The Government of Thailand remains committed to achieving the goals set in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (“Beijing POA” for short) adopted at the 4th UN World Conference on Women held in Beijing in September 1995 to achieve gender equality. The Beijing POA has identified 12 critical areas of concern relating to Women and Poverty, Women and Education and Training, Women and Health, Violence Against Women, Women and Economic Participation, Institutional mechanisms to advance the status of women, Women in Power and Decision-making, Human Rights of Women, Women and the Media and sex role stereotyping, Women and the Environment, the Girl-Child and Women in Armed Conflict, which does not apply to Thailand. Many of the recommendations have been implemented and are on-going for Thailand. submits progress reports on its implementation of the Beijing POA to the UN, the Commonwealth and ASEAN bodies. The Beijing POA will continue to be a reference point in the formulation of our policies to meet changing needs of the Thailand society.
 

These Gender Statistics provide an overview of the status and progress of Thailand women vis-a-vis the areas of concern of the Beijing POA. 
 
  Women in Poverty: more  
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 Poverty incidence was slightly lower among women, compared with men. But in the South, it was on the rise among women and poverty incidence was higher among women than men in 2006.  
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 Female-headed households scored better than male-headed households. But the male-headed households fared better in Bangkok and the North.  
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 But average income of female-headed households was lower than that of male-headed households in every region, with the largest gap in the South. An encouraging sign is that the gap became smaller in 2006.  
     
  Education and Training of Women:  more  
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 Men’s mean years of schooling was more than women’s . But the largest gap was between the urban and rural areas. Bangkok had the most years of schooling, and women had more years in school than men. The Northeast lagged behind other regions  
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 The enrolment rates for both sexes at the primary and lower secondary levels were very high. The rates dropped off at the upper secondary and tertiary levels, where women scored higher enrolment rates.  
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 Among the youth, women posed higher computer and internet literacy rate than men throughout the country. In the South, more women than men used computer.  
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 In so far as literacy is concerned, men fared better than women in all regions. The largest gender gap was observed in the North.  
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 In the 6-29 age group, women read more or as much as men. But after the age of 30, men surpassed women in both urban and rural areas.  
     
  Women and Health:  more  
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 The South had the lowest coverage of standard pregnancy check-ups and birth attended by health personnel, and the highest maternal mortality rate.  
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 Most women practiced birth control. Most popular contraceptive methods were oral pills, female sterilization, and injection. Male sterilization accounted for only 1.1%.  
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 In the past two years, smoking among population dropped, but women’s smoking rate increased. So was women’s alcohol drinking.  
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 Women’s illness rate was higher than men, but women had longer life expectancy at birth. The Northerners, men and women, had the highest illness rate and the shortest life span.  
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 Elderly women outnumbered men in all areas and regions, and a large number lived alone.  
     
  Violence against Women:  more  
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 Twenty One Stop Crisis Centers – OSCCs were established in 2002. The number increased to 171 in 2006. Various types of shelter under the MSDHS expanded from 35 to 66 during 2003- 2006.  
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 Number of women and children seeking assistance at the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security’s shelters and assistance centers almost doubled in the last two years, largely due to sexual violence.  
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 Closed court cases related to rape and other sexual violence against women rose steadily from 4,896 to 9,653 during 2002-2006. 8 Report on Thailand Gender-Disaggregated Statistics 2008  
     
  Women and Armed Conflict:  more  
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 Women made up only 16.7% of the National Reconciliation Committee, appointed by the Cabinet to provide advice on peaceful solution to the violence in the Southernmost provinces.  
     
  Women and the Economy:  more  
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 Women’s labour participation rate was lower than men, but unemployment rate was lower among women, especially urban women.  
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 Women were outnumbered by men in non-agricultural employment and women’s income was 94% of men’s.  
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 In 2005, 32% of the executives of the 1,399 labour unions were women.  
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 In 2006, women accounted for 21.65% of the directors of the companies registered at SET. The share of female directors of the companies registered at the Ministry of Commerce was higher – at 35%.  
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 On average, women spent 2.7 hours per day on unpaid household maintenance and 3.3 hours per day on unpaid care for own household members, compared with 1.5 hours, and 2 hours, respectively by men. The largest gender gap was in the rural North.  
     
  Women in Power and Decision-making:  more  
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 In the 2005 general election, women made up 11.4% of the House of Representatives. The representation was lowest in the South and the Northeast. The highest representation 21.6% was in Bangkok.  
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 During 2001-2006, Thailand had 3 Cabinets, with a very low but rising women representation; it was 8.6% in 2006.  
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 In 2007, women accounted for 11.3% of the executives of major political parties, an increase from 8.4% in 2005  
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 During 2002-2005, the proportion of female executives in the civil service increased to 23.1%. The increase took place at all levels, except at the highest level - C 11.  
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 In 2006, women outnumbered men as eligible voters. Women’s and men’s vote turnout rates were very close, at 65.9% and 65% respectively.  
     
  Institutional Mechanism for the Advancement of Women:  more  
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 In 2006, there were 129 Gender Focal Points, and the ratio of Gender Focal Points to government agencies at department-level and higher was 0.84. Report on Thailand Gender-Disaggregated Statistics 2008 9  
     
  Human Rights of Women:  more  
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 The fi rst National Human Rights Commission of Thailand consisted of 11 commissioners, 5 men and 6 women.  
     
  Women and the Media:  more  
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 The proportion of women in the media reached 38.4% in 2006. In general, women were slightly more active in the broadcast media than the print media.  
     
  Women and the Environment:  more  
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 The proportion of women attending the natural resources and environmental training organized by the Environment Research and Training Center, Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment dropped from 58.6% in 2002 to 45.7% in 2006.  
     
  The Girl-Child:  more  
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 Males outnumbered females at birth. Sex ratio at birth was approximately 0.94 in every part of the country.  
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 While low birth weight was higher among female newborns, especially in the North, infant mortality rate and under 5 mortality rate were higher among males, especially in the South.  
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 Among children 5 years and under, the underweight rate was higher among boys, especially in the Northeast and the South.