Solidaritas #127
Japan elects a record 73 female members of parliament
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 week’s header image is of rural West Java, Indonesia, from a few years ago.
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In solidarity,
- Kate
Afghanistan
Can taking the Taliban to the International Court of Justice achieve anything for Afghanistan’s women?
Australia
Abortion is legal in Australia, but doctors say an 'unspoken ban' is robbing women in regional and rural areas of the right to choose in New South Wales. ABC has been investigating this over a series of articles, including looking at rural Orange Hospital and Queanbeyan Hospital, which sits just outside Canberra.
New laws are set to recognise dowry abuse as a form of domestic violence when the Family Law Amendment bill passes parliament later this year.
Gendered misconduct on the rise, female teachers scared of being “deepfaked”, and parents protecting badly behaved boys: this is high school in 2024.
A new survey of more than 3,000 migrant women has found 51 per cent have experienced workplace sexual harassment. Three in four did not report the harassment, over fears about jeopardising their immigration status.
A nine-year prison term for a man who killed two migrant sex workers within 24 hours shows that the justice system values their lives less than others, advocates say:
The Chinese student Xiaozheng Lin, 24, could walk from jail in seven years with time already served after he pleaded guilty to two manslaughter charges.
He was due to face a murder trial over the deaths of Yuqi Luo, 31, and Hyun Sook Jeon, 51, but prosecutors accepted his plea to the downgraded charges.
The women, migrants from China and South Korea, were sex workers who operated out of their apartments in Melbourne.
China
A car attack that killed 35 people in China has sparked questions after a man ploughed his car into crowds because he claimed he was unhappy over a divorce settlement.
A woman in China died after undergoing six cosmetic surgeries within 24 hours, sparking a lawsuit by her family against the clinic.
Hong Kong
A married couple have been arrested after they were accused of killing a Southeast Asian domestic worker.
Hong Kong FP takes a look into the mental health of foreign domestic workers in the country, who face all sorts of financial and work burdens.
India
The Guardian talks to filmmaker Payal Kapadia about her Cannes film festival sensation, All We Imagine as Light.
Indian women on average hit menopause a few years earlier than their counterparts in the West, and the number of women experiencing premature menopause is also on the rise. Yet there are few resources to help them deal with it.
Indonesia
Out of the 48 ministers in new President Prabowo’s cabinet, there are only five women, and only eight female deputy ministers out of a total of 56.
There has been a lot of debate about Indonesian women choosing to be ‘childfree’ over the past two weeks, but not much has made it into English-language media. This piece from September helps summarise the biggest issues, though.
Japan
Conservative Party Leader Naoki Hyakuta is facing severe backlash after making a controversial comment suggesting that women might need to "remove their uteruses" after 30 to help reverse the declining birthrate in Japan.
Hanako Okada was one of 73 women to win seats at the general election last month, a record number in a Parliament long dominated by men.
Nepal
Nepal’s garland industry provides jobs for thousands of women, particularly as the country targets increased exports.
The Philippines
Meet Karina May Reyes, a conservationist working to save the rainforests of Palawan.
Regional
Chinese and Myanmar nationals who organized a human trafficking gang to convince young girls to become Chinese wives through Facebook and TikTok have been arrested in Myanmar.
The ‘4B movement’, which began in South Korea, is now taking off in the US and other countries.
Reproductive rights advocates in Asia fear abortion services could be scaled back under a second Trump presidency. The 'global gag rule', which was re-introduced during his last term, can cut off funding to NGOs that provide or advocate for abortions.
Singapore
Activist Kokila Annamalai is refusing to ‘correct’ social media posts about drugs and the death penalty to comply with government orders. It’s the first time someone has dared to do so (via We, The Citizens):
Kokila Annamalai has spent years supporting death row inmates and their families as they fight to avoid execution. So, when she was ordered by the government to share a “correction” on social media that countered criticisms she had made of Singapore’s laws, and accused death row inmates of “abusing” the justice system, she felt compelled to take a stand.
“Death row prisoners are one of the most voiceless and powerless people in our society, and the courts are such a powerful institution,” she says.
The government “correction” notice had said some death row inmates “abuse the court process by filing last-minute applications to stymie their scheduled execution.” …
The 36-year-old has refused to share the correction, and is believed to be the first person within Singapore to defy its online misinformation law – a stance the risks jail time.
Solomon Islands
On working to improve access to gender-based violence service providers in the Solomons.
South Korea
Who are the women making anti-feminist ‘manosphere’ digital content in South Korea?
Sri Lanka
A notable number of women are contesting Sri Lanka’s general elections this week, but analysts warn that simply having more female candidates is not enough to transform the country’s patriarchal leadership culture. Himal Magazine also takes a look at what might happen for women in politics.
Thailand
Through extensive campaigns on sexual well-being at the community level over the past decade, Thailand has successfully reduced the number of teenage pregnancies by half.
Vanuatu
The Women I Tok Tok Tugeta collective was launched by ActionAid Australian in 2015 following the devastating category-5 Cyclone Pam. Since then, it has gained strength and momentum in the years since, growing to a powerful collective of 9000 members and, as of November 2024, becoming a formal self-governing national network, dedicated to supporting women’s leadership in preparing their communities for climate disasters.