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.
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In solidarity,
- Kate
Aotearoa New Zealand
Former PM Jacinda Ardern on kind leadership, public rage and life in Trump’s America.
Australia
Dollars, distance and political power: inside the barriers to abortion access.
How Australia's housing crisis is keeping victim-survivors in unsafe situations.
The federal government will make it illegal for employers to cancel paid parental leave after a stillbirth or early infant death. The change follows advocacy from the parents of a baby who died at just six weeks old.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh has made the HPV vaccine routine following a successful launch campaign in which 5.6 million girls were vaccinated.
From young athletes to photojournalists, Bangladeshi women chasing their dreams say Islamist groups are trying to tell them what they can and can't do. (video)
Cambodia
The Cambodian government has announced a new policy to provide financial support to incarcerated women who are pregnant or have children under two living with them in prison.
China
Female writers have been summoned by police for posting and sharing homosexual romance stories online, in a widespread crackdown on the ‘boys love’ genre in China. If convicted, they could be subjected to detention, financial penalties or prison sentences.
India
Women working in sugar cane fields are still being pushed to undergo hysterectomies to enable them to work longer hours without periods, activists in Maharashtra say.
In India, Operation Sindoor (the brief war between India and Pakistan last month) used women’s bodies and symbols to cloak an old patriarchal script:
When two female officers of the Indian armed forces – one Hindu, one Muslim – took centre stage to announce Operation Sindoor, the government celebrated it as a landmark moment for gender inclusion. The image of uniformed women addressing the media from the front lines, avenging the deaths of 26 civilians, all men, and symbolically restoring the sindoor (vermilion) of widowhood, was widely praised as feminist iconography in service of the nation. …
But can women leading war be inherently feminist? Nation-building, as feminist scholars have long warned, is not a gender-neutral project. It reconfigures women into roles that serve its ends: sacrificial mothers, grieving widows, or militant daughters of the nation. … Therefore, the mere presence of women in public or political spheres does not automatically equate to gender justice. Representation must also be interrogated for its objectifying function.
Indonesia
How worker-led programs are tackling gender-based violence in workplaces.
Women on the Balinese islands of Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan have long farmed seaweed as a key income generating activity; Mongabay explores.
Despite significant strides in recent decades, Indonesia continues to face one of Southeast Asia’s higher maternal mortality rates.
Japan
Meet the women in Okinawa trying to save the disappearing Ryukyu Kingdom cuisine.
Myanmar
Myanmar’s women are challenging patriarchal norms as well as the junta.
Pakistan
A man has been arrested for the murder of 17-year-old TikTok content creator Sana Yousaf:
Authorities say they believe Umar Hayat murdered Ms Yousaf at her home in Islamabad on Monday after she rejected what they called his "offers of friendship". He allegedly also repeatedly tried, and failed, to meet her.
They say he broke into her home, fired two shots, stole her phone and fled.
Papua New Guinea
The Haus Meri is an important space for women, and there's a growing movement to see it gain a political voice both at the community and the national level. (audio)
How public-private partnership Bel Isi is responding to family and sexual violence in PNG.
Singapore
The Ah Ma Flippa Ball team for older women is one example of how Singapore is encouraging its growing population of seniors to stay active.
South Korea
Liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung won South Korea’s snap presidential election earlier this month. Lee won almost 50% of the vote and takes over a country that is deeply divided along gender lines.
Taiwan
The law remains confused and contradictory on abortion in Taiwan, making the practice both legal and illegal.
Vietnam
In response to falling birth rates, Vietnam has dropped its two-child policy.