Could the Women’s Development Fund Really Solve the Needs of Women?

Abstract

          The purpose of this research article was to discover whether the public policy set forward by the government, specifically for women, could meet their needs or not. Recently women are becoming more affected by economic and social problems as well as their quality of life being lower than the benchmark defined by World Health Organization. But the cause of the problem has not been investigated yet.

          The findings were as follows: (1) Females were faced with many problems such as loan sharks, family members’ drug addiction, teenage children’s problems, domestic violence, sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. All of these factors were related to the substandard quality of life. (2) All of the problems faced by the women could be traced back to the Thai Social Structure, Thai traditions, culture and values which were founded by and beneficial to men. This one-sidedness has led to problems for women that have been ignored and unresolved. (3) The Women’s Development Fund could solve some practical needs, but it could not solve strategic needs because women have not gotten opportunities in gender equality yet.