Waging Battles in Thailand

Following a visit to Germany a few years ago, Siriporn Skrobanek returned to Bangkok determined to provide some assistance to Thai women seeking their fortunes in the West. She wanted to warn them of the dangers that lay ahead.

A small project called the Women's Information Centre was established to provide information and resources to alert women to the realities awaiting them. Soon various other problems affecting women emerged. The center developed educational programs for women in various service sectors and in 1985, a shelter for battered women was opened and a small publishing house was set up. It published a handbook for women visiting the west, a booklet on women and peace and it has plans to publish a book outlining the history of the Thai women's movement. The majority of Thai women work in the fields, factories and the market place and are victims of anti union capitalists, forced to survive on a pittance.

The center organizers believe that it is important to get the message across that cooperation between women will help better conditions of work and enhance women's status. Skits, plays and games performed on the shop floor have been an important medium through which to introduce such issues at the grassroots level. The center also works with prostitutes, supporting the rehabilitation of those who want to leave the industry and helping to find and rescue those who have been forcibly abducted or lured into the sex trade.

For more information, contact:

Women's Information Centre
113/9 Charasanitwong Road
46, Bangkok 10700, Thailand
(Source: Outwrite, No. 57, April 1987)