International Women's Day – Leader of Pheu Thai Party & Deputy Chair of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee, Thailand

[As prepared for delivery]

Deputy Executive Secretary of UNESCAP,

Deputy Regional Director of UN Women Asia Pacific,

United Nations Resident Coordinator in Thailand,

Ambassadors, young leaders, and distinguished guests.

We are gathering here today at the UN to celebrate International Women's Day. I stand before you as a proud woman who leads the Pheu Thai Party and also the deputy chairperson of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee. I would like to consider myself a woman who has been invested in politics, as the goal of this talk aims at.

In recent years, the world has progressed a lot more towards the stronger rights of us, women, thanks to the SDGs advocacy by the UN and its partners worldwide, including Thailand. However, progress does not equate perfection and many women in Thailand still suffer from unfairness in workplace,discrimination, domestic violence, or gender bias. This has to change.

As a woman leader of a political party, I always hold the significance of investing women in politics in mind. In the last election, we gain quite a number of female MPs, which amount to 20% of our all-elected seats, which is above the average number of female Thai MPs in parliament. Yet, we know this is not good enough. Hence, in the next election, we aim to reach the global average proportion of women in parliaments, which is 26.5%. Also, we will sustain our tradition of gender equality in the party as the model for all political parties in Thailand.

Not only within our internal tradition, but we alsostrive to advocate women in politics and bridge the inequality gap via various tangible policies. First, The Women Empowerment Fund, a policy implemented during Yingluck’s administration, aimed to financewomen to develop their skills. It is, until today, one of the most concrete allocations of budget to women in Thai political history. We will encourage this government to continue this torch to illuminate the firm path for all women.

​Second, the One Family One Soft Power or OFOS Policy, this scheme will help identify hidden talents, retrain women skills, and unleash their potentials to meet the global demands. There will be incubator centers all over the country where Proper training programs will be well prepared to re-skill and up-skill our women to fulfill their dream jobs in industries such as the film, fashion, food, design, and arts.

​Third, the Marriage Equality Bill. With its enforcement, Thailand would become the first country in Southeast Asia to affirm marriage equality andstrengthen Thailand’s position as Asia's most open LGBT+ community.

​Fourth, the Free Cervical Cancer Vaccination. Since “health is power”, this policy aims to offer access to free cervical vaccination which will definitely lead to significant reduction of women’s mortality rates. As of 25 February, this government has managed to distribute over 1.6 million doses of cervical vaccines to women across the country.

​Last but not least, the Ending Violence Against Women Policy. Thailand has reigned as one of the highest rates of violence against women, with 30,000 cases per year, and at least 7 Thai women are being subjected to physical, mental, or social abuse per day. Soon, the Pheu Thai Party will propose the Family Protection Bill to stop this unfairness and ill-treatment towards women, granting them the political ground to stand firm as proud women like me today.

​I believe these examples have drawn a clear picture of how the Pheu Thai Party’s women empowerment policies would help accelerate the SDGs framework in Thailand. As Mr. Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, once said, “gender equality is more than a goal itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development, and building good governance.” We, Pheu Thai Party, understand that empowering women is not just a matter of justice and equality, but is essential for sustainable and inclusive development. On this International Women's Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to a world where every woman and girl can live without fear, discrimination, or limitations.

Thank you.