Social Values, Stereotypes, or plain being Stigmatized?

Today a colleague asked me to look at the questions she wrote for an exam.  I assumed from the questions it was an exam on philosophy or something akin to it.  The questions were about the walk of Ajarn Pramuan Pengchan, a former philosophy teacher at Faculty of Humanities, CMU, who became famous for walking the country with nothing on him.  One question asks why Ajarn Pramuan did not carry any money on his "walk of life"?

After I got home, the question was still in my head.  What bothered me I learned was that I was comparing him to any Thai woman who would want to do the same kind of walk.  What is a chance of a Thai female walking through the country without money, without things which we usually "carry" in order to survive in our life?  I think it would be very difficult for a woman to walk the country by herself, without any resources on her.  

First of all, would it be safe for her to go any road she wants to? What if she is walking at night?  Wouldn't it be risky for her?  She could be hurt, raped or even killed? If such things happen, people wouldn't be surprised.  But Ajarn Pramuan, who is a man, can do this.  He has not much to worry in terms of safety.

Secondly, how could she feed herself?  Of course she can go to any door and ask.  But what would this look like to the host?  A deranged woman or an imposter?  Would they trust her enough to open their door to hear her story?

Thirdly, even if the host is brave enough to open their door and listen to her story--I'm contemplating about life through my walk--what would they think of her?  Whose wife is this?  whose daughter?  What a pity?  Something must be wrong with her, with her family, with--there's always something that goes wrong.  Who would take her seriously, the way people take Ajarn Pramuan?  Who would tolerate or accept her idiosyncrasy? Who would indulge her?  When a man does it, he is unique, he is special, he is very deep.  But would people say the same thing for a woman?

Don't get me wrong, I love what Ajarn Pramuan accomplishes through his idea of walking.  I'm just using his case to prove a point about our perception of what are expected of Thai women.  I don't think in general Thai women are oppressed but certain images of Thai women and the level of acceptance of what we do still fall short.

If you love your mother, your sisters, your aunts, your female teachers, remember that they, like their male counterpart, can be strange (because they are interesting); they can be stubborn (because the are self-confident); they can be out-of-this world (because they are creative); they can be emotional (because they are considerate), and they can make your life fulfilled--because they are women!