(Thailand)
Puen Ying or the Friends of Women Group was founded in 1980 by men and women from various professions who agreed to set up a co-ordinating body that would enable those who share the common purpose of working for equal rights for women to work together towards: an understanding of the conditions of women in Thai society; raising women's consciousness of their roles and ability to participate in social development; encouraging the setting up of women's groups; providing services for the protection of women's rights; seeking effective means to resolve problems concerning women; and encouraging cooperation among groups and organisations which share these common objectives.
As part of its activities the group publishes a quarterly magazine called the Friends of Women magazine. So far, three issue have come out on: 1) Women and the Mass Media (May-July 1983), 2) Feminism (August-October 1983), 3) Women of Buddhist Faith (October 1983-January 1984). The objectives of the magazine are to expand public knowledge of the emancipation movement by providing readers with information about the conditions women face in Thai society, as well as to present guidelines for the analysis of such conditions. Through the magazine we also hope to exchange ideas, views and experiences in the form of articles, short stories, poems, cartoons etc., and to disseminate news about the work of different women's groups inside and outside the country.
So far, each issue has been 64 pages in length and we have published 2000 copies of it. The first issue looked at the mass media's view of women, particularly how they are reflected in advertisements. It carried interviews with women involved in various aspects of the media: a teacher, a Member of Parliament and a film star. In addition, there were book reviews, a report on the March 8 exhibition, information on the effectiveness of advertising laws, news snippets and poems.
The theme of our second issue was Feminism. Issues discussed in it included an analysis of feminism entitled Feminism: From the First Step up to the Present; an account of the Thai women's emancipation movement (1855-1932), and an essay on Thai women and equality in 1932. It also looked at the status of women as a symbol of prosperity.
The third issue on Women of Buddhist Faith looked at the all important issue of women and religion. Some of the articles it carried were: Women in the Buddhist Faith; On the Long Road from Priestess Sara to Priestess Woramai; The Role of Thai Nuns in the Past and Present; Viewing Women in the World of Religion, and a report on the international conference on Women, Religion and Social Change' held at Harvard in 1983. The subject of the interviews was 'Priestess and Emancipation'.
We felt religion was an important theme because Buddhism is the national religion of Thailand and people's culture, the myths they believe in, the traditions they observe, tie in strongly with religion. In all this, what goes unnoticed in Thai society is that women are treated as second-class citizens in the Buddhist world. They cannot be ordained as priestesses. Those who are ordained as nuns have to wait on priests. Men are given more opportunities for intellectual studies. At the same time, women are encouraged to acquire merit by giving more and more. To add to this, other beliefs influence society to view women as inferior.
The Friends of Women group wanted to present the role and status of women from the time of Lord Buddha to the present so that readers would understand how this inferior status had come about. Also, we wanted to point out to society the problems women face in the world of religion and stimulate them to find solutions to them.
Evaluation
Since the Friends of Women magazine is academically oriented, most of its readers are the intellectual elites: university lecturers and students, officers in charge of rural development projects, teachers in rural areas, etc. These people refer to the magazine when they write reports, prepare lesson plans or organise training programmes for housewives and women workers in rural areas. Our subscribers requested that we maintain the same content for the benefit of our readers.
At present, the editorial staff receives more and more letters from the interested public, offering suggestions on how to improve the magazine. These people feel that women's problems have not so far been presented in such an open, straightforward and systematic manner as we are now doing; thus they want to contribute data and information on the problems of women in Thai society as well as in foreign countries, and to exchange ideas and co-operate in solving these problems. The magazine then, is a common stage for the public who consider that women have an important and equal part to play in creating society. Women, being human, should have equal rights with men.
The Friends of Women group is, however, faced with the problem of being unable to reach women in the lowest class of Thai society. These women are illiterate. They work very hard during the day and prefer information to be presented through audio media rather than print. The dissemination of information concerning women's rights to these women, therefore, will have to be done in a form that is more accessible than the magazine. The Education section of the group is working on this.
Problems and Obstacles
There are a number of problems we have been faced with in running this magazine. There are always delays in publication since there is only one person on the editorial staff who handles administrative and clerical work. The price of the magazine is rather high since it is hard to find sponsors to share in the production cost. Subscribers and readers of the magazine are therefore the middle class, as it would be difficult for lower income groups to buy the magazine at this price.
Sixty per cent of the total number of copies produced is sold. The remaining copies are distributed free to interested groups who cannot afford to buy the magazine. Therefore we do not make a profit. The magazine can be continued only with financial support from foreign organisations.
