Solidaritas #100 (!!)
Mongolia brings back gender quotas while India continues to struggle with violence against women
Good afternoon!
Solidaritas is a fortnightly newsletter about women’s rights, feminism, and gender in Asia and the Pacific, covering the entirety of this huge region: from Afghanistan and Pakistan in the west to Kiribati and Cook Islands in the east.
It’s issue 100! 🙌🙌 Thank you to everyone who has stuck around.
In case you missed it last time: my first authored publication for the Asian Development Bank is out! It’s about addressing menstrual health and hygiene in urban development and WASH programs in the Pacific. You can download it here.
If you like Solidaritas, I’d be thrilled if you chose to support the newsletter by becoming a paid subscriber:
Love and solidarity,
- Kate
Afghanistan
Following a one-month warning, the Taliban have ordered shut all women’s beauty salons across the country:
Shukriya Afshar, 46, has worked as a beautician in the Gul Raihan Beauty Salon in Kabul for two years. She said that her husband earned just a few dollars a week as a day laborer and that the money from the salon was critical to supplementing the family’s income.
The work also offered her a badly needed mental-health outlet as she watched her rights erode under the Taliban administration.
“I could get away from anxiety and mental pressure by going to the salon and working,” she said.
The ban was briefly protested by women last week.
Afghanistan’s women’s soccer team in exile wants recognition from FIFA.
Australia
Louise Taylor has become Australia's first female Indigenous Supreme Court judge.
Cambodia
A good news story. Maternal mortality rates have dropped in Cambodia, from 810 per 100,000 live births in 2008 to 154 per 100,000 live births in 2021-2022.
The Friday Women gather once a week to demand the freedom of their husbands and sons from jail, by protesting in front of Phnom Penh's courts, jails, or embassies of democratic countries. They are a rare voice of defiance in Hun Sen’s Cambodia.
China
Young feminists are rejecting what they call ‘beauty duty’ by cutting their hair and stopping using makeup.
Fiji
A women’s support centre in Fiji has reported an increase in women seeking help after being abandoned by spouses working as seasonal labourers in Australia (audio).
India
Following the murder of an 18-year-old girl in her hostel, anti-sexual violence campaigners say India has made little progress on combatting violence against female students:
Rani’s father says the family is “heartbroken” at the death of “the shining armour of our family”.
“Our entire future was dependent on her,” he says. “We have sacrificed a lot for her education. We borrowed money from relatives, sold jewellery. We went all-out for her dreams.
“I never imagined this could happen in a girls’ hostel. Being [run by] a government body, I felt my child was in safe hands. It was their responsibility to look after her, but they failed. Because of this, she is no more. It is hard to imagine our lives without her. All our dreams are shattered.”
Four men have been arrested after allegedly stripping two women naked, parading them in public, and gang raping them in Manipur. This and another incident have highlighted the problems of impunity and weak laws dealing with violence against women in India.
101 East meets the women wrestlers and boxers battling for their rights in and out of the sporting arena in India (video documentary).
Indonesia
Meet Voice of Baceprot, Indonesia’s best-known all-female Muslim heavy metal band.
STIs are on the rise in Indonesia, and married women are finding themselves disproportionately affected:
Around 35 per cent of new HIV cases in Indonesia are among housewives, government data revealed in May, a larger percentage than that of the spouses of sex workers or men who have sex with men.
The health ministry said the issue appeared to be linked to a lack of awareness around sexual health and the sexual behaviour of partners.
Japan
Onomichi city has apologised after it distributed leaflets advising pregnant women to cook, clean, and give their husbands massages. An infuriating quote from said leaflet:
There are differences in the way men and women feel and think. … One of the reasons for this is the structural difference in the brains of men and women. It is known that men act based on theories, while women act based on emotions.
Mongolia
Alongside its ongoing overhaul of its electoral system, Mongolia is bringing back quotas for female candidates, part of a broader effort to promote gender equality.
Myanmar
Refugee activist Thuzar Maung, her husband, and their children have reportedly been abducted from their house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, according to Human Rights Watch.
More than 230 women and girls have been killed and nearly 400 detained by Myanmar’s regime this year, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which monitors junta killings and arrests.
On Myanmar’s democratic future: A federal system that is genuinely inclusive, sustainable, and democratic must include a prominent role for women from the country’s ethnic minority communities, argues Evelyn, an elected Member of Parliament for the Karenni State Democratic Party, and Filipina activist-politician Arlene Brosas.
North Korea
What life is like in South Korea for female defectors from the North.
Pakistan
The Pakistan Taliban have launched a new magazine targeting women.
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea's chief censor has temporarily banned the playing of music by reggae artist Jayrex, who is currently serving a six-month jail sentence, having been found guilty last year of assaulting a woman reported to be his partner of four years.
Singapore
Singapore executed its first female prisoner in 20 years today. Saridewi Djamani, a 45-year-old Singaporean was convicted of drug smuggling.
South Korea
Hyundai is hiring female technicians for the first time in South Korea.
Sri Lanka
How Muslim women are fighting to change discriminatory laws in Sri Lanka.
Taiwan
Vickie Wang, a Taiwanese comedian, reflects on Taiwan’s #MeToo moment and how Taiwanese women are maybe just “too nice”.
Related: meet the woman who launched Taiwan’s MeToo movement, Chen Chien-Jou.