Solidaritas #121
The worldwide anti-rights movement is growing its legitimacy
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 Bangkok earlier this year.
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In solidarity,
- Kate
Afghanistan
A majority of people in Afghanistan support human rights for Afghan women, and men are especially likely to support women's rights when primed to think about their eldest daughters, according to a new study.
More than 1,000 days after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, women and girls are reluctantly seeking education elsewhere. The Guardian meets with those who escaped to Iran:
Hasina left Afghanistan with a tourist visa for Iran. She was accompanied by her father, they posed as a family going on a visit, but he returned home alone. Now, Hasina is enrolled at the Iran University of Medical Sciences in the capital, studying to become a surgeon…
With a shared language and many cultural similarities, Iran has become a last resort for many Afghan women determined to finish their studies. According to the World Bank, Iran’s female literacy rate sits at 85%, while Afghanistan’s reaches roughly 23%.
Australia
The Australian federal government has launched its intimate partner homicide counter, but its stringent criteria sets it apart from unofficial counters, causing a disparity in the number of women reported killed.
Nearly half of Australian women would sacrifice a year of their life to meet beauty standards, a study has revealed.
China
Single women in China are not permitted to freeze their eggs, so some are travelling to countries like Czechia and Laos to do so. Despite the country’s push to boost the birthrate, only married couples with fertility problems can use egg-freezing services or any kind of assisted reproductive technologies. The Guardian has also released a short documentary following two women who journey to the US to freeze their eggs.
India
How fetching water is holding back India's women.
Young women in small towns and villages across India are proudly trumpeting their caste identities on Instagram, making it the latest battleground for caste politics. BBC tracked 100 accounts and spoke to a dozen such influencers across the caste divide to understand what's driving the trend.
Being a female fan of Shah Rukh Khan is not just about a love of film – it’s a form of resistance against restrictive gender norms:
What have nearly two decades of conversations with Khan’s female fans revealed?
First, fun and leisure are important metrics of wellbeing and women’s purchasing power. Through following and repeatedly interviewing a cross-section of women who were keen to talk about their fandom and personal journeys, I was able to trace the trajectory of their emotional and economic lives; how their livelihoods and love affairs evolved over the years.
IndiGo, one of India’s biggest airlines, has launched a feature that allows solo female travellers to choose seats next to other women. Male passengers do not have access to the feature.
Indonesia
General Elections Commission Chairman Hasyim Asy’ari has been removed from his post, after an ethics hearing found him guilty of breaching the code of ethics for sexually harassing a female overseas poll administrator.
Indonesia’s historical acceptance of sexual and gender diversity, including trans and same-sex practices, is currently under threat. In response, the lesbian, bisexual, and transgender movement is evolving:
The combined effects of colonialism, bringing with it European heteronormative morals from a period in which homosexuality was widely denounced and even criminalised, homophobic monotheistic religions and national histories built on leaders’ postcolonial amnesia have almost destroyed these gender diverse practices. …
Both in courtly and village cultures, various forms of transgender practices, including cross-dressing and same-sex practices, used to be common. They have now almost disappeared and most of the originally transgender dances have been heteronormatised, with girls or women dancing the parts of formerly male-born transgender dancers.
Japan
A high-profile call by Japan’s biggest corporate lobby for legal changes to allow couples to keep separate surnames after marriage has raised hopes of reform to a system that has long disadvantaged women and makes the country a global outlier.
Unable to marry legally in Japan, LGBTQ+ couples are celebrating their bond in traditional kimonos, suits and gowns for elaborate photoshoots. Japan is the only G7 member of industrialised nations that does not recognise same-sex marriage or provide legal protection for LGBTQ+ people, despite polls showing public support and court rulings that have deemed it unconstitutional. (photo essay)
A transgender woman who married prior to her transition has filed a lawsuit to change her legal gender to female, saying that prohibiting married individuals from changing their gender on their family register is unconstitutional.
Malaysia
A police officer has been accused of murdering 25-year-old Sarawak woman Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah and disposing of her body in an oil palm plantation.
Mongolia
Electoral reform has ushered in a record number of women to parliament. A mandatory 30 per cent candidate quota for women has led to a dramatic increase in the number of female MPs, from 13 to 32.
Myanmar
Five months after the Myanmar military announced mandatory military service, women between the ages of 18 and 27 are now being enlisted. Even pregnant women and young mothers are now among those being added to registration lists by junta-appointed administrators across the country.
Pakistan
In Pakistan, internally displaced women, who are already dealing with the loss of their homes and livelihoods, are facing unique pressures, particularly around women's health and maternity care.
The lives of Rohingya women in Bangladesh's camps are heavily constrained by their own communities and criminal gangs. DW talks to some of the women fighting for this to change. (audio)
Papua New Guinea
PNG’s influential Petroleum Minister Jimmy Maladina has been charged with assault following an alleged domestic violence incident in Australia. He has plead not guilty.
Regional
The transnational anti-rights movement is gaining further political, social, and economic legitimacy:
Historically targeting abortion rights, various coalitions of nationalist, religious, and ultra-conservative actors and organisations have become emboldened to attack gender equality and sexuality more broadly, in pursuit of a regressive social and political agenda. Recent setbacks in Africa, Europe, and the possibility of another Trump administration in the US – along with the Project 2025 agenda – raise grave concerns for the future of reproductive and LGBTQIA+ rights around the world.
Samoa
Samoa's under-19 women's cricket team have become the first side from their country at any age group, male or female, to qualify for a cricket World Cup finals series.
Solomon Islands
As a whole, women’s political representation remains low in the Solomons, and current institutional measures to promote women’s engagement in politics have seen limited success. But new initiatives might offer opportunities to increase women’s access to politics.
South Korea
In South Korea, as in many other countries, a gendered ideological gap is growing as young women become more progressive while young men increasingly shift to the right. Young men have become significantly more conservative than previous generations when they were the same age, and the country’s electoral landscape is changing significantly as a result of this mindset.
Related: A Seoul City councillor has claimed that a rise in male suicides is linked to the increasingly “dominant” role of women in society. In response, Al Jazeera’s The Take podcast takes a deeper look at the backlash to feminism. (audio)