law of 1998, which required gender equality in employment, equal pay for equal work, prohibited sexual harassment (which had never before been addressed in the Thai legal system), and raised the legal age of employment from 13 to 15 years of age.

The National Economic and Social Development Plans can also be seen as evidence of commitment by the Thai government in promoting gender equality and accountability. The governmental NCWA crafts the long-term Women Development Plans, with the current Plan covering 1992 to 2011; the short-term Five-year Women Development Plans are subsequently constructed based on the goals set forth in the long-term Plan. The five-year Women Development Plans are then incorporated into the Five-year National Economic and Social Development Plans, and "mainstreamed into the policies and programs of all government agencies." The Eighth Plan (1997 – 2001), with the key phrase of "people-centered development," required the government to implement CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action. The inclusion of this stipulation was due primarily to strong lobbying by the NCWA and women’s NGOs during the drafting period and ensuing public debate.

The creation of the national women’s machinery – Thailand’s National Commission on Women’s Affairs (NCWA) – is another obvious indicator of government commitment. The machinery originally took the form of a committee under the Ministry of the Interior after the 1975 Mexico City conference. However, it was moved to the Office of the Permanent Secretary to the Office of the Prime Minister, and in 1989, was officially established as a permanent national-level women’s organization. This post-Cold War period, as mentioned previously, was a time of great political and social change and unprecedented economic expansion in Thailand, which might have accounted for the elevation of status of the NCWA. Its status was further upgraded in 1997, from a division to a bureau, and that same year, approval was given by the Cabinet to promote the office to department-level status within the next two years. (This has yet to come to fruition, however.)

The official chair of the NCWA is the Prime Minister, although in practice, the job is delegated to one of the Deputy Prime Ministers. The Secretariat of the NCWA was operating in 1997 with 47 full-time government staff members, and its projects and activities budget had been continuously growing since the permanent establishment of the NCWA. However, its budget between the years of 1997 to 1999 reflected the financial crisis in which Thailand found itself, with budgets of baht 22,587,000; 13,757,800; and 12,593,200 out of total government expenditures of baht 957.7 billion; 1.05 trillion; and 1.16 trillion respectively.

The responsibilities of the NCWA are divided among the three main subdivisions. The Policy and Planning Subdivision formulates the short- and long-term Women Development Plans, monitors Thai laws as well as regulations and operations of government agencies for gender-based discrimination, and monitors compliance with Thailand’s legal obligations towards CEDAW and other international treaties. The Research and Information Subdivision promotes and coordinates research on Thai women, working with both national and international organizations; and the Promotion and Coordination of Women’s Activities Subdivision promotes grassroots activities to raise awareness about Thai women’s positions and capabilities, conducts studies on "the use of gender-based analysis in the development process and provides training in this area for agencies involved in development work," and coordinates between NGO and government programs and with international organizations and agencies.

NCWA committees are the first to discuss and formulate policies, often bringing together working groups comprised of specialists. There are nine national and five ad-hoc committees, including ad-hoc committees on Thailand’s Follow-up Activities to the 4^th World Conference on Women, on the Preparation of the National Report on the Implementation of CEDAW, and on the Improvement of the National Machinery on Women’s Development. The NCWA Board, which meets at least twice a year, receives the committees’ reports and recommendations, and then passes them on to the Cabinet for approval. The Board of the NCWA has thirty members, consisting of officials from 18 government agencies, two NGO umbrella organization representatives, and ten individual WID experts, who themselves are often drawn from NGOs (in 2000, NGO representatives comprised 30% of the Board). This mix of governmental and non-governmental experts also represents different levels of Thai society; both factors greatly increase the effectiveness of the NCWA:

Women representatives from community organizations and

These alliances and cooperation between internal advocates and the more autonomous NGO experts, while allowing the NCWA to operate more effectively within the government structure, also increase the accountability of the government to women’s issues by providing a wider representation and knowledge base of the breadth of women’s situations in Thailand.

Women’s issues are also addressed in various divisions and departments under the Ministries of Labor and Social Welfare, Interior, Agriculture, Education, Industry, and Health. However, coordination and cooperation between these offices is not necessarily consistent, leaving some women’s issues to be addressed in a piece-meal, uncoordinated, and therefore less effective manner.

Fortunately, the strength and breadth of issue coverage by Thai women’s NGOs tend to make up for areas where the government is lagging or lacking. NGOs run the gamut of causes, from grassroots, single-issue or area oriented organizations to those working to increase women’s political participation to policy research and advocacy organizations all the way to overarching associations at the top levels of society. Although their organizations are outside the government structure, their interaction with the Thai government both increases the government’s effectiveness and simultaneously holds the government accountable to women in Thai society:

The NGOs working on women’s issues are long-established

Government programs." (ADB, 36-37)

This has especially held true since the 1995 Beijing Conference, at which the attendance of many Thai NGOs were financially and politically sponsored by the government. The interaction and alliances forged at the Conference allowed these NGOs to gain "more confidence and better tactics in approaching the government directly and specifying their demands. They have additionally become quite adept at seeking foreign funding and expertise, working with international organizations and networking both among themselves and with other NGOs in countries around the world."

Another venue for interaction and coordination between NGOs can be found in the National Council of Women in Thailand (NCWT), an umbrella organization for women’s NGOs throughout the country. Although membership is primarily made up of women from the upper echelons of society, and is "under the royal patronage of Her Majesty the Queen," the NGO has made serious efforts to include grassroots organizations from all regions and classes of Thai society. Its mission is not to interfere with the workings of the individual organizations, but rather to coordinate, promote, and support the efforts of the organizations and to facilitate networking between the organizations themselves as well as with other international organizations and donors. It is accepted both by the NCWA, which includes the NCWT President as one of two NGO umbrella representatives, and by the United Nations, as the legitimate representative of Thai women’s NGOs.

One of the primary international donors also assisting in the development of Thai women is the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The efforts of this organization to work closely with the government, the NGOs, and with regional institutions helps to emphasize and shows understanding of the linkages that have been a key factor in advances made for and by women in Thailand. CIDA emphasizes women’s participation as equal partners in the sustainable development process, and supports organizations and activities that work to improve gender equity and implement the Beijing Platform for Action. According to UNIFEM,

The Canadian Embassy, which administers the [Canada Fund],

considers projects from a wide variety of sectors but gives

priority to those that focus on women, the environment,

and human rights. The importance that CIDA places on

women’s participation is clearly indicated by the

requirements that all project proposals must specify

whether they consider benefits to women, either directly

or indirectly, and what roles of women are in the project

(project designer, manager, administrator, etc.).

This bilateral governmental aid helps to ensure that Thai women are both targeted by and participants in the development process, and by doing so, maintains pressure on the Thai government to demonstrate both political and organizational gender accountability.

Another international organization that brings international assistance and pressure to the Thai government is the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Its work in Thailand has included support for small enterprises and businesses owned and operated by women, encouragement and assistance for women in pursuing leadership positions, and support for the establishment of the Gender and Development Research Institute, which is devoted to researching and advocating policy issues relevant to Thai women. UNIFEM also has utilized mass media in Thailand to attempt to change perceptions and stereotypes of women. For example, it sponsored the Hotline Centre Foundation’s production of a popular television program that addresses violence against women. In addition, UNIFEM co-chairs the Gender and Women’s Development Working Group – a coalition of representatives from various UN agencies – which works to identify areas of common interest between the UN organizations, bilateral donors, the Thai government, and Thai NGOs, and facilitate cooperation and complementarity in program development and implementation. The presence and activities of UNIFEM also assist in ensuring that the Thai government keeps account of its efforts towards gender equality.

Overall, then, to what extent does gender accountability exist in Thailand? At the organizational level, in which women’s interests must be incorporated into the goals, procedures, programs, projects and staffing in relevant institutions, Thailand certainly seems to be making progress in increasing its gender accountability. Though the number of women participating in the political arena is still quite low, women are actively being incorporated into the decision-making process. Whether efforts by the NCWA to upgrade the national women’s machinery to departmental status come to fruition in the imminent future will be a sure sign of the level of commitment and political will by the Thai government. The number and breadth of coverage by Thai women’s NGOs themselves increase the level of gender accountability while demanding accountability from their government, as well. And the external pressure produced by the presence of large numbers of international donors and organizations also works to ensure that women are included in every step of the development of the country and its people.

There is also a certain degree of political accountability. The still recent efforts in Thailand towards democratic governance, combined with the organization and mobilization of active women’s groups, have allowed women’s voices and actions to be visible and effective in bringing about change for women. The Eighth Plan’s inclusion of the requirement to implement CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Women demonstrated the importance with which the Thai government views these international instruments. And efforts have been made to make existing laws more gender-equal, such as the 1998 Labor Protection Law and the 1997 Measures in Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Children Act. Tangible signs of political will to produce, implement and enforce gender-sensitive policies, however, are still needed in order to demonstrate true political accountability. The 1997 Constitution, with its prohibition of gender-based discrimination and establishment of the independent National Commission on Human Rights, was a definite step forward in promoting gender equality. Yet unless its provisions are clarified and enforced, Thailand may mistakenly follow the path of countries whose laws on paper fail to reflect or guide the true realities of its citizens’ experiences.

Let us now focus on individual case studies to examine how gender accountability is filtered and interpreted at the single-issue level.

Since the late 60’s and 70’s, when a U.S.-Thailand agreement allowed American soldiers fighting in Vietnam to go to Thailand for "rest and relaxation" (R&R), the extremely lucrative commercial sex industry in Thailand has gained worldwide fame and recognition. Though some of the money earned by prostitutes does actually make it back to their usually poverty-stricken families, most of the profits go to brothel owners, sex traffickers, and into the pockets of corrupt law enforcement officers and politicians.

There has been great discussion regarding whether prostitution – even when "voluntary" – represents a fundamental violation of the rights and dignity of women. For the purposes of this paper, this discussion will not be repeated here, but this paper will consider only efforts by the government of Thailand and the international and civil society to address the causes and conditions of those prostitutes who, in other circumstances, might have been able and willing to choose other professions. This paper will also refrain from a detailed analysis of the extent of gender accountability with regard to the practice of sex trafficking. Although trafficking will be included among issues related and integral to the commercial sex industry, it should be noted that this practice adds another dimension to the inequality in gender relations and is a clear violation of women’s (and children’s) human rights.

The government of Thailand has shown legislative commitment to addressing prostitution, especially in cases of involuntary prostitution and sex trafficking. The Penal Code of 1956 criminalized procurement for the purpose of prostitution, and set out punishments for abuses against girls forced into prostitution. The code established increasingly harsh penalties for abuses against girls under 18, 15, and 13 years of age, respectively, and for the latter two, considered any procurement to be statutory rape, even if sexual contact was consensual.

The 1996 Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act is a more recent demonstration of this commitment. This law replaced the 1960 Act of the same name, which had criminalized prostitution and placed most of the penalties on the prostitutes themselves. The criminalization of the prostitutes but not the clients by the 1960 Act indicates that the original law was more a response to international pressure than a reflection of beliefs within the Thai government and society itself, which considered (and still considers) visits to prostitutes to be a social norm. The revision of this law was greatly advocated and brought about by efforts of a Special Task Force in the NCWA. Under the 1996 Act, prostitution is still deemed to be illegal, but much of the onus was removed from the prostitutes and placed instead on clients, brothel owners, pimps, traffickers, and parents selling their children into the trade. The law also stipulates that all prostitutes under age 18 receive protection and vocational development for up to two years. This child prostitution aspect of the legislation has received the greatest enforcement since the law came into force.

One weakness of the 1996 Act is that it only includes recognized brothels, as opposed to the "entertainment places" allowed under the Entertainment Places Act of 1966 (enabling the U.S. R&R policy). Thus, prostitutes working in "indirect" facilities such as bars, hotels, or restaurants, are still left in vulnerable positions, and lack the protection afforded by the 1996 revised law. The government pledged, however, in its Plan of Action to Prevent, Protect, Prosecute and Reintegrate (1997-2006) to consider ways to revise this law to include both explicit and implicit commercial sex facilities.

The Thai government has taken steps to specifically address the issue of sex trafficking, as well. The Measures in Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Children Act of 1997 criminalizes not only the traffickers themselves, but also those who conspired to traffic. In addition, this law includes provisions for assisting the victims of trafficking. The National Plan of Action for Trafficking of Women and Children will address the situation of illegal women and children migrants trafficked into Thailand, who have consistently been treated more as illegal immigrants (and prosecuted as such) rather than as the victims of sex trafficking. The government also adopted the 1998 Bangkok Accord and Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Women.

All of the above mentioned laws and acts, however, have been very weakly enforced – a troubling indication regarding the political accountability of the government. The lack of legal enforcement beyond perhaps the occasional brothel raid has unfortunately been due in large part to lack of training of police officers and officials on issues of prostitution and trafficking, and to corruption of law enforcement officers and agencies, especially with regard to trafficking. Lack of enforcement may also be due to insufficient coordination between the many ministries that oversee the implementation of prostitution and trafficking policies, including the NCWA and the Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Education, Labor and Social Welfare, and Health.

Rather than enforcement of its laws, the government seems to have focused more on working to address the "push" factors that encourage women to enter (or their families to sell their daughters into) the commercial sex industry. It raised compulsory education from six to nine years in hope of keeping more children in school. The NCWA also established a subcommittee on the Elimination of Involuntary Prostitution.

A major effort has been the two-part program funded by the Thai and Danish governments, conducted by the NCWA, and sub-contracted to two NGOs for implementation. The first part of the project is entitled, "Education and Training Program for Teachers, Parents and Young Girls at Risk." It is comprised of sex education for girls, and the provision of scholarships – particularly for girls in the North and Northeast provinces where prostitution has been most prevalent – to enable them to study in secondary or vocational schools until age 18. For girls entering non-formal vocational training, they "will be discouraged from entering training in traditional areas such as hairdressing and dressmaking. Instead they will be directed towards occupations in which there are better job opportunities." This part of the project was subcontracted to the Daughters Education Program (DEP), an NGO that works to prevent girls from being forced into the sex industry. DEP targets girls about to complete primary school to those 20 years of age, and provides education and job training for over 400 girls. The organization is a member of NCWA’s subcommittee against involuntary prostitution, and a member of international coalitions against trafficking and child prostitution.

The "Education and Training Program for Teachers, Parents and Young Girls at Risk" program also promotes attitude and situational changes in families that might otherwise be tempted to push their daughters into the commercial sex industry. The government encourages and funds small businesses and/or income-generating activities, and works with community leaders – namely teachers and monks – "in a campaign to restore traditional values and respect for the rights of girls and women."

The second part of the government program is the "Use of Mass Media to Eradicate Child Prostitution," which comprises the production of short films to be shown on television, radio broadcasts, posters, pamphlets, and three panel discussions to be held in high-risk areas. The goal, according to the NCWA, is "not only to change the attitudes of girls at risk and their families, but also to change men’s views on prostitution."

The greatest obstacle to governmental laws and efforts to address the commercial sex industry, however, has not necessarily been the lack of enforcement or the degree of corruption within the ranks. Rather, these may be more a reflection of the true hurdle – that is, that prostitution, despite its officially illegal status, continues to be considered an accepted social norm. The government openly acknowledges this contradiction in its joint UNAIDS report on the implementation of the 100% Condom Program:

Although sex work is illegal in Thailand, it remains part of the

Prostitution continues to be an enormous source of revenue for Thai economy. During the financial crisis in the late 90’s, there were rumors that sex tours and other aspects of the commercial sex industry were the deciding factors in preventing the total collapse of the Thai government and economy. The profits from the sex industry have spurred even greater trafficking abuses:

One report estimated that 450-540 billion baht (approximately

sharing profits. (McQueen)

As long as this industry continues to be lucrative, the government will face minimal incentive and maximal difficulty in implementing policies and in preventing girls from being pushed, tricked, or abducted into prostitution.

There are also several social aspects that compromise government efforts. One is that many men continue to view "initiation" into manhood with a prostitute as a rite of passage. The CEDAW Committee was told, "There is no word in the Thai language for a male virgin and a young man who admits to being one is highly likely to ridiculed by his peers. It is thought to be normal in many social groups for a man’s first sexual contact to be with a prostitute, and visiting commercial sex workers continues to be considered a part of group leisure behavior." Although this practice has declined somewhat since the government’s focused campaign during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there continue to be far more brothels for Thai men than those marketed mainly towards foreigners.

Many women also accept this social norm of men’s visits to prostitutes. In addition to the general social acceptance of men’s natural tendency to be unfaithful, many Thai people also believe the idea that men’s use of prostitutes prevents "good" girls from being raped. Also, because of the illegal yet still common practice for men to take a "minor" wife, Thai wives may prefer that their husbands visit prostitutes instead, as prostitutes are seen as less threatening to the stability of the family.

For women entering the commercial sex industry – especially for elder daughters hailing from rural areas – prostitution may be seen as the fastest and easiest way to earn money that can then be sent back home to poverty-stricken families. Even under the watch of brothel owners or pimps, prostitutes will usually earn more money than could be made by working twenty hours a day in factories with exploitative conditions. Sacrificing themselves for the sake of their families also goes along with Theravada Buddhist traditions. In the sect of Buddhism practiced in Thailand, sons can repay their parents for their sacrifices by becoming monks and attaining enlightenment, but this path is not applicable to daughters, simply by virtue of being women. Instead, they can repay their parents by taking care of them, whether that care be provided in physical or monetary form; prostitutes, then, can fulfill this duty by sending their earnings home. This sacrifice also adds to the daughter’s Buddhist karma, and may hopefully result in her being born as a boy in her next lifetime.

Finally, the increasing forces of consumerism have greatly added to the "push" factor that creates "voluntary" prostitutes and increases social acceptance of the industry. It is far more likely today to see families willing to trade their daughters for money to buy television sets, cars, or other commercial goods, or for the daughter herself to volunteer in order to send money home to her family so that they can buy the commercial goods. It should be noted, though, that many girls who volunteer do not actually understand the job that they are agreeing to enter. "Interviews with victims of child prostitution in Thai NGO shelters revealed that many girls who said that they ‘knew’ they would be working as prostitutes actually did not know what that meant. They thought that it meant ‘wearing Western clothes in a restaurant.’"

While the existence of the commercial sex industry has been socially accepted, however, girls still face a social stigma in becoming a prostitute. More common Thai words for prostitutes are "phujing mai dee" (bad woman) or "phujing ha kin" (woman who is looking for food). Those who do become prostitutes rarely tell their families – if it is possible to hide the fact – including their parents, siblings, and their own children, much less those outside their family. This social stigma can also affect government attempts to address prostitution; laws on assisting victims of sex trafficking or providing alternative vocational training become harder to implement when many prostitutes or their families may not admit their true profession.

Empower is one NGO that is attempting to negate this contradiction between social acceptance and social stigma by refraining from moral judgment in their work with Thai prostitutes. Empower aims to help prostitutes gain self-esteem and self-respect, while providing them with the power to choose their own paths, whether it be prostitution or other alternatives. The organization’s provision of literacy, foreign language, and skills education is recognized by the Ministry of Education’s Non-Formal Education Department. This means that prostitutes enrolled in Empower programs can get official certificates for passing Ministry-designated levels and Ministry scholarships for further education. Empower also provides a resource library which carries information on topics relevant to the interests and welfare of Thai prostitutes; provides counseling and rights-education seminars; houses a store that sells good produced by the sex workers; and has started a performance troupe, the Honey Bee Special, with the goal of providing simultaneous entertainment and information on safer sex. In addition, "Empower has been part of the International Sexworkers Network, and been accepted by the Asia and Pacific region as a leading organization representing sex-workers in Thailand."

The number of Thai prostitutes has gradually started to decline, but the industry itself has not; rather, there has been an increase in trafficking of women from neighboring countries and abroad. The decline in ethnic Thai prostitutes may also be attributed to more Thai women going or being trafficked to wealthier countries such as Japan and Germany.

This case study of government and civil society efforts to address the commercial sex industry in Thailand provides a troubling account of gender accountability in this area. The government has shown more willingness to prohibit and enforce child prostitution and trafficking issues rather than regulating the industry itself. This may be due to the clear violation of human rights posed by child prostitution, and because trafficking across borders has generally been treated as an illegal migration concern, superficially relieving the government of some of the gender sensitivity of the issue. International pressure may have contributed to the criminalizing of prostitution, but it has been followed by very little enforcement by the government. Although more positive efforts have been made in addressing the root causes of the "push" factor, deeply embedded cognitive aspects of Thai society have proven resistant to truly bettering the situation of prostitutes in Thailand.

Thailand has been heralded as one of the only countries in the world to have successfully reduced HIV/AIDS infection rates through proactive government and social mobilization campaigns. Gender has been a definite variable in the spreading of the virus, but to what extent has it been a consideration in government prevention and treatment efforts?

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Thailand began in the mid-1980’s, primarily among groups of homosexual men, and then spread to injecting drug users (IDU’s). The Thai government was convinced that the virus was limited only to a few groups with minimal risk of outward infection. They were thus taken by surprise by a 1989 survey that found that 44% of brothel-based sex workers in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand were infected with HIV, and the virus was rapidly growing among army conscripts, as well. This latter group was of particular concern, as army conscripts were seen as a fairly random and proportionally representative sector of the young Thai male population; in addition, the general youth of conscripts indicated that their infections were quite recent.

The growing number of HIV-positive prostitutes became even more of a concern after a 1990 national behavioral survey "found that 22% of men 15-49 and 37% of men 20-24 had visited a sex worker in the last year. Condom use in commercial sex was quite low – only 38% of men who frequently used sex workers in the 1990 study used condoms all of the time. HIV thus spread rapidly between sex workers and their clients."

Led by the multi-sectoral National AIDS Prevention and Control Committee chaired by the Prime Minister, the government responded by working within the decentralized government system to ensure implementation at all levels and conducting a massive social mobilization campaign:

A new national HIV prevention programme was launched in 1991

One of the most visible and heavily promoted government campaigns was the 100% Condom Program. With endorsement of the program by the Prime Minister and the revered Thai Royal Family, the government worked with provincial governors, local governments, local law enforcement, brothel owners, medical facilities, and sex workers themselves to boost condom use between prostitutes and clients. The government also made large scale use of the mass media and AIDS education in schools to educate present and future sex workers and their clients about HIV/AIDS transmission methods, dangers and effects. UNICEF assisted with peer-youth outreach programs and LifeSkills training both in and out of schools in order to reach the greatest number of people. Efforts were also made to provide further education and human rights training for sex workers so that they could increase their ability to insist on condom use by clients. This program was enormously successful; by 1997, condom use in brothels reached over 90%, with fewer men visiting sex workers and a severe decrease in the HIV/AIDS infection rates. Although condom use in indirect commercial sex sites, such as hotels or restaurants, after the 100% Condom Program began was not as high (around 85-90%) as those in direct sites, there was still a marked improvement from before the inception of the program.

However, there have been very few, if any, reports describing how disadvantaged groups within the commercial sex industry fared from the 100% Condom Program. Such a program may not have been very helpful, for example, to those women trafficked into the sex industry from neighboring countries who thus might have lacked the language and social standing necessary to successfully insist that unwilling clients wear condoms. This situation could also be applicable to child prostitutes, whose age and possible language barrier (if foreign) might have negated their ability to demand condom usage. In addition, with regard to the latter category of prostitutes, societal misperceptions that younger girls were "safe" and free of infection may also have led to more clients unwilling to use condoms. This lack of inclusion of disadvantaged groups in progress reports on government efforts to reduce transmission rates reduces the extent of governmental political accountability in protecting all women from HIV/AIDS infection.

Government programs have more recently focused on prevention efforts to combat mother-to-child transmission, which were officially made part of the national health policy in 1998. Efforts include voluntary counseling and testing programs provided in most public hospitals for pregnant women; if women are found to be HIV positive, anti-retroviral drugs are provided during her pregnancy, and breast milk substitutes are subsidized for one year after the birth of the child. The extent of commitment by the government in addressing mother-to-child transmission resulted in a 50% decrease in child infection rates by 1999, and has often been pointed to as a model for other countries in the region to follow.

Today, half of all new adult cases of HIV/AIDS are women infected by their husband or sex partner. This increase shows the trend for much less condom use within fixed or non-commercial relationships. In an evaluation study after the 100% Condom Program took effect, only about 40% of the men interviewed who had visited sex workers used condoms on a regular basis with fiancées and girlfriends, and about 60% with other female friends. The government and NGOs are conducting programs to educate and increase condom use among youth, but rural married women are seen as the hardest group to reach with minimal infection decreases predicted to result from outreach efforts. Although many of the reports on AIDS in Thailand report this high infection rate in fixed heterosexual relationships, few do more than mention the rate before going on to governmental efforts to address the lesser infection rates in injecting drug users and homosexual or bisexual men.

In fact, this lack of coverage is reflective of the reality that few of the Thai government’s response methods challenge the unequal sexual status between women and men. There are some exceptions. Within the response towards HIV/AIDS in the commercial sex industry, recognition that prostitutes may not have the ability to demand that clients use condoms led to increased training and empowerment efforts by both the government and organizations like UNICEF and Empower. Other programs, such as the Daughters Education Program and other education-oriented projects, were also developed and supported to prevent women from having to enter the sex industry.

Yet, as stated by UNIFEM, "Much work is being done in the region to tackle the spread of HIV, but little of it focuses specifically on gender or the needs of women. Even when women are the target groups, as in mother-to-child transmission programs, the approach is often not gender sensitive and does not seek to empower the women." The government’s focus on condoms and on mother-to-child transmission, combined with the exclusion of efforts to strongly address husband-wife or boyfriend-girlfriend transmission only maintains the public/private distinction that has traditionally hindered other gender equality efforts. The government’s work with sex workers to empower them to demand that clients use condoms was politically possible because by offering sex for money, prostitutes had entered the public sphere. The public/private distinction can be seen, however, by the mere fact that similar efforts are not being made to empower wives to tell their husbands to use condoms. Instead, the government has offered voluntary counseling for couples – an action that is highly unlikely to be proactive enough to reverse infection rates in fixed heterosexual relationships.

Societal acceptance of men’s infidelity further increases the wife’s chances of getting HIV from her husband, while the accepted norm of the man’s control in the sexual relationship decreases her ability to protect herself from infection. "‘Many husbands and wives believe that using condoms means lack of trust between each other. Also, majority of husbands refuse to use condoms with their wives because they say it is unnatural,’ [Pimwal Boonmongol of Mahidol Univesity] explained. ‘That’s why it becomes difficult for wives to demand it.’" The 100% Condom Program may also have resulted in a societal linkage of condoms and prostitution, thus inhibiting "good" wives – where "good" indicates absolute fidelity – from preferring or promoting condom use. The focus on preventing mother-to-child transmission would be even more effective if the focus were on preventing mothers from the initial infection of HIV/AIDS. Refusal to adequately address this aspect will only have increasing social and economic effects as more children become orphaned by both parents; orphans will be more likely to drop out of school, fall into poverty, and for girls, more vulnerable to entering the sex industry.

UNICEF is helping to address gender inequalities and increase the ability of women to be in control of their sexual and personal health decisions by helping to spread the "LifeSkills approach." This approach involves teaching skills such as critical thinking and negotiation and building self-esteem, with the goal of helping young people to become better able to recognize and avoid high-risk situations and behaviors.

Members of the Buddhist clergy, who are highly regarded in Thai society, are also attempting to change negative attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. The Sangha Metta ("compassionate monks") project in Northern Thailand trains and supports monks and nuns in "awareness-raising; prevention education; participatory social management skills and tools; encouraging tolerance and compassion for people affected by HIV/AIDS in the community; and providing direct spiritual and economic support to people and families affected by HIV/AIDS." Their efforts are helping to de-stigmatize HIV/AIDS, and when combined with the UNICEF program, will hopefully help to create an atmosphere in which all causes of transmission will be able to be confronted and addressed.

The Thai government deserves to be congratulated for successfully stunting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1990’s. The very success of their efforts, however, has led to recent complacency and a decrease in prevention efforts and overall commitment. The government AIDS budget has decreased by 28% since 1997, with prevention only being allocated 8% of the budget and treatment and care comprising more than 60%. These reduced efforts are even more unlikely to incorporate real recognition of and commitment to challenge gender inequalities and assumptions. This can already be seen in the new National Plan for the Prevention and Alleviation of HIV/AIDS in Thailand. The three activities identified as priorities are: renewing efforts to increase condom use among high-risk groups (where high risk includes sex workers, men who have sex with men, prisoners, fishermen, etc. – again, not wives or girlfriends); preventing transmission among injecting drug users; and ensuring access to cost-effective treatment for people with HIV/AIDS. Gender accountability with respect to the HIV/AIDS issue, then, continues to be lacking in Thailand.

We return now to the initial question that began this paper: To what extent does gender accountability exist in Thailand? The influence of the global gender equality regime can certainly be seen in the establishment of the national women’s machinery, the revision of laws to conform with CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action – most notable of which is the new 1997 Constitution, and in the strength and political savvy of Thai women’s NGOs. Efforts to effect change and the watchful eye of domestic NGOs, combined with external pressure from donor and international organizations like CIDA and the numerous and various UN agencies with offices in Thailand, also help to increase the political and organizational gender accountability within the government. The skilled interaction between the NCWA, domestic NGOs, and international organizations helps to ensure that issues relevant to the lives of Thai women are heard, included, and addressed. By many accounts, then, gender accountability in Thailand appears to be well on its way towards achieving the goal of a gender-sensitive and gender-equal society.

Yet as evidenced in all sections of this paper, serious obstacles still block the actualization of true gender accountability. The gender-sensitive laws that have been changed to conform to CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, and the 1997 Constitution suffer from a lack of enforcement, thereby offering little real protection for women in Thailand. Opposition to laws proposed by the NCWA, as well as the low levels of women in ranking government positions, also indicate that the political institutions within the Thai government may themselves lack gender neutrality. And as witnessed through the case studies on the commercial sex industry and HIV/AIDS, social and cognitive attitudes and beliefs continue to pose a serious challenge to overcoming gender inequalities.

The Thai government and civil society have excelled at increasing dialogue between the two and incorporating the voices and concerns of Thai women. Yet increasing the level of true gender accountability in the country will require a serious and visible political commitment to the difficult process of changing male-dominant attitudes and stereotypes both within and outside of the political structure.

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