Solidaritas #132
Australia's gender pay gap is getting narrower, but not by much
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.
Apologies for the slight delay; I was in Jakarta for work for two weeks, and very much enjoyed being back in the city where I lived for so long.
If you like Solidaritas, I’d be thrilled if you chose to support this newsletter by becoming a free or paid subscriber (just US$/5month!):
In solidarity,
- Kate
Afghanistan
The Afghanistan women's football team - in exile in Australia - is pleading with FIFA for recognition ahead of the AFC Women's Asian Cup.
Also in sport: A new BBC documentary looks at the Afghanistan women’s cricket team and their escape from the Taliban.
Australia
The gender pay gap in Australian companies is getting narrower, but not by much — and just one in five businesses has eliminated it.
What’s missing from Australia’s new international gender equality strategy?
Australian LGBTIQ+ politicians were hit with vile online abuse at the last federal election. The coming campaign could be even worse.
New research finds that Australian women are twice as likely as men to skip a prescription because of cost.
Bangladesh
An interesting World Bank blog post on rethinking how to research gender issues in Bangladesh:
Innovative research techniques are helping to circumvent social desirability bias in response to standard survey questions. Methods such as list experiments and vignettes allow researchers to measure sensitive issues more accurately by reducing respondents’ fear of judgment. One study in rural Bangladesh found that while only 5% of adolescent girls directly reported accepting intimate partner violence, list experiment techniques revealed a much higher acceptance rate of 30%. Similarly, self-reported support for child marriage increased from 2% to 24% when measured through list experiments.
China
Zhenhao Zou, a Chinese PhD student in London, has been arrested in the UK and found guilty of 11 rapes of 10 different women - two who have been identified and another eight who have yet to be traced - across two different continents. Detectives say they fear he may have raped as many as 50 more women.
Without the capacity to formally organise, Chinese feminists have turned to social media. The Party has followed, with Beijing’s great firewall automatically censoring words such as ‘feminism’ online.
Talking with young Chinese women about marriage, children, and lifestyle reveals much about their decisions.
Emily Yu’s company Ginger Ah is China’s first lingerie brand to develop both bras and artificial breasts for women who have had a mastectomy. She hopes her products will help breast cancer survivors regain confidence post-surgery.
Cook Islands
Leader of the Progressive Party of the Cook Islands Te Tuhi Kelly is encouraging women to step up and familiarise themselves with the political process, policy making and governance:
"Women bring a different and necessary perspective to leadership. They tend to focus on inclusive policies, social development, education, health and economic empowerment - all of which are crucial for the future of the Cook Islands. … We need more women in politics to ensure balanced decision-making, diverse leadership, and a more representative democracy.”
Hong Kong
Over one-third of women in Hong Kong said they experienced sexual harassment at work, a new survey has found, but a majority of them stay silent about their experiences.
India
BJP member Rekha Gupta has been sworn in as the Chief Minister of Delhi. Hindustan Times provides some background on her, while SBS Australia has a short audio clip doing the same.
In India, where land ownership offers a path to empowerment, legal clinics are helping women farmers to access their rights.
Indonesia
The Talking Indonesia podcast explores the climate change and gender nexus in this new episode.
Japan
Suicide has been the leading cause of death among expectant and postpartum mothers in Japan since 2020. In response, the Child and Families Agency is establishing Children and Families Centres, designed to provide comprehensive consultation and support for expectant and postpartum mothers, families and children. The goal is to open these centres nationwide, covering every city, ward, town and village in Japan.
Japan’s #MeToo icon Ito Shiori’s documentary ‘Black Box Diaries’, which investigates her sexual assault, has yet to premiere in Japan due to legal concerns around a lack of permission from some people who appear in the documentary.
Malaysia
Official data indicate that child marriage rates are falling in Malaysia, with a 37% drop in recorded child marriages between 2019 and 2023.
Mongolia
The Government of Mongolia has committed to prioritize developing the country’s first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) through a collaborative process.
Nepal
Biochemist Babita Paudel strives to change Nepal’s standing as the Asian country with the lowest participation of women in science.
Papua New Guinea
Horrible news from Port Moresby: a soldier brutally killed his girlfriend inside military barracks, while another woman was abducted from a housing estate then raped and murdered by a gang of around 30 men. Nine men have now been arrested for their involvement in the latter case. The incidents come just a few months after the public stabbing of a young woman at a bus stop, highlighting just how unsafe women are in both public and private spheres in the nation’s capital. Port Moresby is regularly listed as one of the world’s most dangerous cities for women and girls.
Dr Raymond Kipakapu has become one of PNG’s few doctors focused on treating survivors of sorcery accusation-related violence.
Regional
Could a woman be the next Secretary-General of ASEAN?
We’ve all heard about the eradication of USAID, but UK aid spending is also set to be slashed from 0.5% of the UK’s gross national income to just 0.3%, despite PM Kier Starmer’s promises to “be a leading contributor to development”.
Samoa
Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa has defeated a no-confidence motion against her minority government for a second time in as many weeks.
Solomon Islands
Among the challenges facing women in the Solomon Islands is period poverty. For many, menstrual hygiene products are expensive, taxed at 19.5 per cent GST. One group of activists, the Project Period Tax Reform team, is trying to remove the tax on women's menstrual hygiene products.
Taiwan
Taiwan’s political quota system for women has its critics, but women politicians say now is not the time to talk about it, as just 29.6 percent of city and county seats are occupied by women.
Thailand
Officials are investigating a human trafficking ring allegedly harvesting eggs from Thai women brought to Georgia, with three Thai nationals repatriated so far. A Thai NGO helping the alleged victims says it estimated that around 100 more trafficked women remained in Georgia.
Vietnam
There is no Vietnamese word for femicide:
The phrases used are việc giết phụ nữ and phụ nữ bị giết, which translate to “the act of murdering women” and “murdered women.” This linguistic gap is one of the findings of our research project White Bowls, Lost Souls, which aims to improve reporting on intimate partner femicide, inspire reflection on gender-based violence, and encourage action to end it. But translations are hard and without the right words, how do we even begin to address the issue?