About the time of the students' revolt in 1973, some women activists got together in Bangkok to work for legal justice for women. Samakom Songserm Sthanaparb Satri, or the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women (APSW), started out as a pressure group to deal with the problems and obstacles relating to economic and legal rights which prevented women from becoming full-fledged citizens. Core members of APSW were professionally established women and men. The target groups included less privileged women such as labourers, low-skilled workers, prostitutes, and the urban poor and migrants in Bangkok. During the last ten years, its initial emphasis as a pressure group has weakened. The activities of APSW have shifted more to welfare and immediate relief work such as running an emergency home, and the WE-TRAIN project. Rather than being known by its long name, the group has often been recognized for, and has become synonymous with, Ban Pak Chukchoem (Emergency Home).

Historical Evolution

The APSW is an offshoot of an earlier organization, the Association of Women Lawyers of Thailand (AWL). In the early 1970s AWL realized that there were certain laws which either discriminated against or did not protect women in employment. For example, in the local administration system women were not allowed to become chief in a district bureaucracy from village level onward, and in the military, the highest rank a woman doctor could reach was colonel while a male doctor of equal qualifications could become a general. Also a female factory worker earned 50 baht while a male earned 70 baht for similar work. When amendments proposed by the AWL were turned down by the Cabinet, this motivated some members of the association to think about an alternative strategy (Setasuwan and Wongchai 1984).

One of the key and active persons in AWL at that time was Khunying Kanitha Wichiencharoen, elder sister of Khunying Kanok Samsen Vil of GG AT, and President of AWL during 1961-63 as well as an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.