No country for women

Since the dawn of recorded history, women have been stigmatised by the world “less”. They are slaves to bias and prejudice merely because of their gender. The notion of less takes tangible form in terms of reduced resources, opportunities, earnings and power, among other aspects. In the mid-19th century, the women’s suffrage movement began a decades-long fight for the right to vote. Bruised and battered, they ultimately succeeded in having their inherent human rights recognised early in the 20th century. A hundred years later, one might think we’ve come a long way. But women are still struggling to make their case. They are still horrendously under-represented in institutions of power. We are still decades away from achieving gender equality.

It’s no challenge to come up with the names of powerful men. In a blink, I’m sure anyone could name a dozen such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping … the list goes on. But I challenge you, could you just as quickly name a dozen powerful women apart from, say, Angela Merkel, Theresa May or Nancy Pelosi?

Women in many cultures are still perceived as not suitable to hold positions of power. History is laden with fawning accounts of men at the top of the pyramid. Women are largely missing, or relegated to supporting roles of wife, mother or mistress. Men have always enjoyed far more social and economic opportunities.

There is plenty of data to back this claim. The Gender Social Norms Index, released this month by the UN Development Programme, shows the glass ceiling is no myth — it is alive and well — and largely a product of bias and prejudices.

In the 75 countries the report surveyed, more than half of the respondents said they think men make better political leaders, while 40% feel men make better business executives.

Now look at the number of women in powerful positions: out of 193 countries, only 10 heads of government are women, and less than 6% of CEOs in S&P 500 companies are women. Despite tremendous progress made in health and education parity, women are still largely excluded from important roles in economic and political spheres.

The number of women represented in institutions of power is abysmal not because they are less able, but because they are the victims of longstanding misconceptions and discrimination.

Many women find political and economic participation difficult because they face other responsibilities such as child care. But even when this is not an issue, women are often barred from male-dominated sectors because of social judgement, further marginalising them.

The picture is grim in Thailand. The lack of women in important decision-making roles has bothered me since I was young. Currently, the highest government ranks are dominated by men. The 39-member cabinet contains three women, all in deputy ministerial roles. Only 14% of our members of Parliament are female.

What’s worse, the media often focus on the irrelevant, labelling women “beautiful” as if they are only good for pageantry and lack other merits.

Representation matters. The most influential texts that shaped the world’s civilisations often include demeaning portrayals of women, limiting them to supporting roles or as femmes fatales who led men to their doom. In the Bible, Eve brought temptation, causing humans to be locked out of heaven. In Greek mythology, women were persecuted and objectified, even raped.

Greater representation in the arts also matters. Hollywood has been goaded into improving female representation, but Thailand’s mainstream pop culture, especially soap-operas and series, gleefully parades women who are less than men, screaming and scheming to get men, as if getting a man is their sole achievement in life.

If you’re a girl and you only see men depicted as great and able on the TV screen and in the news, it’s hard to imagine yourself among other accomplished people.

We’re a long way from gender equality, I know. But we need to encourage more women to speak up and step out, be more active, more visible in the realm of politics and economics. We all have a role to play in creating an enabling environment for women to shine. Until women realise their full potential, we are not making full use of our human capital.

All genders should be able to access the same level of opportunities. Greater female participation in politics and economics will ensure more balanced policies and allow us to tap our human potential, making society a more welcoming place for everyone.