Ms. Siriporn Skrobanek, President
of Foundation for Women opened the seminar and gave an update
on the Campaign to amend article 276 that was started on March
8th, 2002.
She reported that about 10,000 signatures have been collected
up to November 2002. The signatures include people of different
groups including rural women leaders, grassroots women, the
middle class and some well-known public figures. Nearly 80%
of people participating in the Campaign so far are women including
the Bangkok Metropolitan Clerk and the Director of the Tourism
Authority of Thailand. Twenty percent of those who have also
signed on to the Campaign are men including Mr. Abhijit Vejacheeva
the Vice Chief of the Democrat Party.
Mrs. Skrobanek noted that this Campaign has also stirred up
some debates and discourse over women's status. It was found
that the perception that regards "women as buffaloes
and men as human" still exists in the Thai society.
Thus, the discussion today may lead to a new discourse on
violence against women, especially in the context of a marriage
i.e., how women want to see safety and security in their lives.
This also reinforces the aim of the Constitution to uphold
dignity of all human being - women, men, children or adult-without
any discrimination.
Mr. Chaladchai
Ramitanond, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiangmai
University.
"Men create discourse."
"Marital rape" is
a major issue but regrettably it has been considered at
only as a small problem. This issue is not even well recognized
among the social movements of the Thai civil society today.
A few women's groups have to work hard to bring the issue
to public attention. I think this is about creating a discourse.
The term "discourse" refers to a series of explanation
of natural occurrence and phenomenon. As such, there are
no implications on which discourse is right or which is
wrong. Thus, in a diverse society we need different sets
of discourse to explain different phenomena. It is important
to note that men have more opportunities than women do to
create discourse. Nevertheless, since discourses are product
of human integenuity, they can be changed, abolished or
newly created.
Resistance
to the Campaign
The proposed amendment of law has received much resistance
not just because it deals with sex or reproduction. But
more importantly, the proposed change in the law touches
on the power relations in Thai society, which rests on the
men's control over women's body. It is about the control
of sexuality.
Men agree to let women have voting rights. Although they
also agree to allow women to hold parliamentarian positions,
they do not allow them to wear trousers to the parliament
office. If this much is not possible, one can anticipate
that the proposed law amendment will be an upheaval battle
because the change would forego what men regard as their
rights.
Thai
State is no different from Burma/Myanmar.
On the occasion of the Campaign against VAW day, a book
entitled "License to Rape" was launched at the
Women's Studies Center, Chiangmai University. The book reveals
how Burmese soldiers use rape as a weapon to suppress and
destroy the ethnic minorities that demand separation from
the state. Such a war is not only considered as ethnic war,
but also gender war.
The Burmese State gives "license to rape" to its
soldiers in order to suppress their own people. Likewise,
the Thai government has been authorizing husbands to rape
their wives by issuing marriage certificates. Thus, some
women do not regard registering of marriage as a dignity
or an honor because this gives a license for the husband
to rape his wife, as long as the marriage remains legal.
Foundation
for Women has conducted a documentary review on the following
discourses.
"It is natural that men
have greater and stronger sexual need."
There is no academic (or scientific)
evidence that men have greater and stronger sexual need
than women. Men who are sitting here may say that they do
not have greater and stronger sexual need. So, the statement
is neither a fact nor it warrants academic (or scientific)
conclusion. It is only a discourse, which was created by
men and has been maintained to justify men's sexual behavior.
Because men want to behave in such a way, they use an excuse
of having greater sexual need.
Some people think that distinctions must be made between
rape - as an act of violation, sex for reproduction, and
sex for pleasure. They believe that if men only want sex
for pleasure, women can refuse. However, if men want sex
for reproduction women should comply and see it as a duty.
The question here is, can such a distinction be made? If
men want only reproduction, perhaps they can try other methods.
Modern medical technology is available these days to serve
this kind of need. Therefore, such a statement is only meant
to serve one's own interest.
" It is the duty of a
wife according to traditional culture."
Since the term "culture"
is created, therefore what considered culture are mostly
discourses. For example, status of a housewife has been
created in a specific cultural, economic and political context
and based on a particular condition of gender relation.
During the earlier time, parents wanted their daughters
to marry a man with higher social and economic status, and
who has already been ordained. These elements indicate power.
Considering younger age, lower social, economic and educational
status, women of the old time find themselves in a subordinate
position when they enter into a marriage. However, such
differences in terms of age, education level as well as
social and economic status between couples are no longer
common nowadays. Still, the law continues to entrust men
with greater power and authority over women. How could this
be appropriate in the current context?
"Family is more important
than women's rights over their body"
There need to be a new definition, which says, "A caring
family is the one without violence"
While we believe that family is a basic unit of love and
care, Thai people are blinded to see that in many cases,
family could be an institution full of abusive power, violence
and torture. Surely we are longing for a warm and loving
family. We should realize that a warm and loving family
is based on relationship free from violence. Then how to
establish and maintain such relationships within family
is a key for real hapiness not only for individuals but
also for society.
"The existing law is good
because it has been drafted by legal experts and lawyers
with degrees from abroad."
This discourse is actually considered
as the core of all the discourses. In this context, the
discourse refers to explanation or a set of interpretation
developed by experts or those who claim that they are experts.
This discourse can be misleading since the persons claimed
to be the knowers may not really knew or may be biasd. All
of the lawyers and legal experts who drafted what claimed
to be a good law are men. It's therefore, important to carefully
examine the risks involved, that their biological status,
as being a man, may hinder them to fully reflect women's
experiences of rape into developing respective laws and
regulations.
The last point is the discourse
on community.
The hope lies now on building strong
community to support women in the family. The problem is
that men are normally in the forefront of the community
movement and they are not quite sensitive to the family
issue. They only pay attention to the community as a unit
of study without going deeper to understand the family unit
and the gender power or age relations evolves with it.
In Thai society nowadays, men still represent community
and the family. Since women are also taught to follow men's
line of thinking, violence against women in the family is
therefore perceived as a personal problem that community
should not interfere. Unfortunately, this way of thinking
will not help in building strong community.
Dr. Chalidaporn
Songsamphand, Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat
University
The fight agianst female violence has reached another step
i.e., to concretely amend article 276 of the criminal code.
However, this effort has been met with great resistance
because some fundamental believes are being challenged in
the process. Thus, I would like to speak about these fundamental
believes which constitute the basis of resistance.
Sex
and Violence in Rape
People often look at rape as a form of sexual expression.
For this, a lot of blame is put on women e.g., women get
raped because they dress in an inviting way. However, advocates
and academics are trying to tell the public that rape is
not just about sexual expression. It is actually about violence
and an expression of power of one over the other. Rape can
also be an expression of hatreds.
Nevertheless, it is important to recognize the two dimensions
of rape i.e., sex and violence. Michael Foucault, a French
philosopher explained that there is a difference between
someone getting a punch in his face and a man forcing his
genital organ into a women's virgina. This difference gives
rape a specific status i.e., rape is about sex in a patriarchal
society.
Sex
is too complicated for the State to understand
It should be noted that Thai society has been influenced
by the Western thinking with regards to the negative perception
about sex i.e., sex is evil and dirty. We then created a
discourse that sex needs to be strictly controlled. The
only accep-table form of sex is the one within a marriage
institution and which is done for the purpose of procreation.
Therefore, the family unit provides a space for legitimate
sex while marriage certificate provides a "license
to rape". Now, when women advocates started to say
that it is illegal for husband to force their wife to have
sex with them, they are challenging the most fundamental
belief of legitimate sex within a marriage institution.
There are many people - both men and women - who think that
it's right for a wife to be forced to have sex with her
husband.
Critique
on the Campaign
We are going around in a circle talking about gender, power,
violence and the family. The family unit, which is to be
the last hope for our problem is the site of gender reproduction.
Male supremacy and double standard on sexuality are both
reproduced within the family unit.
Thus, it is time that certain existing practices in the
family unit must be questioned. We must question family
institution in which women are kept in pain, and where outsiders
are prevented from extending their help to the women. We
cannot live in this kind of family. I feel that we need
to seriously discuss this issue and ask what kind of family
that can be our hope.
It is noticeable that not many men have participated in
the Campaign. Perhaps they also do not want to read or hear
about it. This is because the issue is so close to the heart
that it hurts when talking about. How many men would think
that this is about the rule and structure of society? They
would mostly feel condemned and do not want to hear about
it. Even some women do not want to hear about this. So,
it is a challenge to rethink our strategy so that the Campaign
can communicate with larger audience both men and women.
Finally, we must remember that there are more than one discourse
on gender and family. Although there may be one dominating
discourse, others will keep surfacing and keep challenging
the dominant one. So, our strategy is also to get people
to engage in the debates & discussions in a constructive
way. This is another important task that our movement needs
to consider and push forward.
Free All Women from
Rape: Background of the campaign for the abolition
of marital rape
|
 "Women
have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health. The enjoyment
of this right is vital to their life and well-being
and their ability to participate in all areas of
public and private life. Health is a state of physical,
mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity."
Platform for Action, United Nations 4th World Conference
on Women, September 1996
A good relationship between man and woman is based,
among others, on a sexual relationship, that involves
shared decisions and mutual consent and is free
from the use of violence.
But in reality there are a significant number of
women who do not have the power to protect themselves
from the violence of their husbands. Many women
do not feel the need to engage in a sexual relation
and that is often the reason why they become victims
of violence. Another reason results from avoiding
sexual contact out of fear of contracting a sexually
transmitted disease. In some cases women are no
longer living with their husbands, but are still
forced to perform sexual acts, which has a direct
impact on their health and in the long run,on society
as a whole.
The Thai Criminal Law on sexual offense does not
offer any protection to marital rape. It is comparable
to giving husbands the right to rape their wives.
The Criminal Code article 276 state that "Anyone
rape other women who is not your wife is guilty.....In
the past, Thai law encouraged the view that women
are buffaloes and men are persons. Although nowadays
a lot of changes have been made regarding the equality
of women and men, this view still prevails. Therefore
Thai women have never been the owners of their lives
and have never been able to make decisions about
their sexuality. This law can be seen as violating
women's human rights, in that it deprives them of
the capacity to control and make decisions about
sex, thus making it extremely difficult to maintain
physical, sexual and mental health.
Women's organisations and legal experts have been
trying for years to amend this sexist law. In 1997
the National Commission for the Advancement of Women
submitted a proposal calling for a change of the
law. The suggested change of phrase was "Anyone
who rape other persons is found guilty....."
in order to offer legal protection to wives by enabling
them to take action against their husbands. However,
the Council of States did not agree with the proposal
but offered to modify the law by adding the specification.
This only gives protection to raped wives in two
instances. One, if the husband has a communicable
disease that could be dangerous for a second party,
and two, if the couple lives separately under a
court order for at least three years.
It looks as if it was accepted and permitted that
a husband can rape his wife.
This law goes against the Thai Constitution which
emphasizes everyone's equal right to protection
by the law (article 30), protection of life and
body (article 31), and the protection of our children
and members of our family against torture of various
forms (article 53).
Since the March 8 2002, the
International Women's Day, a campaign for the abolition
of the husbands' right to rape their wives, for
the change of the Criminal Code article 276 took
place in order to create equality and eradicate
discrimination against women. It will enable women
to receive equal legal protection from the law.
It also build new form of relationship between husbands
and wives and eradicate the rooted belief in Thai
society that women are men's treasure that encourages
men to commit domestic violence, including sexual
offences, to their wives and partners.
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