Good morning,
This will be the last issue for 2020; excitingly, this is also issue number 50! I’ll be back in early-to-mid-January.
I hope you all have a lovely break. Please do take some time off, even if you don’t celebrate Christmas. We’ve all had a tough year; you deserve some down time.
If you’re enjoying Solidaritas, paid subscriptions are available for US$5/month or much cheaper at US$40/year. Thank you so much for your support!
-Kate
Afghanistan
Female journalist Malalai Maiwand and her driver have been shot and killed by an unknown assailant. Maiwand’s mother, an activist, was also murdered five years ago.
Soraya Shahidy is Afghanistan’s first female tattoo artist.
Australia
Leanne Liddle is an Indigenous woman working to bring meaningful justice to Aboriginal communities in the Northern Terittory. She aims to restore communities that are ‘on the brink’ within five years.
A 30-year-old Brisbane man has been charged with more than 135 sexual offences against 31 women after he allegedly drugged women he met on dating sites and filmed himself sexually assaulting them.
Bhutan
Bhutan has decriminalised homosexuality!
Burma
Naw Ohn Hla has been named Civil Rights Defender of the Year by Swedish group Civil Rights Defenders. She is the chair of the Democracy and Peace Women Network in Burma.
Cambodia
Nearly one-third of rape cases in Cambodia are committed by a family member of the victim, but many perpetrators are not prosecuted. The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) found family pressure and financial reliance on their abusers means many victims withdraw their complaints.
Cambodia has 1,200 wildlife rangers. Just 42 of them are women, and Chhit Phattavdy is proud to be one of them.
China
27-year-old Zhou Xiaoxuan is accusing Zhu Jun, a well-known host at China Central Television, of forcibly groping and kissing her six years ago when she was an intern. Zhou reported the incident to the police the next day but was urged to drop the case because of Zhu’s “positive influence” on society. Zhou has now taken her case to court.
Singer Tan Weiwei has released a new song called ‘Xiao Juan (Pseudonym)’. The song’s lyrics highlights violence against women:
“Using a fist, using gasoline, using sulfuric acid… Being flushed into the sewer, sinking from a wedding room into a riverbed. Being stuffed into a suitcase, frozen in a fridge on a balcony.”
Hong Kong
Working women in Hong Kong have seen their maternity leave increase from 10 to 14 weeks. In theory, this also applies to migrant workers, but in practice, pregnant migrant domestic workers are often fired or pressured to resign. Will the new maternity leave regulations exacerbate the situation?
India
I found this long-form article about a 1979 open letter on the Mathura case from four law professors fascinating. The Mathura case was about an Adivasi girl who was raped by two constables in a police station in rural Maharashtra. The Supreme Court agreed that a sexual act had taken place, but said the girl had submitted to it. The law professors disagreed, arguing she had never given consent.
Indian rape laws need to change to ensure they also protect transgender women.
There has been a sharp increase in the number of bank accounts and mobile phones owned by women in India.
Indonesia
Rode Wanimbo on what it looks like to decolonise the Bible for West Papuan women.
Japan
Until Monday, Shoko Arai was the only female member of the Kusatsu town assembly. She lost her seat after more than 90% of residents votes to recall her, saying she had damaged the town’s reputation after she accused the mayor of sexual assault.
Malaysia
Women and children are bearing the brunt of the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, with calls to domestic violence and abortion hotlines surging in Malaysia.
Nepal
Hindu women in Nepal have historically been banned from taking part in cremation ceremonies. Now, female soldiers have begun cremating COVID-19 victims.
Nepal’s national women’s football team will get a 150% pay rise so that their wages are equal with those of the men’s team. The women have been performing much better than the men, so it’s about time: the women were runners-up at the South Asian Games and South Asian championships last year and are ranked 99th in the world. The men have not won a game for more than a year and are ranked 171st.
New Zealand
The vast majority of victims of the Christchurch mosque attack were men. Now, the women are trying to pick up the pieces and rebuild their families and communities.
Pakistan
How Pakistan’s home-based workers, 80% of whom are women, won the right to be recognised as workers.
Regional
Both China and Hong Kong are dealing with high-profile #metoo cases right now.
The Regional Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women has recognised a new set of principles and practices for engaging boys and men in ending VAW.
How laws in Pakistan and India discriminate against women from religious minorities.
Several women were involved in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Why don’t more people know their names?
How is the pandemic hurting burgeoning women’s sport in Asia?
South Korea
The suicide rate among Korean women in their 20s has jumped by more than 40 per cent, yet rates for male deaths are in decline. What’s going on?
South Korea’s most infamous rapist was released after serving 12 years in prison. The man, Cho Doo-soon, was arrested in 2008 and convicted of raping an 8-year-old girl. Just days before his release, the National Assembly passed a bill, nicknamed the “Cho Doo-soon law”, which banned people convicted of sexually assaulting minors from leaving their homes at night or during hours when students commute to and from school. The law also bans such sex offenders from going near schools.
Taiwan
A proposed law would allow women to access pregnancy termination services without needing their spouse’s approval.
Vietnam
Been found guilty of sexual harassment in Vietnam? Don’t worry - the fine will only cost you US$9. Mike Tatarski looks at how this paltry fine represents the lack of seriousness with which the country handles violence against women.