A battle we must all wage

This Sunday marks the centenary of women’s rights as an international concern. The day represents an opportunity to celebrate achievements made over the decades, but also to acknowledge that woman’s battle for equality is far from won. The sad truth is that, after all these years, women around the world still cannot claim they enjoy the same rights as men.
The infringement of rights occurs everywhere, regardless of the size of the economy or the nation’s political model. Hollywood actress Patricia Arquette delivered a powerful statement about equality in her recent Oscar acceptance speech, receiving cheers and loud applause from her fellow actors. High-profile plaudits also came from Hillary Clinton. “She’s right – it’s time to have wage equality once and for all,” said Clinton, speaking at a Silicon Valley women’s conference.
The Oscar-winning actress’ speech reflects the fact that even women in developed and supposedly egalitarian countries like the United States do not yet enjoy equality. There is still much work to be done by feminists and rights advocates.
Arquette used her speech to call attention to the pay gap between women and men. Though some countries enshrine the right to equal pay in law, women the world over are still paid less than men. Behind this fact lie deeply entrenched prejudices that require collective efforts and clear vision to overcome.
Half of the world’s population still suffers inequality in many forms and at every age level. Countless girls are denied educational opportunities, while many women are still yearning for the right to drive. The discrimination varies, but it has the same root cause of bias against women, an attitude so deeply ingrained in many societies that it reaches beyond the efforts of laws to curb it and prevents women from living free and independent lives.
In Thailand, despite the efforts of various organisations and advocates, women’s rights receive little attention. It takes the intervention of a politician or celebrity to put them, briefly, in the spotlight. Supporters of former premier Yingluck Shinawatra have rightly accused some of her opponents of sexism in their attitudes towards her. But those same attitudes are widespread in Thai society and rarely challenged in everyday life.
Thai authorities and the public must shift their focus from high-profile name-calling and instead address the underlying issue. Sexual harassment and domestic violence against women and girls are still common in Thailand, as are forms of inequality in the workplace. And the struggle against such discrimination belongs to every one of us, not just to feminists and rights advocates. To win this fight in Thailand, we require collective efforts to eliminate the prejudice and hypocrisy that are prevalent at all levels of society.