Solidaritas #95
Taliban bans female UN staff, while health workers fight cervical cancer stigma in Bangladesh
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.
Today’s header image comes from a mosque in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, for Idul Adha morning prayers in 2011. I lived in Kendari for a year while volunteering with Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia (Indonesian Women’s Coalition); it was the start of a lot of things.
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Love and solidarity,
- Kate
Afghanistan
The Taliban have banned the UN from employing female workers. This is a horrifying step, with the UN now forced to consider its future in the country, even as millions are facing starvation.
Meanwhile, Matiullah Wesa, a 30-year-old male campaigner for female education, has been arrested by the Taliban. The Taliban have not provided a reason for his arrest.
Australia
Jo always knew she was a sistergirl (an Indigenous term similar to transgender woman); now she wants to help others find themselves.
More than one thousand Australian women are commencing a class action in the Victorian Supreme Court against Bayer, the manufacturer of a contraceptive device they say left them in extreme pain, with some needing to go on to have hysterectomies.
Bangladesh
A group of Bangladesh’s health workers are working to reach women in some of the country’s most isolated places, to fight back against stigma of cervical cancer. Cervical and breast cancers are now the most common killers of women in Bangladesh, with cervical cancer causing an estimated 17,686 new cases and 10,362 deaths every year:
Yet despite the increased awareness in the area, many women remain reluctant to participate in the programme.
“I once met a woman who denied having a cervix, simply because she didn’t want to talk to us,” says Khatun. “Another woman asked us if we had nothing better to do than to talk about vaginas all day – before closing the door in our face.”
A Muslim scholar and three village elders have been arrested in Bangladesh on charges of ordering a woman to be caned and stoned after she was accused of an extramarital affair. Police on Monday said the woman was “caned 82 strokes” and “stoned 80 times” with small brick pieces after an imam issued a fatwa.
China
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) will bring events back to China later this year, ending a boycott instituted in late 2021 over concerns about the safety of former player Peng Shuai after she accused a high-ranking government official of sexual assault.
China’s fertility treatment rules are pushing single women to Hong Kong for treatments such as IVF and egg freezing.
India
India is on the cusp of surpassing China to become the world’s most populous country, and its economy is among the fastest-growing in the world. But the number of Indian women in the workforce, already among the 20 lowest in the world, has been shrinking for years.
Only 1% of women in India have ever attended a breast-cancer screening programme. A team of blind and partially sighted women are working to change that, one highly sensitive examination at a time.
How night walks for women are allowing groups to tread fearlessly on the Bangalore streets most would otherwise avoid after sundown:
On a warm, late March evening, in fading twilight, a dozen women gather outside the Central College metro station in the heart of the Indian city of Bangalore. Other than two pairs of friends, we are strangers.
But introductions are made and soon all is excited anticipation and a will to conquer. As pompous as that sounds, a group of women setting out for a night walk on the streets of Bangalore’s Chickpete area, a crowded, congested traditional business district, is a rare occurrence.
Japan
Japan's government has made tackling its falling birthrate a top priority, but with few women involved in official debate on the issue, some are making themselves heard on social media.
Meet some of the women taking on men in local politics in Japan:
Ai Ishimori was teaching Japanese cookery classes in France when she was gripped by an urge to return to her home country.
“Shinzo Abe was prime minister at the time, and a group of older men were doing a bad job of running the country,” she says. “But I was unable to do anything about it. I was really worried about the direction my country was going in.”
Five years on, the 38-year-old is running in local elections in Tokyo – her first attempt to win political office.
“I decided I could do better than them,” Ishimori tells the Guardian during a break in her campaign to win a seat on the Nerima local assembly in the capital’s north-west. “There is a gender gap in Japan in every area of life, and especially in politics. But there is a solution – more female politicians.”
Kiribati
Over the years, Claire Anterea has waved goodbye to numerous friends and family members as they left the Pacific island nation of Kiribati for jobs in regional powerhouse Australia. She had never considered joining them - until now, as Australia will introduce a permanent residency option for Pacific islanders this year, and has also expanded its short-term labour program.
Malaysia
A business chamber has urged the Malaysian government to help cut the cost of extended maternity leave after a survey showed that more men were being hired since paid maternity leave was extended to 98 days last year.
Maldives
The world knows the Maldives as turquoise-blue waters and a vibrant underwater life like no other destination, but for Maldivian women, the reality is quite different:
That is how the Maldives masquerades – as a five-star holiday destination for tourists – while local people, especially women, are treated as second-class citizens.
We women constantly worry about being a victim of assault in a country where age-old misogynistic practices hinder us from establishing a foothold in society. …
I used to respond assertively to catcallers, but now I have stopped because I worry about my safety. There is a middle-aged man who is always loitering at a cafe near my house. He would persistently harass me when I walked to the local shop. My first instinct was to call him out on the spot for his verbal harassment but this man makes me feel scared and vulnerable. So instead of taking a two-minute brisk walk straight from my house to the store, I take a different route to avoid him.
Myanmar
At least 165 people, including 27 women and 19 children, were killed after Myanmar’s military junta bombed Kanbalu township in the central Sagaing region.
New Zealand
New Zealand has reached gender equity in its government cabinet for the first time in its history.
Men continue to dominate New Zealand’s seasonal employment scheme for Pacific citizens, at 88% of all employees.
Pakistan
Fishing is a male domain, but thousands of women in Gwadar are on the streets demanding implementation of laws against trawling and for inclusive development.
Briefly banned, Pakistan's ground-breaking 'Joyland' is now a world cinema success story of queer and trans love.
Last year, monsoon rains unleashed flooding that destroyed wide swaths of agricultural land in Pakistan. Many women who depend on farm work in Sindh are still struggling to earn a living following the floods.
Papua New Guinea
Why the women of Papua New Guinea need men to help end domestic violence:
Lydia sought help from police "countless times" over the years she experienced violence.
"I would run to ... [the] police station, [but] they would just tell me, 'Sorry, we can't help you. It's domestic affairs, we can't interfere'."
She says in the end she was tired of being turned away.
"You have just wasted your time either getting a bus or walking there ... and I walked there many, many times. Countless times, seeking help."
The Philippines
The now-elderly Filipina women used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers in World War II are demanding justice, after CEDAW recommended the Philippines government provide full reparations.
Regional
The demand for water resources is higher than ever before. The growing global population, expanding industrial development and the impacts of climate change are exacerbating the global water crisis, yet gender-blind polices ignore the crisis’ disproportionate impact on women.
On Australia and how the government might handle falling birthrates in the region, by friend of the newsletter
.Singapore
A Singaporean man has sued a woman for AU$3.24 million after she declined to turn their friendship into romance.
Sexual crime victims to get priority when making police reports at neighbourhood centres (via We, The Citizens).
South Korea
With the world’s lowest birth rate, South Korea faces a looming demographic disaster. In 2022, the average number of babies expected per woman dropped to 0.78; the replacement rate in developed countries is typically about 2.1. To reverse the trend, South Korea’s central and local governments are scrambling to provide payments and other benefits to anyone who gives birth to a child.
Thailand
A former IT worker at the Australian embassy in Bangkok has been sentenced to two years' jail for installing hidden cameras in women's bathrooms inside the embassy.
Vanuatu
Competitive Australian Rules Football for women is up and running in Vanuatu again, for the first time since before the pandemic.