Page 84 - Dignity and justice for all of us our voices are heard in Thailand

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
A woman, age 31
Administrative officer at the
Ministry of Justice

Voice

“I have learned the A 31-year-old widow expresses her satisfaction in regaining the use of the courtesy title ‘Miss’,

reality of the and in revoking the title of ‘Mrs’ obtained through her marriage six years ago. She explains that
once she learned about the benefits of the new Courtesy Title Act on the internet, she was
*
inequality between determined to make use of her right to change her title as soon as possible. She has spoken
men and women, about this to many acquaintances and has received many different comments and reactions.

as well as between “A male acquaintance of mine stopped being my friend because, according to his selfish
married and attitude on this subject, I should keep my ‘Mrs’ title despite the change in my circumstances,”
she recounts. She recalls the reactions of society in general, and felt that most men did not
divorced people” understand the need for her to change her title back to ‘Miss’. Some of her friends asked, “What

is the reason for changing your title? Even after changing your title, men will not consider
women in your situation to be a ‘Miss’…”

“But I don’t care,” she said to them. “They may feel indifferent about the change, but it makes me
feel good – so I changed it.” She says that she has no in-depth knowledge about human rights
but that she has learned the reality of the inequality between men and women, as well as
between married and divorced people. “You can speak about the issue of human rights and
make it sound so marvellous, but in practice, it is not as widely applied as it is meant to be,”
she comments.

* The original Royal Decree for the Women’s Courtesy Title Act (1917), declared that a woman who was officially married was subject to the courtesy

title ‘Mrs’ and was therefore required to adopt this title, to take on her husband’s family name and to use it thereafter. This was not the case for men,
who retained the same courtesy title of ‘Mr’ regardless of their marital status.
On 4 June 2008, the first day in effect of the new Royal Decree for the Women’s Courtesy Title Act 2008, many women opted to revert to the
female courtesy title ‘Miss’. As of 9 July 2008, one month after the enforcement of the new law, 50,890 women nationwide had exercised their
right, according to the Department of Administration, comprising cases of both new marriages and divorce. Among these cases, 34,417 women
requested to use the title ‘Ms’, and only 12,681 women wanted to use the title ‘Mrs’.
72 Dignity and Justice for All of Us