Solidaritas #134
Afghan women’s rights activists in Pakistan are facing deportation
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.
Happy Eid al-Fitr to those who celebrate! Safe travels and eat well. Mohon maaf lahir dan batin.
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In solidarity,
- Kate
Afghanistan
More than 50 prominent female Afghan women’s rights activists sheltering in Pakistan are facing deportation, where they fear they will be imprisoned or killed under Taliban rule.
For more than 1,200 days, Afghan girls have been banned from attending school beyond Year 6.
In Impact, Zan Times takes a look at the Afghan women abandoned by the Trump administration.
Australia
A new report has revealed the level of violence and abuse women in politics face across the Asia-Pacific region, including in Australia. Women have told the Inter-Parliamentary Union report that they have been sexually assaulted, spat on and abused online at alarming rates.
Gina Rineheart is Australia’s richest person. She is now pushing US-style ‘MAGA’ messages in Australia.
Bangladesh
Women’s rights activists are saying that religiously conservative elements are exploiting Bangladesh’s unstable law and order situation to morally police women in public by questioning their choice of clothing and lifestyle.
China
A Chinese woman and content creator has been deported from Taiwan after she stated on social media that she supported Chinese military intervention to unify the country with Taiwan. It has led to further debates around ‘mainland spouses’ in Taiwan:
China views marriages between Chinese and Taiwanese as the perfect metaphor for national unification. In Taiwan, their status is more ambiguous. An explosion in numbers during the 1990s led to fears of Chinese colonisation by stealth. Although tighter regulations introduced in 2004 led to a rapid fall, the legacy of that period is a large number of mixed-marriage households in Taiwan, mostly of Chinese women married to Taiwanese men. Alternatively referred to as “mainland spouses” (lupei) or, increasingly frequently, simply as “Chinese spouses” (Zhongpei), they are periodically at the centre of public debate over national security.
Fiji
Tourism brings in about 40% of Fiji’s GDP. Meet a group of women in the highlands of the country who are working to get more involved.
India
Chhattisgarh High Court ruled that forcing a woman to undergo a virginity test violates Article 21 of the Constitution, which safeguards her right to life, liberty, and dignity. The court emphasised that such tests breach fundamental rights, natural justice, and a woman's modesty.
Indonesia
Indonesia's maternal and child welfare programs have had bumpy implementation and redirected resources away from other programs that aim to improve gender balance. Unfortunately, some have also reinforced women's roles as primary caregivers.
Japan
The Government of Japan has cut funding to the CEDAW Commission.
Regional
ABC Australia explores the problem of online gender-based violence against journalists in the Indo-Pacific in a two-part series. Part two can be found here.
Malaysia
Malaysian women thrive in classrooms, but struggle to find seats in parliament, according to the country's latest gender equality scores.
Nepal
KALAM Weekly explores an advocacy campaign encouraging more women to run for political office.
Allegations of sexual harassment, misogyny, bullying, homophobia, and discrimination have emerged against Nepal’s former Attorney General Yubaraj Sangroula and other faculty members of the Kathmandu School of Law, where Sangroula serves as the executive director.
Pakistan
Meet four women comedians changing Pakistan’s male-dominated scene.
The Philippines
Haydee Ong is the former head coach of the Philippines women's national basketball team. She was recently made commissioner of the inaugural Women's Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (WMPBL), the development of which means players are now able to progress beyond the university league.
Regional
Female entrepreneurs in South Asia have been described as “silent contributors”, as their input to the economy and society is still not properly understood. And when their contributions go unrecognised, women can be denied access to education and career development:
I identified a three-pillar effect that discourages women from entrepreneurship. These are socio-cultural barriers, which include traditional gender roles and societal expectations; economic and financial constraints such as limited access to funding; and regulatory and institutional challenges like legal obstacles and a lack of support systems. These three pillars create significant hurdles for women who are trying to build their businesses.
Taiwan
The gender pay gap in Taiwan has increased to 15.8 percent last year, up 0.7 percentage points from 2023.
Timor-Leste
The Timor-Leste Ministry of Health has announced the launch of the first same day HPV screen-and-treat clinic using self-collection in the country.