Good morning!
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.
This issue’s header image is of the beach at Airey’s Inlet, down on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, where I went for a wedding two weeks ago. A very beautiful part of the country which I had never visited before.
If you like Solidaritas, I’d be thrilled if you chose to support the newsletter by becoming a paid subscriber for just US$5 a month:
In solidarity,
- Kate
Afghanistan
The Taliban has announced they will resume flogging and stoning women to death if they go against sharia law.
Spring has arrived in Afghanistan, and children have returned to school to begin a new academic year. Girls beyond the 6th grade across much of the country, however, are still unable to pursue an education.
The Taliban’s oppression of women is apartheid. Let’s call it that.
Australia
Abortion has now been decriminalised in every state and territory in Australia, following legal reform in Western Australia.
A women’s-only lounge and art installation at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Tasmania, has sparked anger among men who feel left out.
Bhutan
Bhutan's new cabinet, installed last month, features just one woman among its 10 members: Minister of Education and Skills Development Dimple Thapa. But the new PM’s options were limited; Dimple was the only woman from his party elected to the parliament.
Cambodia
Ros Rotanak is a Cambodian chef and one of a few women looking to revive her culture's nearly forgotten Khmer recipes, lost thanks to the Khmer Rouge. Her recent cookbook, Saoy, was named 'the best cookbook in the world' by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
China
China’s birthrate is falling and hospital maternity departments across the country are closing. Experts are likening it to an ‘obstetric winter’.
Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur women, including religious leaders, are estimated to have been arrested and imprisoned in Xinjiang since 2014, with some elderly women detained for practices that took place decades ago, according to an analysis of leaked Chinese police files. (This news is from February but I did not hear about it at the time.)
Disappointed with real men, some Chinese women are turning to AI for boyfriends.
Fiji
A look at a women-led resort in Fiji, including some great profiles of women working their way up from nanny to manager.
Hong Kong
A new report reveals how forced marriage impacts girls and women from ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.
India
India’s older women are routinely being ignored, abandoned, and neglected.
Climate change is leading some women field labourers to choose hysterectomies in order to keep working.
Why women are still facing huge barriers to standing for election at the national Lok Sabha level, even if they’re already leaders in their communities.
Two veteran women journalists — Sharada Balasubramanian and Varsha Singh — are taking the lead in looking at how environmental issues are shaping people’s lives in India.
Indonesia
Multituli Project explores the journeys of three female Afghan refugees who have emerged as community leaders in Indonesia, reclaiming societal roles and discovering fulfilment amidst transit challenges.
Japan
A New Year’s Day earthquake placed a renewed spotlight on the need to incorporate gender perspectives in disaster prevention and respone, including the operation of evacuation centers and the stockpiling of necessary supplies.
Mongolia
The Diplomat speaks to Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar, Mongolia’s Minister of Labour and Social Protection, on how to tackle the workplace gender gap.
Nepal
After 16 years on the run, two men have been arrested for trafficking three Nepali women to Indian brothels.
Pakistan
Child marriage appears to be increasing in Pakistan: in 2020, 31% of married women were married before the age of 18. Now, it’s almost 42%.
What do gender data reveal about the economic struggles of women in Bangladesh?
Papua New Guinea
In the middle of the 20th century, the Eastern Highlands province of PNG was gripped by a mysterious disease known as kuru, which left entire villages without adult women.
Whose security is really at stake? Gender must be prioritised in the Australia‑PNG security agreement.
Regional
The 2023 Women in Politics map, created by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women, presents new data for women in executive positions and national parliaments as of 1 January 2023. Data show that women are underrepresented at all levels of decision-making worldwide and that achieving gender parity in political life is far off:
Women serve as Heads of State and/or Government in only 31 countries. Women make up 26.5 per cent of Members of Parliament. Globally, less than one in four Cabinet Ministers is a woman (22.8 per cent). New data show that women lead important human rights, gender equality, and social protection policy portfolios, while men dominate policy areas like defence and economy.
Women and girls are more likely to experience abuse and threats on Twitter/X compared to other social media platforms, according to new research from the Open University.
Can improvements to women’s labour rights reverse Japan and South Korea’s plummeting birth rates?
Follow one Filipina transgender woman’s journey to Thailand to undergo gender affirmation surgery at an affordable but rather dodgy-looking clinic.
An analysis of gender equality financing in Southeast Asia.
The worsening effects of climate change are pushing female students in Asia out of the classroom, with extreme weather hamstringing their ability to fulfil household duties, maintain good hygiene, and even physically get to school.
South Korea
Young women and young men are more polarised than ever before in South Korea. What might this mean for the country’s national elections this month?
Sri Lanka
Climate change is trapping women farmers in Sri Lanka in ‘exploitative’ cycles of economic violence.
Thailand
Thailand’s House of Representatives has voted in favour of same-sex marriage, 400 to 10. The bill is now off to the Senate for approval.
Timor-Leste
International Women’s Day 2024 was marked by Radio and Television Timor-Leste’s World News team with an all-female presenter line up.
Vanuatu
Voters in Vanuatu's Sanma Province made history in November 2023 by electing the most diverse council ever seen in the country. With a record-breaking 29% of candidates being women, the polls delivered a near balanced result, with six female and seven male councilors winning seats.