Good morning!
It’s the end of March and quickly getting colder here in Canberra. Time to dig out the winter clothes. Apologies for missing last fortnight’s issue - I ended up being part of the organising committee for the Canberra March4Justice (Aminata Conteh-Biger pictured on stage above).
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- Kate
Afghanistan
Three women working as polio vaccinators have been killed in Afghanistan. The Taliban denies responsibility.
Speaking of the Taliban: Afghan women have been virtually excluded from the peace process.
Meanwhile, a radio and TV station says they are unable to employ women anymore until security improves. Four of their female staff have been killed by ISIS since December 2020.
Some good news: a fascinating conversation with Hosna Jalil, former Deputy Interior Minister and now Deputy Minister for Women, on her battle with the patriarchy.
Australia
A few weeks ago, then-Attorney General Christian Porter was accused of raping a young woman in 1988 when they were both teenagers. The woman, Kate, sadly suicided last year; this is her story.
Then we marched on Parliament House.
How all these high-profile rape allegations are impacting victim-survivors, and how much work remains to achieve equality for women of colour.
In the ’70s, staunch feminists led the charge towards equality in Australia. Fifty years on, are the systems of power and constraint they railed against actually getting worse?
Five years after Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence, the situation remains grim: reports to police are at an all-time high, women are being hospitalised because of family violence at the same rates, and 26,000 women and children are being turned away from housing services every year.
Many people believe that women too often lie about rape. In fact, they rarely report it.
New research shows that an Australian woman’s risk of domestic violence increases by up to 35% when her income goes up.
Bangladesh
Meet Bangladesh’s first transgender TV anchor, Tashnuva Anan Shishir.
Bhutan
Gender-based violence increased by more than 53% in 2020 compared to 2019 levels.
Stigma surrounding menstruation is having a serious impact on both women’s lives and Bhutan’s economy.
Burma
Shot in her father’s arms, a seven-year-old girl has become the youngest victim of the Burmese military government’s crackdown.
Women have long been the backbone of anti-government movements in Burma, and the same remains true today.
The impact of the coup is going to be particularly devastating for women’s rights and safety, argue human rights experts.
China
Women who made allegations last month of rape and sexual abuse in Chinese detention camps have been harassed and smeared in the weeks since.
China’s new divorce law is stalled, and women are getting increasingly frustrated.
Women are frequently discriminated against during job interviews, even being asked how many boyfriends they’ve had (!!).
Fiji
Fiji’s Minister for Women says gender-based violence in her country is “extremely bad”.
India
India’s new farm laws are bad news for everyone, but they’re particularly damaging for women, who grow 80% of the country’s food.
Meeting 83-year-old protesting grandma, Bilkis Dadi, whose idol is 19th century warrior queen Rani Ki Jhansi.
In Meghalaya, one of India’s last matrilineal societies is hanging on.
Indonesia
How women are leading a resistance movement against a proposed sugarcane plantation in a North Sumatran village.
Conversion therapy remains common across Indonesia, with parents continuing to try to force their children to become heterosexual.
Ika Vantiani is an artist who is trying to change the dictionary definition of ‘woman’ in Bahasa Indonesia, because the examples given are overwhelmingly derogatory. (Dislaimer: Ika is an acquaintance of mine.)
A new HRW report shows that women and girls in Indonesia are often forced to wear the hjiab, or suffer bullying and harassment if they don’t.
Japan
Seeking the true story about Japan, South Korea, and ‘comfort women’.
A court in Sapporo has ruled Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
Suicide rates among women rose sharply in Japan during the pandemic, particularly in low-income households.
Nepal
Rates of child marriage have increased in Nepal since the beginning of the pandemic.
New analysis of birth records indicate that 1 in every 50 Nepali girls is ‘missing’; in other words, aborted based on sex.
Veteran women’s activists say that while Nepal appears progressive, little change has actually been achieved for the country’s women and girls.
Pakistan
Despite threats, Aurat March (Women’s March) was held again in early March. This year’s focus was health. A judge has since ordered that the organisers be investigated for blasphemy. Blasphemy carries a death sentence in Pakistan.
On destigmatising conversations about sexual assault in Pakistan.
Papua New Guinea
Do protection orders actually make women safer in PNG?
The Philippines
How Rappler editor Maria Ressa copes with all the online violence and threats she receives.
What we need to know about female prisoners in The Philippines.
Regional
The COVID-19 pandemic has set women’s equality back by as much as a generation. Women will now have to wait 135.6 years – up from 99.5 in 2020 – to be on equal footing with men.
Pacific women are increasingly learning to surf, having fun and smashing gender norms at the same time.
ASEAN needs to strengthen its regional laws on gender-based violence, say women’s advocates.
Singapore
40% of women say they have experienced gender-based discrimination in the workplace, compared to just 10% of men.
Sri Lanka
Women’s right to own land in Sri Lanka remains complicated both socially and legally.
VICE speaks to Muslim Sri Lankan women about the country’s proposed burqa ban.
Thailand
Anti-monarchy protest leader Rung is facing nine charges and up to 135 years in jail. She isn’t giving up hope.