Thai wives are also extremely submissive to domestic violence committed by their husbands, study says.
(10 April)Mr. Vichian Chawalit, secretary of Ministry of Social Development and HumanSecurity (SDHS), presided over a panel discussion under the topic “DomesticViolence Report”, co-hosted by Women andMen Progressive Movement Foundation, Office of Women Affairs and Development,and Foundation For Promotion of Thai Health, at Prince Palace Hotel, Bangkok.
Mr. Somchai Charoen-amnuaysuk, director of the Office of Women Affairs andDevelopment, said a study on domestic violence in 49 countries has revealed thatThailand ranks 30th in the world in term of number of cases involvingphysical violence between husbands and wives. Thai men are also ones of themost physically abusive toward their wives in the world, ranking 7thin numbers of cases.
Meanwhile,Mr. Somchai said, Thai women are 2nd most submissive to domesticviolence in the world, due to the fact that many women in Thailand are taughtto “endure it for the sake of their families”.
“Therefore, there needs to be ashift in mentality,”, Mr Somchai concluded, adding that the Ministry ofEducation has recently introduced a course on gender to schools from level ofkindergarten to teach children about gender equality. SDHS is also working ona “help hotline” for those who sufferdomestic violence, he said.
Mr. Vichian, the Minister of SDHS, saidThai women should be more willing to “come out” and seek help instead ofsubmitting to their husbands’ abuses.
According to Ms. Charee Srisawasdi, representative from Women and MenProgressive Movement Foundation, alcohol contributed to 29.13% of domesticviolence incidents – basing her calculation from cases reported by the press.She also divided news about domestic abuses into 6 categories: murder (59.16%),suicide (24.02%), physical violence (8.71%), other kinds of violence (3.10%),unwanted pregnancy (2.7%), and sexual harassment (2.4%)
Ms. Charee said news about murders in family increased over past several years,while provinces that were most frequently featured in such news are SamutPrakarn, Nakorn Prathom, and Chonburi.
