[Drysnyaty]

it has never ever occurred to me to describe women as subservient.... but this is a big city. nobody wipes their shoes into women if that's what you expected. but they do the housework besides working full time, if that's what you call an achievement or emancipation. they get 3 months off work when they give birth. you might say wow! that's great! women are not chained to the crib any more. and I say it's a shame many of my colleagues have to leave their babies with cheap Burmese immigrant childminders or send them to nursery, or leave them with grandparents. many rural kids are raised by grandparents while parents are away at work, just because Thailand has been assigned the role of providing cheap labour and cheap goods for the rest of the world. at construction sites and rice paddies, you see women working alongside men doing hard manual labour. but you know what, they take it with dignity. they don't seem to lose heart. they always have a smile for you. and it just breaks your heart to see how much they work. even educated people with degrees take second jobs to support their families, their kids, their parents back home. subservient? whatever you choose to name it. it's all in your eyes.
as for myself, I have been treated with respect most of the time, no bullying, no nasty remarks, I feel safe walking in the street at night. people consider and treat me a human being, which is much more than what I was used to back home. I'm not talking about being treated as a woman, I think the human side is much more important than all that crap about women's rights and stuff. sorry.
it's hard to tell how you and Thailand would "click". come for an extended holiday and see for yourself. I know it from experience that even if I know the people who turn up here to visit me, I cannot predict what they will like and what they will hate. and I don't know you. come and check it out, that's what I can say.