VII - Legal Support: Friends of Women

Summary

Klum Phuan Ying, or the Friends of Women (FOW) group, is a relatively recent organization of the 1980s run by young, educated urban women. The group has a distinct approach from those women's associations which emphasize women's traditional roles. The founding members felt at the time of its inception that most programmes of the traditional groups were based on charity and welfare, and were sometimes irrelevant to the real needs of the majority of Thai women. They believed that the government also lacked the will-power to promote women's status, specifically on the issues of women's rights.’ Thus, there was no group that was a real support or a friend to women. Contrary to most women's associations whose members came from high society, FOW was formed by young middle-class women mostly with a university education. During its early enthusiastic phase, the group once claimed itself to be the continuation of a historical struggle of Thai women which grew shortly before 1932. Even though FOW is about a decade old, it has gone through various stages of structural adjustments and funding uncertainty. Devoted now to creating awareness and providing relief, the group is moving towards stability and growth.

Historical Evolution

Around 1978-79, when student activity had subsided but their critical awareness lingered on, some women activists and academics in Bangkok felt that the existing women's organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) were not meeting the pressing needs of the majority of Thai women. Some doubted the government's will or the intentions of the various organizations formed by the “government's servants” as pointed out by one activist,

The government did not have that far-reaching vision, or the will to go into organizing women. The associations of wives of the army, the air force, or the navy were all clearly extensions of the military. The Association of Wives of the Ministry of Interior (Maharthai) which included wives of sub-district chiefs (kamnan), village chiefs (phu-yai-baan), and governors aimed to perpetuate values already existing in the society.[…]