Asia-Oceana November 2005

25M Plan To Keep Women Out of Jail. [Australia] Special housing and a mental health unit will be provided for female offenders under a $25 million State Government plan to keep more women out of jail. The female prison population has more than doubled over the past decade, with about 260 in custody today. Research shows that many of the women have suffered sexual abuse and mental illness. Corrections Minister Tim Holding said the Better Pathways program aimed to divert women from prison and break the cycle of reoffending. "It is a strategy that looks at ways of better rehabilitating women in prison and preventing them from entering the correctional system in the first place," Mr. Holding said.

Women Not Mere 'Sexual Objects' in Porn Films. [Australia] One of the most vocal complaints in the campaign against pornography has been that it reduces women to mere sex objects. However, a new Australian study has found that to the contrary, pornography in Australia shows them as 'sexually active' persons, who were fully in control of the situation. The study, led by Professor Alan Mckee, was a part of a three year government funded study in which 50 of the bestselling pornographic videos in Australia were analyzed for such things as who initiated sex, which partner's pleasure was paid attention to, whether people in the videos got to speak about what they wanted during sex, and whose perspective the videos were presented from. The professor said that the study suggested that mainstream pornography in Australia does not represent women as objects, but as partners in sex. It also found that the plots of most were not only believable, but were actually empowering for women.

Use Your Heads, Greer Tells Graduates. [Australia] Germaine Greer might well be one of our most celebrated living intellectuals, an academic giant who has made her name advocating sexual freedom for women and inspiring generations of her sisters and their daughters in the process. But yesterday outside the august walls of the University of Sydney's Great Hall, where her alma mater was awarding her an honorary doctorate, Greer looked like an old woman in a silly hat on a very windy day. "My hair will be all messy," she declared, pulling her academic's black velvet bonnet down past her ears. Inside the hall, students graduating from the university were treated to a rousing lecture on the value of the education they had just received. "Keep that mind of yours fit - you wouldn't let your body fall to pieces," she warned. "It is just as easy to let your mind go slack and feeble. Intellect is a bit like sexual ability - use it or lose it. "In your daily lives you will find that most information-media treat you as rather stupid. Governments in fact rely on the supposition that you are extremely stupid and have no memory whatsoever."

Taking China: Vera Wang's Long March. [China] Vera Wang is known for her American bridal empire. But in Shanghai last weekend she achieved recognition that her parents could never have imagined when they left their native China for a new life in 1947. Wang received the China Fashion Award or CFA as International Fashion Designer of the Year. Born in New York in 1949, she has become the first designer with Chinese roots to be globally recognized.

'Second Wives' Are Back. [China] China's economic boom has led to a revival of the 2-millennium-old tradition of "golden canaries," so called because, like the showcase birds, mistresses here are often pampered, housed in love nests and taken out at the pleasure of their "masters." Concubines were status symbols in imperial China. After the Communists took power, they sought to root out such bourgeois evils, even as Chairman Mao Tse-tung reportedly kept a harem of peasant women into his old age. Now, mistresses have become a must-have for party officials, bureaucrats and businessmen. "We are in a commodity economy," says retired Shanghai University sociologist Liu Dalin. "Work, technology, love, beauty, power - it's all tradable." So-called concubine villages - places where lotharios keep "second wives" in comfort and seclusion - are now spread across the nation, in booming cities such as Dongguan, Chengdu and Shanghai.

Princess Sayako Marries Commoner. [Japan] Wearing a simple white dress and pearls, Japan's Princess Sayako bid farewell to palace life Tuesday to wed a Tokyo city employee in a low-key ceremony marking the first time that an emperor's daughter has married a commoner. Under Japanese law, Sayako, the daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, lost her royal status by marrying, and will now live the life of a taxpaying commoner, without her generous palace allowance. The wedding drew intense national attention, with Cabinet ministers and lawmakers congratulating the couple. "As an ordinary citizen, I express my heartfelt congratulations," said Gender Equality Minister Kuniko Inoguchi. The wedding took place as the government is considering changing the 1947 law that forbids women from ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne. The same law requires female royals to leave the palace upon marriage. Japan's royal family has not had a male baby since the 1960s, and there is no direct male heir to the throne. Sayako's brother, Crown Prince Naruhito, and his wife, Princess Masako, have one child, a 3-year-old daughter, Aiko. If the law is changed soon, Sayako would be the last female royal to give up her palace rights upon marriage. With opinion polls showing firm, widespread support for letting women reign, Japan is now on the verge of reverting back to the pre-1947 system that allowed eight women to assume the throne over the past 1,500 years. A high-powered government commission recently wrote a report recommending consideration of allowing women back on the throne, and bills to make the change could be sent to Parliament for approval as early as next year.

Wie Mixes It With the Men in Japan. [Japan] Teenage sensation Michelle Wie takes on the men again at the Casio World Open which starts in Japan on Thursday The 16-year-old is on a reported appearance fee of $1 million for the second last event of the Japanese men's tour and her first since being disqualified on her professional debut at the LPGA Tour's Samsung World Championship.

UN Calls for Elimination of Violence Against Women. [Nepal] The United Nations system in Nepal said that UN agencies are committed to fighting all forms of violence against all women and girls as well as sexual minorities. In a joint message issued here on Friday on the occasion of "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women," the UN system in Nepal said, "The UN's concerns extend to women of all ethnic, caste and religious groups, especially combating sexual and domestic violence and social practices that undermine women's integrity." "Addressing the protection concerns of refugees and displaced women and above all violence against women in the context of the ongoing armed conflict is a priority commitment," the statement added. The statement further said that Nepal has reiterated its commitment to reduce gender-based violence and the Constitution of Nepal also contains specific provisions to safeguard the rights and interests of women and children, however many challenges still remain in their effective enforcement within the national legislation.

Violence Against Women Increases. [Nepal] The number of cases related to violence against women is increasing by the year in Nepal, a report submitted to the on-going campaign of "Ensure zero tolerance for violence against women" disclosed here on Saturday. According to the report released by the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD), a non-governmental organization, crime against women in Nepal, especially domestic violence, increased to922 in 2003-2004 from a total of 569 reported cases of domestic violence in the year of 2002-2003. Similarly, trafficking and child marriage has increased from the previous year, the report stated.

North Korea Urges Women to Wear Dresses. [North Korea] North Korea's communist government is urging women in the country to wear traditional Korean clothes instead of pants, according to a North Korean monthly magazine. "Keeping alive our dress style is a very important political issue to adhere to specific national cultural traditions at a time when the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to spread the rotten bourgeois lifestyle inside North Korea," the Joson Yeosung (Woman) magazine said, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. The magazine said exotic dress dampens the revolutionary atmosphere in society and blurs national sentiment and asked the public to reject clothes that aren't North Korean style. Instead, it counsels women to wear Hanbok - the brightly colored, loose-fitting dresses that are traditional in the Koreas.

U.S. Airman Gets Suspended Term for Molesting 10-Year-Old Girl. [Okinawa] The Naha District Court sentenced a U.S. Air Force sergeant to 18 months in prison, suspended for four years, on Thursday for molesting a 10-year-old girl in the city of Okinawa in July. Staff Sgt Armando Valdez, 28, from the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, molested the elementary school pupil in a parking lot in the city, and took photos of the upper part of her body, which had been stripped naked, with a cell phone camera on the morning of July 3, according to the court.

Alleged Rape Triggers Widespread Outrage. [Phillipines] Lawmakers and Left-leaning groups on Friday denounced the raping of a 22-year-old Filipina in Subic by six US Marines on November 1. We are shocked by the viciousness of the gang rape," Sen. Serge Osmeña said. He recalled having reservations about the Senate's ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) treaty in May 1999, fearing that American soldiers would abuse it. "During the debates on the Senate's ratification of the VFA, the Palace assured us that the members of the US Armed Forces would undergo rigorous training on proper behavior and self-discipline. I voted against the treaty, because I did not believe the US would make a serious effort. Now we have been proved right," Osmeña said in a text message. "The first crime is allowing foreign troops in our soil. The second is allowing our women to be war victims for these foreign marauders. Any way you look at it, the VFA legitimates the trampling down of our sovereignty," Cristina Palabay, Gabriela Women's Party secretary-general, said in a statement.

Rape Complainant Not a Sex Worker. [Philippines] Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Monday said the 22-year-old woman who complained of being raped by six US servicemen came from a decent family and not a sex worker as reported. "If anybody says that this girl is not of the highest moral character, they will be so ashamed," Locsin said in a DZMM interview Monday afternoon. The lawmaker said he was able to meet and talk with the rape complainant's mother on Sunday. He described her as a "fine and decent woman."

Different Ball Game for Filipino Women Cagers. [Philippines] Philippines women's basketball players may have been denied a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make an appearance in front of their home crowd but they will very much remain a part of the Games. They are serving as volunteers. When news broke two weeks ago that the SEA Games Federation (SGF) Council have supported the decision of the Philippines Olympic Council (POC) to drop the sport from the program, the players were crestfallen. “Our country is hosting the Games again after so long (14 years) and we know we will never get the chance again to play at home. It's very sad but there is nothing we can do,” said centre Mary Ellyn Caasi. To remain in the Games, Caasi and her teammates decided to offer their services as volunteers.

Maid's Day Off. [Singapore] Stories of exploitation and abuse of migrant workers, especially women, in the richer countries of East Asia are so common as to barely elicit comment. But the Singapore report set off a media debate about the wisdom of allowing maids any days off. It emerged that it was common for maids not to be allowed out at all, for fear that they might wind up pregnant. Currently, an employer must pay a government fee, in addition to food, housing and medical care - and repatriate any maid who becomes pregnant. Many employers regard these impositions as reason to deprive maids of the normal rights of adults. A 2003 newspaper poll showed that 50 percent of maids got no days off; a lucky 10 percent got one day a week.

South Korea Cracks Down On Illegal Human Egg Brokers. [South Korea] South Korean police have made their first arrest under a new bioethics law, capturing a man they suspect illegally sold human eggs to infertile couples in South Korea and Japan, a police spokesman said on Monday. Police raided four Seoul area hospitals on Sunday following the arrest on Saturday of a 28-year-old man identified by his family name Kim, who tried to entice women to sell their ova to help them pay off debts such as massive credit card bills. Police also charged, but did not detain, two university students and a housewife suspected of illegally selling their ova through Kim. In addition, police are investigating cases involving 10 other people suspected of using the Internet to act as brokers to sell ova from South Korean women to infertile women in Japan. South Korea enacted a new bioethics law in January that was aimed at bolstering its stem cell research while at the same time raising the bioethical standards. The law allows for therapeutic cloning for stem cell research and bans cloning to produce humans. It also prohibits the commercial trade in ova or sperm, providing punishments of up to three years in jail for brokers and up to two years in jail for donors.

Stem-Cell Study Paid 20 Women for Eggs. [South Korea] South Korea's groundbreaking stem-cell research program was plunged deeper into an ethics controversy on Monday, with a scientist acknowledging that he had paid 20 women for contributing their eggs. Speaking at a news conference, Roh Sung Il, head of Miz Medi Hospital in Seoul, said he had worried that what he was doing might be seen as controversial and kept his transactions from other researchers, including Hwang Woo Suk, a cloning scientist who runs the world's most successful human embryonic stem-cell laboratory. Despite repeated questions from journalists, Roh refused to clarify another crucial question: whether junior scientists on Hwang's team volunteered to donate eggs - an ethics violation, critics say, given a hierarchical lab culture in South Korea. "It was difficult to obtain enough eggs for our research. It was inevitable to offer some compensation in return for egg donations," Roh said. The doctor said he paid 1.5 million won, or $1,440, per woman.