Ratchadaporn Kaewsanit, 65 years old, Democrat Party list-MP, Kalasin Province

a) Personal background

Ratchadaporn graduated with a Master Degree in Social Psychology from Srinakarinwirot University. She was interested in political activities since she studied for a bachelor’s degree.

Interestingly, she was an activist during the Oct 6, 1976 student uprising. She also served as a member of Women and the Constitution Network and a member of the labor subcommittee in Thailand’s House of Representatives. Moreover, she was a former MP (party list), namely Democrat Party. She used to be an advisor to the Governor of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). Currently, she is a woman activist against sexual harassment in the workplace. For example, she urged that female subscribers who get childbirth rights after having contributed to the fund over seven months should get such rights after the direct distribution

payment. She suggested that the draft should be amended from 6 years old to 15 years, and the childbirth right's limitation to only two children should be amended to “unlimited”.

b) Perceptions about women’s political participation in Thailand

Ratchadaporn pointed out that the current situation of women’s participation was obscured because many women representatives came from political families and they did not understand the role of representatives and the budgeting processes. As a result, NGOs and the Women’s Affair and Family Development tried to improve the status of local women politicians. These organizations provided training for women representatives in the Local Council. In addition to the political process, she accentuated that Thai laws did not support women.

The 2007 Constitution identified that “the political parties should be aware of raising gender equality and specify an equal proportion of sexes in the party list”. Generally, the parties usually recruited well-known candidates (male) with acceptance from people. In fact, ordinary women had no opportunities to access the political arena. Similarly, she criticized that the National Economic and Social Development Plan (1^st-12^th issues) did not facilitate an increase in the numbers of women in political participation. Conversely, she believed that social movements and the Constitution were supporting factors for women’s empowerment.

Regarding leadership characteristics, she indicated that a woman leader should be brave, honest and fair. She assumed that local women politicians were not accepted by the villagers and the budget was a primary factor. Nowadays, Thai society increasingly accepts the role of women representatives; however, gender stereotypes and prejudice are still important obstacles for women’s political empowerment.

Not surprisingly, Thai society was still male dominant. She indicated that women’s identity was a vital factor as well as tenderness, honesty, sympathy, and modesty. These charismatic qualifications facilitated gradually to acceptance by the people. Similarly, she indicated that a woman from a political family had more opportunity than the ordinary woman.

Moreover, she asserted that a woman got well-educated and well-nurtured from her family. This situation was a facilitating factor for women in politics. Similarly, a woman worked outside the home and also nurtured her children. This situation increases greatly the climate of justice against discrimination in the society. Lastly, she agreed with corporation between the related

organizations, particularly the role of NGOs as an important tool for women’s participation in Thailand.

Additionally, she believed strongly that the gender quota system was the best instrument for women in politics. The 2017 Constitution identified that “political parties should be aware of raising the gender proportion in the party list”. Moreover, committees (national and organization) should have setting equally the proportion between men and women. She thought that the appropriate proportion of women as national and local representatives should be 1/3 at minimum.

To summarize, she accentuated that individual women and NGOs were the most supporting factors to access women’s political participation. On the other hand, the patriarchy system, gender stereotypes and prejudice have impacted negatively on the role of Thai women from the past to the present.

5. Dr. Pussadee Tamthai, 66 years old, former Democrat party list-MP and Deputy Governor of Bangkok

a) Personal background

Pussadee graduated with a Ph.D. in Science Education from Indiana University, USA. She was a university professor in her earlier life and later became the first principal of the New International School of Thailand (NIST). She is married to Bodin who runs the Tamthai Foundation.

She has participated in many organizations for Thai women’s status promotion. From 1994 to 2000, she was director of the Women in Politics Institute (WIP). She was coordinator of the Women and Constitution Network from 1998-2000. In 2006, she also served as a member of the subcommittee on Women’s Affairs in the Legislative Assembly. Furthermore, she became a member of House of Representatives (party-list) in the Democrat‘s cabinet (2004, 2007- May 2011 and July 2011-April 2013). Her current responsibility is as Deputy Governor of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Thailand.

b) Perceptions about women’s political participation in Thailand

Pussadee explained that the current situation of women’s political participation was getting better. According to the voters, the number of women voters was higher than men. Despite of supporters, the proportion of women was still low and the supporters were mainly family members.

Nevertheless, the amount of women representatives (MP and senators) was not more than 16 percent.

Fortunately, the political system facilitated women’s participation. Additionally, parties tried to recruit more women; for instance, the Democrat branches in some provinces had women as members on the committee, and this party invited grass-root women to join the team. She also suggested that the party-list system was the best measure for parties to increase the numbers of Thai women in politics.

According to the legal framework, she noticed that the Constitution and Laws in foreign countries promoted women in politics. In the case of Thailand, there were no laws to increase the number of women politicians. The role of parties thus became the most important mechanism to increase women’s empowerment. In addition, she commented that national plans were only official documents with no action plan and implementation because the policy-makers and practitioners did not concentrate seriously on women’s political participation.

Regarding leadership personality, she pointed to public spirit, honesty and transformative leadership as the most important factors for women leaders. She emphasized that well-educated people increasingly understood the role of women’s empowerment. Consequently, Thai citizens also considered the candidate’s ability and knowledge as the first requirements. She noticed positively that the opportunities in Thai society opened widely for everyone.

In addition to traditional values, she believed that Buddhism and Christianity were not obstacles. The family background was still a facilitating factor for women in politics. A woman who inherited from a person in her political family was familiar with people and acceptance from people at national or local levels. Subsequently, the family condition became the most influencing factor for women in politics. Due to the cooperation of the related organizations, she emphasized that public media was an important sector for promoting women’s political participation and suggested that the media should seriously promote Thai women politicians.

She also accentuated that the gender quota was the best instrument for increasing the number of women in politics but it waspromulgated as a temporary measure twice or three times in the general elections (about eight or twelve years). Both at the national and local levels, the critical mass of the increase of national women representatives should be averaged at 30 percent at minimum.

In conclusion, she restated that individual woman was the most influencing and obstructing factors for women’s political participation.

Opinions of the Local Representatives

6. Jarunee Pimpinit Na Nakhon Phanom, 59 years old, local politician at Kalasin