Gender stereotyping affecting women's rights: UN forum

Ursua made this remark during a two-day regional workshop on good practices promoting women’s rights in the justice delivery system. The workshop, held in Bangkok, was organised by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Thai Courts.

Ursua said harmful stereotyping included the belief that women showed they wanted sexual attention by wearing revealing outfits and that saying “no” in fact meant “yes” because women are considered to be sexually passive and coy. 

Other stereotypical beliefs are that a wife is duty-bound to provide sex to her husband and that only “stupid”, uneducated women get raped, Ursua said, adding that such beliefs in the judicial system had to be corrected. 

“The courts should make decisions without indulging in stereotyping,”  she said.

She cited the Philippines, where judges undergo gender-sensitivity training.  No specialised gender-sensitivity training exists for Thai judges, she pointed out. 

However, judges participating in the workshop said the Thai judiciary was doing fine when it came to gender equality, adding that some experts had been invited to give talks. One male judge added that if anything, Thai judges were more sympathetic to women. For example, he said, if a wife killed her husband, the judges would try to consider all the factors that led her to commit such a crime. 

However, a senior women’s rights activist – who asked not to be named for fear of affecting already strained relations with the Thai judiciary – said gender-sensitivity training was necessary so Thailand could be in greater compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 

Wuthichai Rhujittawiwat, presiding justice of the Supreme Court, defended the Thai judiciary, saying the judges were well trained and worked as a group. He also noted that the number of female judges was on the rise, pointing out that of the total 4,327 judges of the Courts of First Instance, Appeal Court and Supreme Court, 27.8 per cent or 1,203 are women. This figure, he said, was expected to keep rising. 

Wuthichai and his colleagues also refuted a comment by one prominent executive of an international non-governmental organisation who said Thai judges were too defensive in acknowledging their shortcomings, adding that this may have to do with “saving face” under the new military regime. 

“The Thai judicial system is such that we do not fear those who staged the coup,” a female judge, who asked not to be named, responded. 

Saman Zia-Zarifi, ICJ regional director, said culture, tradition or a patriarchal society should not impede women’s rights, adding that one should aim for improvement instead of perfection as no country can say it has completely ended discrimination.