Solidaritas #81
Hidden violence against women in Japan, and Bhutan puts forward a queer Miss Universe candidate
Good afternoon, and welcome to several new followers! Thank you for subscribing. 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.
If you like Solidaritas, it’d be amazing if you chose to subscribe. It’s just US$5/month or even cheaper at US$40/year:
Enjoy this fortnight’s issue!
- Kate
Afghanistan
Hunger is tearing through Afghanistan:
In the late afternoons in Kabul, a familiar ritual takes place as Afghans head to bakeries to buy fresh flat loaves for dinner.
But since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last August, another ritual has emerged: Women in blue burqas settle in front of the city's upscale bakeries, silently waiting for charitable passersby to purchase bread for them.
Human Rights Watch have released a video on the impact 300 days without school has had on Afghan girls.
Australia
Horrifying revelations from Queensland, where an inquiry into police culture has revealed widespread misogyny, sexism, and harassment. One submission reported a male officer questioning “Is this a real rape or is she looking for a free pap smear?”.
Two Murujuga women have told the United Nations that the Western Australian government is putting the interests of industry above the protection of Indigenous heritage.
Boston Scientific will pay AU$105 million in compensation to Australian women who received pelvic mesh implants, many of whom experienced debilitating pain and suffering as a result.
Bhutan
Tashi Choden will not only be the first contestant to represent Bhutan at the Miss Universe competition: she is also the country's only openly gay public figure.
China
How to fix China’s population decrease? Say sorry to women, argue Mei Fong and Yaqiu Wang:
Say sorry for blaming them for the country’s negative population growth. Say sorry for stigmatizing unmarried women in their late 20s by calling them “leftover women.” Say sorry for violating their rights to make their own choices on marriage, work, and reproduction and, in general, not doing enough to take down patriarchal systems that put the burden for having more children and caregiving squarely on women’s shoulders.
India
Despite abortion being legal until 24 weeks of pregnancy in India, social stigma attached to the procedure forces women, especially the unmarried, to turn to unsafe abortions.
Related: India permitted access to abortion in 1971, two years before Roe v. Wade in the US. Since then, India has in fact strengthened its laws.
The Supreme Court recently declared sex work a legal profession with guaranteed protection to workers, specifically from police. Dalit sex workers are wary, though:
…[S]ex workers like Reena have spent years paying hefty bribes to police officers every month for protection. “I don't know if the police raids will stop, or if we will get the same treatment by the police when we go to file a complaint,” she said.
New research shows that the presence of female police improves Indian women’s access to justice.
Japan
WomenFemale candidates have won a record 35 seats in Japan’s upper house following the 10 July election. Despite this achievement, women will still only represent 28% of upper house members.
While the shooting of Shinzo Abe shocked the world, Japan has a hidden number of violent crimes, particularly against women, writes Alison Young.
A new museum in Kyoto, the Utoto Peace Memorial Museum, aims to reconcile a racially-divided community:
Koreans have lived in Utoro since the second world war, when labourers were brought from the Korean peninsula to build an airfield. When construction work ended after Japan’s defeat in 1945, 1,300 Koreans found themselves abandoned in their ramshackle bunkhouses. …Those who stayed endured poor housing and sanitation, poverty and unemployment, and accusations that they were “illegally occupying” their 2ha district of the neighbourhood.
Malayia
What is the solution to Malaysia’s high levels of infant abandonment?
Myanmar
A group of Rohingya women and girls will travel to Argentina within two months to testify against the Myanmar military in a genocide trial to be heard by a court in Buenos Aires. The survivors have each given remote testimony of sexual assault to the court, which has a history of taking up cases based on the premise of ‘universal justice’: the concept that contends that that some horrific acts, including genocide, can be tried anywhere in the world.
Nepal
A movement to do away with the statute of limitations for rape cases in Nepal is gaining momentum, but some people (read: men) don’t agree.
In a remote village in Nepal’s westernmost province, Sudurpaschim, children and women are dying of malnutrition and a lack of health facilities:
Nirmala Bishwokarma, 25, and her one-year-old son need to be given intravenous solution treatment to battle malnutrition. She was married at the age of 15. Since then, she has been pregnant seven times – only two children survived.
…The nearest hospital from the village is a day’s car ride away – plus an additional 12 hours of hiking over dry, steep terrain.
New Zealand
New Zealand’s women’s cricketers will be paid the same as their male counterparts after a landmark agreement was reached to close the gender pay gap across all formats and competitions.
A group of 140 Afghan female basketball players stranded in Albania have asked NZ for asylum, as they are unable to return home.
Pakistan
A tribal council in Bajaur district has barred women from visiting public places for tourism and entertainment, terming it ‘unethical’ and against Islamic principles. This policy came just days after the World Economic Forum ranked Pakistan as the second worst country in terms of gender parity in the world.
The Philippines
The Guardian takes a look at abortion in the Philippines, where women are forced to buy abortion pills underground but sometimes end up experiencing complications, leading to hospitalisation and even death.
Papua New Guinea
Women represent less than 5% of candidates in this month’s PNG elections. For the first time, women are being given separate polling lines at the election, to try to protect them from intimidation and allow them to vote freely and without influence from male family members. But will 2022 be a repeat of the 2017 national elections for women candidates? Plus: Meet Delilah Gore, one of the 167 women standing for office.
Regional
Gender, family violence, and fostering women to leadership were key themes at the 2022 Pacific Islands Forum summit. But analysis shows progress has been slow, especially in terms of female leadership.
Women make up a small percentage of people imprisoned in the Pacific: just 2% in Solomon Islands, 6% in Samoa, 5% in Tonga, and 3% in Fiji and Vanuatu. But over the past two decades, the rate of female incarceration has been increasing dramatically.
What are the links being increased per capita income and women in work? According to a new World Bank study, in Pakistan, women’s employment increases as the per capita income does, yet in India, women's participation in workforce fell after per capita income passed US$3,500.
Ms. Magazine speaks to abortion providers around the world about the difficulties they experience in performing their work.
South Korea
A profile of Kim Keon Hee, the controversial wife of South Korea’s (equally controversial) new president.
Sri Lanka
Pregnant Sri Lankans are being forced to survive on just one meal a day due to the country’s massive economic crisis.