Thailand - Politicians woo women voters as females outnumber males in Thailand

Recognising the fact that females outnumber males in Thailand, and that more and more roles are being taken up by women nowadays, the Pheu Thai and Democrat parties are now competing in promoting policies and projects to help and win the hearts of women voters.

Both parties cite the importance of women, their roles in taking care of families and their forming a key part of the workforce.

As the world celebrates International Women's Day today, the two parties' attempts to woo them come in markedly different forms, with one providing loans for women to invest, and the other offering solutions as to how they can rid themselves of existing debts.

The first objective of the Yingluck Shinawatra government's Women Empowerment Fund scheme is to provide a lending resource at zero or low interest.

Under the scheme, a group of women can propose a project to their local funding committee with a view to receiving a loan.

The other objectives include funding job training and a network for women's protection, as well as "promotion of understanding of women in all aspects".

About 100 million baht has been allocated under the scheme for each province. Yingluck said during her recent visit to Udon Thani that it would be the first province where the project would be launched.

The government's scheme basically follows the Pheu Thai's policies touted during last year's general election campaign, and the idea is very similar to populist policies launched during Thaksin Shinawatra's administrations.

The idea is that people can get out of poverty if they have some capital to start up a business. They might be in debt initially, but the money provides them with the opportunity for advancement.

Although more than 4 million people have reportedly registered under the scheme, the Four Region Women network recently submitted proposals to the government asking for cancellation of the registration process, which is open until the end of this month, saying that all women should be eligible to join automatically.

The network also requested transparency and said government officials must stay away from the fund's management. Under current rules, the fund will be managed by an elected committee.

As for the Democrats' approach to help the female population rise out of indebtedness, MP Rachada Dhnadirek said: "We are not providing money. We provide education and moral support, as we believe these two things will salvage women out of debts."

She said that merely lending money would not really solve the problem, as the cycle of indebtedness could then return at any time.

Providing moral support, she added, was also very important. Some people, who are not in debt due to investment, might not be able to overcome their vices, such as the perceived need for luxuries.

Democrat MPs during the past weekend held a workshop titled "Women Beat Debts", at which 60 women with debt problems shared their experiences, learned about basic financial management and were given advice on what they had to do to get out of debt.

Speakers and advisers of the Democrat Party's programme gave advice to all of the participating women on a case-by-case basis.

Rachada is one the Democrat MPs who had run such a project in their constituencies for more than a year before the programme was upgraded to become an official party scheme.

Democrat MP Jermmas Chuenglertsiri said more than 150 people had told her they wanted to take part in the next programme that accepts only about 50 participants each time.

Many of them mistakenly thought that the Democrats would provide direct financial assistance, whereas the focus is on moral support and education.

Considering that women outnumber men by 32 million to 31 million in the Kingdom, it is a good sign that political parties are attaching more importance to them. But eventually, female voters will decide which of the parties' policies they prefer.

Kornchanok Raksaseri

The Nation

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