Thai government to support women's roles at all levels

BANGKOK, February 11 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says her government is ready to extend support for Thai women's roles at all levels. Yingluck announced the policy on Monday morning when she inaugurated an event themed "Women Power to Propel Thailand", jointly organised by the Ministries of Social Development and Human Security and Interior at Bangkok's Government House, promising that in the near future, her administration will further raise quality of life of Thai women, through ensuring their access to public health services and creating networks to assist girls, women, the underprivileged and the elderly at one-stop-services centres nationwide. Besides, Yingluck insisted, her government will take care of and raise Thai women's opportunities in education and occupations, as well as in their leadership roles at the local administrative and national levels equally to those of Thai men. The prime minister acknowledged that women's roles have been now accepted more widely in the Thai society, especially in the political, business and social arenas. The prime minister noted, however, that there are only 15.8 per cent of women in the political sphere, and that more attempts and patience are, thus, needed to reduce the inequality gap between men and women until more women can successfully become national and world leaders. The event was aimed to create awareness among Thai women and local administrative bodies to realise the importance of women's roles in the society and to promote equality between Thai men and women to be beneficial to local development plans nationwide. (TNA)