 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Sharing
the torch: Young women take their place in reproductive health,
human rights On Sept 7-10, The UN Economic and social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will hold a high level meeting in Bangkok to hear the government reports in the region. This will be a review on the Beijing implementation of each country’s commitments to women equality, development and peace for the past 10 years. At the Asia Pacific NGO Forum in July, the more than 30 young women asserted their presence and drafted their own statement: “Creating
spaces for young people to meaningfully participate does not mean
‘passing the torch.’ It is more ‘sharing the torch.’
This way, all people, regardless of age, could share both the burden
and the light.” Asia
Pacific women celebrate reconfirmation of Beijing Declaration Over
300 women from Asia Pacific governments and non-government groups
reaffirmed the Beijing Platform for Action, the document adopted
nearly a decade ago at a meeting convened by the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific in Bangkok recently.
In the aim of reporting and documenting women’s gains and
struggles, the statement said there is lack of reliable and relevant
sex disaggregated data and gender statistics.The women from the
NGOs reiterated their concerns for the diversion of funds intended
for women’s services to terrorism, which is happening in many
countries in the region. Being
Asian and Muslim: Women struggle with identities As
the world reels with terrorist bombs, being Asian and Muslim is
more than ever before, a struggle of identity. At the Asia Pacific
NGO Forum held in Bangkok last July, Farida Shaheed who belongs
to an international network called Women Living Under Muslim Laws,
raised piercing questions as to why Muslim women and their mere
attachment to Islam as the religion they practice or profess to,
are automatically separated from all others in the wide arena of
social, economic and political concerns. She said there are 1.2
billion persons - half females - who make up the Islam world and
who are divided by diverse social and political structures, ethnicity,
and have differing histories, and are not exclusive and separate
from the rest of the world. “Let us not allow our ideas, our
music, our poetry, our dances and our dreams to be boxed into the
false equations of Asians vs. Muslims, Islam vs. Christianity or
Hinduism vs. Islam or of a civilizing and democratizing US-led west
vs. the autocratic Muslims, or anyone’s definitions of good
and evil,” she added. These concerns are part of the "Purple
Book" of the NGO Forum which will be given to government representatives
meeting in Bangkok September 7-10 in the 10-year review the implementation
of the Platform for Action of the World Conference on Women. Women
in the Time of War and Globalization From
today until September 7, government representatives from the Asia
Pacific region are meeting in Bangkok to review the implementation
of the Platform for Action of the World Conference on Women nearly
10 years ago in Beijing.In July, more than 700 women at the Asia
Pacific NGO Forum also in Bangkok talked of the effects of the twin
threats of war and globalization. The women said they were saddened
that while bodies like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund
and World Trade Organization and power centers like the US are increasingly
forwarding their agenda of economic progress and security, the interests
of women seem to be forgotten.“A decade can fly by unnoticed
with things unchanged, but with 10 years, we knew that we had so
much to do with fewer resources and less support,” APNGO Forum
chair Dr. Patricia Licuanan of the Philippines bewailed. Opinion:
Breastfeeding is a social obligation Every year, it is estimated that at least one million infants die due to lack of breastfeeding. "Breastmilk is best for babies up to two years" -- this is the Philippine government's compliance to the Code attached to every infant formula ad. Often, it is said in a hurried manner just to comply. We remember the words but does the message sink in? Ten years after the Fourth World Conference on Women, the most glaring challenge is to convince society, men especially, that breastfeeding is a social obligation. We need a new way of thinking about work and families for long term social transformation. What is needed is a breastfeeding perspective. "When
child care and other nurturing tasks are not taken care of, how
can women operate in a gender equal environment? Surely this is
a political issue for all women with children; and we cannot deny
that 'work and motherhood' is part of women's lives for most of
the world," declares Sarah Amin.
Asia-Pacific:
The other-abled Women At the Asia Pacific NGO Forum, three other-abled women talk about the plight of women like them. In Hong Kong, it is traditional thinking that women must get married and have a family. But for women with disabilities, “it is difficult to have a boyfriend,” shares the still single Yuen. Although some disabled women have children, there is no social support to help them in caring for their children. In Korea, the network calls for independent living and motherhood (society thinks that they should not have children) to change the image of women with disabilities. “We should not be isolated in the community and society. We are persons who suffer multiple disadvantages by our status – as women, with disabilities and who live in poverty. Poorest among the poor; women with disabilities suffer even greater discrimination than women,” says paraplegic Mai of Thailand. Yet
many brave women rise above their disabilities to help others like
them.
|
||