At a glance, the sight of a poster featuring Social Development and Human Security (SDHS) Minister Juti Krairiksh beaming, surrounded by a crowd of women, should make us women feel good. The poster should tell us that a top male policymaker cares about the opposite sex.
But the statement on the poster: "Every woman has the DNA of a mother and a wife. Discover it and use it to benefit society" gives us the opposite impression.
My first few questions that come to mind are: Are LGBT women included? Is a woman who fails to carry out the "duty" of being a mother or a wife still a good citizen?
When the poster led to an outcry, Mr Juti said critics were taking the statement out of context. He only wanted to show his love and respect for women like his mother and wife, he said. He claimed the whole saying was meant to alert the public to the low percentage of female representation in the government administration, which is only about 15%, compared with 44% in Sweden.
To be fair, the minister really does care about women, the elderly and children. When he took office, he said that half of the population consists of women, who hold a lot of potential for the country. Their potential, including strength, meticulousness and power, should be realised in both the public and private sectors, he said.
Unfortunately, his recent poster completely contradicted his previously stated views on women's potential.
Perhaps Mr Juti should consider revising his own statement or hiring a crisis communication consultant to fix the situation, as well as a new consultancy team to communicate ideas more relevant to contemporary society.
The statement on the poster representing the ministry may seem trivial to many, but it actually says a lot about his advisory team, as well as his own ideas. We are already in the 21st century, and gender roles have not remained static over the last hundred years. More importantly, gender these days doesn't just mean male or female anymore.
Whether the outcry is out of context or not, the poster says a lot about the perceptions of the ministry's public relations team and other members on gender roles; perceptions that are so archaic that they could have hailed from the last century.
Remember how the Public Health Ministry tried to convince young women to have more children a few years back?
I can't help but feel sorry for us women, who are dehumanised and reduced by our policymakers to being just producers of children and caretakers of men. But does this perspective surprise me? Not really.
Such an attitude reflects the ongoing sensational story of the fate of Thitima "Lunlabelle" Noraphanpiphat, a young model for hire who was known among Thais as a "pretty".
Those who have grown up in Thailand will understand how women, from a young age, have always been taught to behave and keep their virginity for their husbands, while the boys have never been taught to respect others'.
Decades later, the burden and responsibilities are still being placed on the shoulders of women.
Right after Thitima's death, instead of seeing her as a woman who worked to earn a living for herself and her daughter's education, media outlets as well as netizens chose to brand her as an indecent woman, judging her for her job of serving alcohol at parties. Several people did not hesitate to blame the young model for putting herself in a dangerous situation.
Instead of questioning the safety of her job, contract, or her quality of life, the state (in this case, the Labour Ministry and SDHS), did not step in, leaving the investigation into her death to police, all of whom are men. It's a sheer coincidence that Mr Juti released that controversial poster on gender roles around the same time.
Thitima contributed much more to society than just being a mother or a partner. She was also a self-employed worker who struggled to make a living and save money for her daughter's education.
The state doesn't seem to realise that many women are doing more than just maintaining gender roles. They have shouldered the burden of their families, working as hard as their male colleagues and/or their other halves. This explains why so many women don't want to have children.
Minister Juti may be upset to learn that many women in my generation and the next have failed him and will continue to do so. And we do not owe him an apology.
If the minister wants our gender roles to remain static and conventional, he could consider producing another poster reminding men of the fact that they, too, have the DNA of fathers and husbands.
This way, we can all remain in the Victorian era forever.
Sirinya Wattanasukchai is a Bangkok Post columnist.