Yesterday was a public holiday in both Canberra (Reconciliation Day) and Indonesia (Hari Pancasila). I hope you had as good a long weekend as possible right now, although if you’re anything like me, you were probably glued to social media coverage of the US protests and debates on race/racism around the world. It was also my partner’s birthday so I spent most of the day video-calling with him.
Posts remain free but paid subscription options are available for US$5/month or much cheaper at US$40/year.
Thank you for reading!
Afghanistan
Marzia Nawrozi on how we cannot let history repeat itself in Afghanistan: “When I left school that day in 1995, I had no way of knowing I wouldn’t be allowed back for six years. Those six years—which could have been spent as my best learning and improving years—turned into the darkest and the scariest years of my life.”
A counterpoint: in some areas, the daughters and sisters of Taliban' fighters are actually attending school with their permission.
Inside Kabul’s only women’s prison, where 100 women and their children remain behind bars despite COVID-19.
Australia
Members of trial juries are not allowed to discuss their experiences in Australia, so this anonymous piece written by a juror on a rape case (in which the accused was found not guilty) is fascinating.
The WA cop who allegedly shot Aboriginal woman Joyce Clarke to death has plead not guilty. He will stand trial in August. No police officer has ever been found guilty of murdering an Indigenous person in Australia.
The domestic violence inquiry set up after the murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children was closed suddenly, without any submissions or hearings.
Temporary visa holders such as students are not eligible to access Australian government-funded domestic violence support services. This can prove fatal, as the murder of Kamaljeet Sidhu in late May demonstrated.
The question of whether lockdown has been a blessed opportunity for quiet work and contemplation in the home office or a nerve-jangling exercise in multi-tasking at the kitchen table is a gendered one, writes Annabel Crabb.
Bangladesh
Sex workers in Bangladesh - including many who were trafficked or tricked into becoming prostitutes - are facing new struggles during COVID-19, as customers disappear and hunger becomes their primary concern.
Burma
A group of women are leading the anti-methamphetamine fight in Shan State. Many members first became active in campaigning against meth when their own husbands and children became addicted. Their group - which has been operating for a decade - covers 22 villages, conducts surprise checks on vehicles passing through the area, and raids dealers’ houses. The women issue fines and the money funds the group’s operations.
COVID-19 has caused widespread workplace shutdowns in Burma. By the end of April, more than 60,000 factory workers were out of work and 175 factories had stopped operating, mostly in the garment sector. Workers who dare to protest are being threatened and even prosecuted.
Burma is planning to update their school sex education curriculum, but monks and other conservative elements are against it.
China
Chinese couples wanting to divorce must now first complete a month-long "cooling-off" period, due to a new law passed in May. The government has introduced the regulation to reduce divorce rates, apparently.
Fiji
Fiji’s domestic violence hotline saw a 600% increase in genuine calls between February and April 2020. Counsellors blame COVID-19.
Sex workers in Fiji are struggling to make a living during the pandemic. Many are the main breadwinners of their families.
India
Tracing the trail of India’s domestic violence laws.
Indonesia
An excellent piece from Sharyn Davis on what’s behind Indonesia’s ‘moral turn’.
A short Al Jazeera documentary film on the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, and how one woman and her community are still fighting for justice.
Nurses are fighting not just the COVID-19 pandemic but also insanely long hours, cuts to annual bonuses, and a general dismissal of their work rights.
How Indonesia can address growing numbers of female extremists.
Japan
Women's language in Japan is strongly tied to the myth that women deserve their own expressions because they are different from men. This has a huge impact on how women are viewed and required to behave in workplaces.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many Japanese families to have difficult conversations about domestic workloads. Predictably, most men aren’t pulling their weight, and while some are trying to do better, will it last?
Japan’s single mothers and non-permanent female employees have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19.
Kiribati
Kiribati’s Parliament voted in its first-ever female speaker.
Malaysia
Sarawak’s women’s rugby team is going from strength to strength.
Nepal
Four out of every five farmers in Nepal are now women, as young men continue to leave rural areas to work overseas. This has resulted in increasing feminisation of agriculture and the rural women left behind have become de facto farmers in de jure male-headed households.
New Zealand
Australia’s ANU and NZ’s AUT are debating how to handle allegations of sexual harassment against AUT Pro Vice Chancellor Max Abbott. The ANU complainant alleges Abbott sent hundreds of texts to her, many of them sexually explicit, and says that he threatened her career when she cut contact with him.
Pakistan
Two female teenagers were shot dead by family members after a video emerged online of them associating with a man.
Pakistan has seen a surge in bike riding during the pandemic, including among women, many of whom are cycling in public for the first time since they were children.
The Philippines
Lockdowns have seen an estimated 50% reduction in usage of family planning services in the Philippines, with problems relating to both access and availability becoming apparent.
Regional
We need a gendered response to deal with GBV during COVID-19.
Why women need to be paid special attention under COVID-19 responses in the Pacific.
WaterAid and Marie Stopes International offer some reflections on their work to improve menstrual health in the Pacific.
South Korea
An organization for women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II has come under scrutiny for its financial dealings.
Sri Lanka
Three women were trampled to death during a stampede for an $8 cash handout in Colombo, highlighting the increasing financial desperation of many families during COVID-19.
Taiwan
Adultery is no longer illegal in Taiwan.
Tibet
Tendol Gyalzur cared for over 300 foster children over 25 years. She established Tibet’s first private orphanage outside Lhasa in 1993, later setting up another home for abandoned children in Yunnan’s Shangri-La, and a facility caring for nomadic herder children in western Sichuan. She died of COVID-19 in Switzerland in May.
Vanuatu
What it’s like to run for parliament as a woman in Vanuatu.