There is long history of a lack of women’s political participation in the country, “At both the
national and local levels, women were excluded from active participation. Indirectly, however,
they contributed to political power play, political exchange, alliance formations, and probably
behind-the-scene plans and intrigues. Women were offered as tributes to kings and members of
the royal family and to high-ranking nobles. Princesses were given in marriage in order to foster
alliance and to strengthen political ties.”16 Women were given as trophies in politics because of
their sexuality. Now, due to an increased access to educational opportunities and political reform,
women are taking their place in Thai politics.
Prior to the 1997 Constitution, women were unable to hold seats in the Thai Parliament. The
Thai Parliament is currently divided into upper and lower chambers. There are 650 members
total. As shown in figure 13, in 1997, women only held 6 percent of the seats. This number
remained steady for a few years, until it slowly increased in recent years. In 2010, women were
voted into 13.3 percent of the parliament seats. This is still a small percentage, but it shows at
least some progress. Some credit for this progress should be given to the United Nations, who
has been working to help facilitate more recognition and activism of women in politics since the
1970s.