Solidaritas #119
Nepali Community Health Workers demand recognition as workers at ILO conference
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.
This issue’s header image was taken in Cairns in 2019, probably at the botanic gardens there. I forget.
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In solidarity,
- Kate
Afghanistan
What happened to the women who took on the Taliban? BBC speaks to three women who challenged the Taliban after they took power.
Australia
Molly Ticehurst was promised that the state government would help her to ‘intruder-proof’ her home. Two weeks later she was dead. Her parents say the NSW government’s Staying Home Leaving Violence scheme failed their daughter.
Pornography and social media are driving a rise in people having or considering labia surgery, with images and videos distorting perceptions of what genitalia look like, a new report has found. Labiaplasty is one of the fastest growing cosmetic procedures among young people in Australia and worldwide.
China
Sophia Huang Xueqin, a prominent female journalist and #MeToo activist, has been sentenced to five years in jail for "subversion against the state". Chinese authorities have not made it clear how the two stood accused of subversion, but supporters say it was because Huang and another jailed activist hosted regular meetings and forums for young people to discuss social issues. Women Press Freedom have decried the sentence.
A trend has emerged in China which sees people post messages on social media looking for a ‘divorce partner’, to bring two previously married individuals – predominantly single mothers – together to form new households, where they can support each other with shared living costs and childcare.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong has made tremendous progress to end single-gender boards, with the number of companies with all-male boards falling by half since a new rule was introduced two years ago.
India
Forced to travel far to find gruelling work making bricks, women and children are falling sick but cannot access healthcare:
Every year, after the rains, millions of rural women – including pregnant women and mothers – travel long distances across northern India to work in the brick kilns.
Their wages are paid only to their male relatives. India’s public healthcare services for poorer workers – including free treatment for TB, vitamin supplements, vaccines, food rations for those who are breastfeeding and a freshly cooked meal if pregnant – are out of reach for these migrant workers.
Brick kilns are located outside villages and towns, and the women and children toiling in them are – like many seasonal workers in India – cut off from such healthcare.
A one-of-its-kind insurance policy has started making payouts to tens of thousands of women across India to help them cope with the impact of extreme heat.
Women’s councils known as Mahila Panchayat are helping women resolve family and community disputes through grassroots justice, overcoming issues such as domestic violence, alcoholism, and polygamy.
Indonesia
A women-led park ranger patrol group has seen a successful reduction in the rate of illegal deforestation. Now, they’re sharing their strategies with other groups:
Sumini says the low-key tactics the women use, rather than brusque confrontation, have been effective in getting people to change their habits. They carry no weapons, apart from large blades they use to cut their way through the forest when needed, but expressed little fear for their own safety. Violence in the jungle is almost unheard of, and the rangers typically outnumber those they meet. The women don’t have the power to arrest people, but can report them to authorities.
Japan
Five women have launched a lawsuit for the right to undergo voluntary sterilisation:
Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, leading to the existential threats of population and economic decline.
Ms Sato said women who do not have children, or are seen as not having enough children, are often blamed for the population woes, rather than other factors such as low migration, a demanding corporate culture and the high cost of raising children.
"They think the problem is happening because of people like me, young women, are being too selfish," she said.
"I almost feel like it's taboo to say that I don't want to have baby."
Although women are helping to address a desperate labour shortage in the fishing industry, they face resistance from the male-dominated sector.
Maldives
Although this is a nation of about 1,200 small coral islands in the Indian Ocean, many Maldivians, particularly women and girls, don’t know how to swim. Aminath Zoona is trying to change that.
Myanmar
Women account for 1 in every 5 deaths in Myanmar since the junta took power.
Nepal
Community health workers (CHWs) in Nepal are a crucial part of the health system, yet they are unpaid and under-appreciated. This month, representatives are attending the UN International Labor Conference (the ILO’s global conference) to demand that their activities are recognised as work.
Meet Nepali photojournalist and mountaineer Purnima Shrestha, who recently became the first woman to climb Mount Everest three times in one season.
Solomon Islands
Women’s potential in Solomon Islands politics is curtailed by structural barriers, despite a requirement for parties to include 10 per cent female candidates. In this year’s election, just four of the 13 contesting parties actually met the threshold.
South Korea
East Asia Forum looks at South Korea’s gender divide, and asks is it really about gender? Or is it a combination of multiple factors?
Years after a South Korean court ordered the government to respect the right to access abortion care, women and girls are still unable to access abortion services.
A government thinktank in South Korea has sparked anger after suggesting that girls start primary school a year earlier than boys because the measure could raise the country’s low birthrate.