In Vietnam, a remarkable 95 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 have access to the internet, with social networking growing so rapidly that Vietnam is Facebook’s fastest growing market in the world, with an estimated 8.5 million users, according to a We Are Social report. No doubt, rapid economic growth in the past two decades has contributed to tremendous social transformation in Vietnam, while global integration and the communications revolution have connected young Vietnamese to outside information and views like never before. Despite these trends, a brand new survey reveals that traditional gender roles remain deeply embedded in Vietnamese society and institutions, permeating work, home, and the public arena.

While a rapid increase in access to the internet and social media has connected Vietnamese youth to outside information like never before, a new survey reveals that traditional gender roles remain deeply embedded in Vietnamese society. Photo/Karl Grobl

While discussions on gender issues in Vietnam are on the rise, they are often static and focus on symptoms rather than examining the drivers of inequality. Seeking to recast the gender conversation in a way that engages Vietnamese youth, over the past six months The Asia Foundation has been working with two Vietnamese NGOs, the Institute for Studies of Society, Economy, and Environment (iSEE) and the Research Centre for Gender, Family, and Environment in Development (CGFED), to develop and implement an interactive online survey and discussion forum called “Youth and Gender in Vietnam.” This initiative explores Vietnamese youth’s gender conceptions and the impact on their lives – from their choices of careers and partners to their vision of leadership.

The response to the survey and forum has been exciting. Within just two days of the launch online in early January 2013, 2,100 young people from all over the country had responded. While we are still in the process of analyzing the results, initial findings from the survey and in-depth interviews have produced some surprises with sobering implications for gender equality in Vietnam. In all, over 2,500 people took the survey, which was conducted through three popular websites; News.zing.vn, VOZ forum, and Lamchame forum. We explored the results in greater detail through in-depth interviews and focus groups discussions with students in the North and Center of Vietnam. Eight interviews and two group discussions have been held so far. More are planned, with further interviews and group discussions engaging young people in the South, informal workers, and teenagers.

Vision of leadership

The survey reveals strong preference among young people for leadership characteristics most commonly associated with men. More than 80 percent of respondents believe that a leader needed to be “decisive,” while 62 percent voted for “strong.”

Respondents also overwhelmingly identified those characteristics as being male rather than female characteristics. There was very little difference in response whether the respondent was male or female, whether they were from a rural or urban area, or whether they were already working or still in school. In follow-up focus group discussions held in universities in Hanoi and at a teacher’s training college in Phu Yen province in February, male students voiced very strong views against the idea of having female leaders. One respondent in Phu Yen critically stated, for example, that, “It’s fine if they are talented women, but I still prefer a male superior.”  Given that these students are being trained to become teachers who will inculcate ideas about gender roles to future generations of young Vietnamese, the strong gender bias they hold is a cause for concern.

Career choice

The survey data conveyed gender prejudice around career choice, as well. While over 80 percent said that being a university professor was suitable for both men and women, far fewer – around 50 percent – of respondents stated women should pursue careers as government leaders, economic experts, or entrepreneurs. Interestingly, the 50 percent who said that these careers were unsuitable for women were evenly split between male and female respondents.

Partner expectations

Famously, in 1965 President Ho Chi Minh said that the heroic, indomitable, generous, and responsible contributions of Vietnamese women should be honored. Often repeated, these became the idealized characteristics for the next generations of Vietnamese women. According to the survey, perceptions on this don’t seem to have changed. Skillfulness (66%), hardworking nature (63%), and self-sacrificing/long-suffering (33%) remain the key expectations of a female partner among young Vietnamese men. Meanwhile, Vietnamese women overwhelmingly identify stereotypically male traits in their perfect partner, with 81 percent wanting their partners to be “strong.” One quality both young men and women wanted to see in their partners was dynamism – identified by 50 percent of both sexes.

These preliminary survey results show that Vietnam’s younger generation, a group that is often held up as being very open and liberal, hold on to traditional gender roles. These views will have direct impact on the choices they make in their careers, relationships, children, and friends, and how they perceive leadership and power. Despite all the rapid changes in Vietnam, it seems that a spiral of “gender bias” continues to be passed from generation to generation, embedded in social values and norms. The survey is just the first stage of our work. We will use the results to generate debate among young people on key issues such as characteristics for leaders and partners, sharing the burden of domestic work, and domestic violence. We will use both online engagement through the gender forum run by CGFED and off-line events in universities and workplaces to get young people debating and challenging stereotypes. A full report on the project will be published later this year but the occasion of International Women’s Day presents an opportune moment to consider how policy-makers and gender activists can adapt their approaches to tackle the deep roots of gender inequality more effectively.

Read more about The Asia Foundation in Vietnam, and learn how you can support our Vietnam Scholarship Program for Disadvantaged Girls.

Nguyen Viet Ha is The Asia Foundation’s senior program officer for Social Development and Women’s Empowerment in Vietnam. She can be reached at nvha@asiafound.org. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and not those of The Asia Foundation.

For International Women’s Day, the UN declared 2013 a “time for action to end violence against women,” as the theme of the annual global event. In the lead up to IWD, on February 14 tens of thousands of events were held in 207 countries across the globe, including here in Bangladesh, for V-Day’s ONE BILLION RISING – the largest global action in history to end violence against women and girls.

On February 14 tens of thousands of events were held in 207 countries across the globe, including here in Bangladesh, for V-Day’s ONE BILLION RISING. Above, residents form human chains across Dhaka to demand an end to violence against women and girls.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Bangladesh ranks fourth among the world’s nations with respect to violence against women. Almost every day, women in Bangladesh are subjected to different forms of violence, including rape, murder, acid attack, trafficking, domestic abuse, forced marriage, torture related to dowry, and abduction. Since 2001, there have been 184,422 reported cases of violence, according to the police headquarters. And it is well-documented that most cases are never reported. In 2012 alone, there were 19,617 reported incidences of violence against women in Bangladesh.

ONE BILLION RISING began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls. American playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who founded ONE BILLION RISING, said before V-Day: “When we started working on this issue 14 years ago, we had the outrageous idea that we could end violence against women. Now, we are both stunned and thrilled to see that this global action is truly escalating and gaining force, with union workers, parliament members, celebrities, and women of all backgrounds coming forward to join the campaign. When we come together on February 14, 2013, to demand an end to violence against women and girls, it will be a truly global voice that will rise up.”

And indeed it was. All over Bangladesh participating organizations held events, film screenings, made human chains, and arranged flash mobs. In Dhaka, colleagues from our office joined the human chain in protest of violence against women in front of one of the busiest intersections in the capital. With extraordinary solidarity, women and men, from all walks of life, from factory and office workers to reporters and university professors, formed human chains for a half hour from 1 to 1.30 pm in 42 locations throughout Dhaka city, as well as in all 66 districts of the country. The longest stretch of the human chain was formed from Mirpur to Asad gate moving up to the Parliament building, where Parliamentarians and MPs joined together in red shirts, hoisting red flags and banners. Women and men joined across the country in numbers larger than ever before, for a cause that has been long overdue.

In Sylhet district in northeast Bangladesh, The Asia Foundation arranged a special book donation to mark the occasion, including teachers, students, and educational specialists from 38 schools. It was a poignant celebration, with students enacting a mini-play on the theme of child marriage, a gross human rights violation that remains a serious issue in Bangladesh: according to a UNICEF report, 63 percent of all women from 20–24 years old were married before the age of 18. There were also songs of freedom, poetry, and speeches, and a screening of Eve Ensler’s film, “Man Prayer,” translated into Bengali. The program ended with all the audience chanting and vowing to do their bit in protecting women against all forms of violence.

I felt proud to be alongside these men and women across Bangladesh not only to show solidarity but also to stress the fact that women’s rights are not secondary, personal, or isolated. February 14 is not an end, but rather a starting point and a step forward for future discussions and action on violence against women. Organizations can now use this platform to consolidate and coordinate efforts and challenge discriminatory practices and laws through awareness-raising activities, training, outreach, and advocacy.

Eeshita Azad is The Asia Foundation’s head of Communications in Bangladesh. She can be reached at eazad@asiafound.org. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and not those of The Asia Foundation.

The violent attack on a young woman in New Delhi last December, and the nationwide protests that followed, were yet another indication that India’s youth are increasingly fed up. This case, piled upon countless other commonplace incidents of sexual violence directed at women and children throughout the country, sparked public outcry on a level almost unimaginable until recently.

In the days following the attack, protests erupted all over the capital, becoming extensive enough to be dubbed part of “India’s Arab Spring.” They demanded better security for female commuters, more accountability from government officials, and punishment of perpetrators from the courts.

Compounding legislative and judicial weakness in this area is India’s lack of police capacity. As of 2010, India only maintained 129 police officers per 100,000 people. The global average is approximately 350 officers. Furthermore, as of 2011 only 5 percent of India’s police officers were female, undoubtedly leading to a dearth of female officers available to file reports or respond to rape cases.

The Indian government has since approved a new package of laws designed to prevent sexual violence against women. For the first time, the death penalty can be applied to cases where the act of sexual assault causes death. Also included are laws making trafficking, stalking, acid attacks, and voyeurism criminal offenses. They take effect immediately, and must be ratified by parliament within six months. Beyond the new laws and increased police capacity, what’s needed is a
sustained campaign in order to change how women and children are viewed by society at large (more on that below).

Advocacy groups have criticized the new legislation, calling it “piecemeal and fragmented.” The new measures fail to include some of the recommendations of the J.S. Verma Committee, most notably the issues of marital rape and military personnel and parliamentarians who commit sexual assaults. A number of India’s parliamentarians are currently accused of criminal activity, including rapes – Mr. PJ Kurien, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is accused of taking part in a gang rape incident in 1996. On the whole, the stringent new laws against rape are a step in the right direction, but even more critical is their implementation.

Unfortunately, violent acts against women and children in India are nothing new. The increasing presence of women in the workforce, in social settings, and on public transportation in urban areas has pushed the issue into a more public domain.

Despite more women in the formal workforce, the rate of economic participation and entrepreneurship among women in India still remains among the lowest in the world – but this is changing as rates of education rise. The growing prevalence of women in the workforce is likely to be a source of continuing friction as more conservative sections of society adjust to rapid change. It is just one of many tensions that are likely to spring up as part of the larger rise of India’s middle class.

Laws are only one means of combating the violence that India’s women and children face on a daily basis. To put it bluntly, men will continue to act in violent ways towards women and children as long as they don’t think it is a crime. Sensitization at a younger age is needed – it cannot only be up to women to defend themselves, or to the law to punish perpetrators after crimes have been committed.

The problem requires a stronger element of education, of sensitization and of a nationwide campaign to help nudge those along – it entails a larger paradigm shift, with India’s leading voices up front. Bollywood actors and entertainers have spoken out, but other community leaders could add even more heft to the idea that the burden is also on society at large to change how women are perceived.

Unless the trusted voices of India’s fathers, mothers, mentors, and teachers, as well as leading personalities counteract the violence with education and guidance, nothing will change, and India’s reputation as one of the world’s most dangerous places for women will remain intact.

This article has been republished with permission from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where it was originally published on its cogitASIA blog. Persis Khambatta is a fellow with the Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies at CSIS and  Guruamrit Khalsa is a research intern with the Wadhwani Chair. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors and not those of The Asia Foundation.

Prominent panelists from Asia included a member of the Indonesian Parliament, Dr. Hetifah Syaifudian Siswanda; the president of the Cambodian Women’s Entrepreneurship Association, Ms. Seng Takakneary; and a member of Parliament and Gender Advisor to the Prime Minister in Nepal, the Honorable Sapana Pradhan Malla. They discussed critical issues facing women including gender equality and local governance, women in conflict resolution, women’s entrepreneurship, and women and Islam. The panelists also met with Melanne Verveer, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. In her capacity as director of the Department of State’s office on Global Women’s Issues, Amb. Verveer coordinates foreign policy issues and activities relating to the political, economic, and social advancement of women around the world.

Ambassador Verveer (second from left) met with, from left to right, Dr. Hetifah Syaifudian Siswanda, member of Parliament in Indonesia; Ms. Seng Takakneary, president of the Cambodian Women's Entrepreneurship Association; and The Honorable Sapana Pradhan Malla, member of Parliament in Nepal and Gender Advisor to the Prime Minister.

Dr. Hetifah, aside from her role in Parliament, is chairperson of the Standing Committee on Education, Science and Technology in the National Council of Women’s Organization of Indonesia, and a Board Member of the Indonesian Women in Parliament Caucus, where she actively promotes Indonesian women’s participation in politics and building the capacity of other women across Indonesia.

Ms. Seng is founder and managing director of Sentosa Silk, a Cambodian company that employs disabled artisans to produce export-quality handcrafted silk products. Founded in 2004, the company creates luxury Khmer silk goods while providing employment opportunities for disabled craftsmen and women, who are experts in traditional forms of silk weaving. In addition, Ms. Seng works to help other women and artists succeed in Cambodia’s growing economy. She is president of the Artisans Association of Cambodia. In a recent interview with Cambodia Daily, Ms. Seng said, “The role of Cambodian women needs to change.” The toughest challenge that she faced opening her business was the isolation from the knowledge and networks that every nascent entrepreneur needs to get started. “There was a lack of information, networking, [business] associations and a feeling of solidarity,” she said.

Ms. Malla is a cabinet-appointed Gender Advisor to the Prime Minister of Nepal and was instrumental in the establishment of the Gender-Based Violence Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. As a member of the technical subcommittee of the constitution drafting committee, she is dedicated to ensuring a comprehensive women’s rights agenda within Nepal’s constitutional framework. She was a driving force behind the passage of legislation to criminalize marital rape, as well in drafting the Gender Equality Amendment Act, Gender-Based Violence Act, and a model Human Trafficking Act.

March 8 marks the 101st celebration of International Women’s Day. A century of history has seen this global occasion imbued with varying levels of political, economic, social, and cultural significance in diverse cultures around the globe.

While women are prominent micro-entrepreneurs throughout Asia, as businesses grow into national and international markets, women are disproportionately left behind. Photo by Geoffrey Hiller.

The United Nations has declared this year’s International Women’s Day theme, “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty.” According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 578 of the world’s 925 million chronically hungry people live in the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, two thirds of the globally undernourished live in just seven countries – Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, India, and Pakistan.

Despite such daunting figures, there are grounds for optimism. The Asia-Pacific region has made the greatest progress of any region toward reducing poverty and food insecurity in the past three decades. In 1981, 77 percent of people in the region lived on less than the equivalent of $1.25 per day, but by 2008, the latest year for which data are available, that figure had fallen to just 14 percent.

There is ample evidence that, given modest opportunity and support, women are extremely efficient providers for their families, insulating against the threats of poverty and hunger. Several well-known economics studies have found that women are more likely than men to spend extra income on the health and education of their children, thereby reducing the inter-generational transmission of poverty. Duncan Thomas pioneered this research in 1990 with a study showing that mothers in Brazil invested more than fathers in children’s health. A fascinating 2003 contribution by Esther Duflo investigated the effect of pension reform in post-Apartheid South Africa which increased benefits among formerly discriminated against racial groups. She found that children living in the homes of female pensioners with suddenly increased benefits had higher anthropometric (height for age and weight for height) scores than did children living in the households of comparable male pensioners, who fared no better than children in homes with no pensioners at all.

The extensive academic research in this area is the basis for the Mexican social assistance program “Oportunidades,” through which poor mothers receive cash payments when their children attend school regularly and take advantage of preventative healthcare. Mothers, rather than fathers, are explicitly targeted to maximize the effectiveness of this program which has been greatly successful not only in spurring higher educational attainment throughout the poorest areas of Mexico, but also in reducing teen pregnancy and improving childhood health and nutrition. The triumph of this program has inspired similar national initiatives around Latin America as well as in Malawi and Zambia.

While these types of cash transfer programs involve payments to women from the government, more money in the hands of women from any source can have a dramatic impact on reducing hunger and poverty. Breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty is an important objective for countries throughout Asia but becomes particularly salient in high fertility contexts given the relative youth of those populations. In Afghanistan, for example, 44 percent of the population is under age 15. That figure stands at 36 percent for Pakistan and the Philippines, 31 percent for Bangladesh, and 30 percent for Malaysia.

While caring for children obviously competes with a woman’s time for work, fertility levels are not always a good predictor of women’s labor force participation. In Sri Lanka, the average woman has 1.9 children, fewer than the average American, but for every 100 employed men, there are just 46 working Sri Lankan women. In contrast, Cambodian women have 2.9 children on average but 93 of them work per 100 employed men. This ratio stands at 86 women in Thailand, 61 in Indonesia, 38 in India, and 23 in Pakistan.

At The Asia Foundation, we support women’s employment opportunities in the private as well as the public sector. To do this most effectively, we strive to understand the hurdles to women’s labor force entry and success, whether related to education and training opportunities, access to credit, availability of information, aspects of the regulatory environment, availability of childcare, safety concerns, or corruption. We are currently launching a project to investigate barriers to growth and access to trade among women-led small and medium businesses in a partnership with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), an inter-governmental forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade, and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. While women are prominent micro-entrepreneurs throughout Asia, as businesses grow into national and international markets, women are disproportionately left behind and this study aims to explore and illuminate why such asymmetry is so common. The study, an amalgam of qualitative and quantitative research, is being conducted in three Southeast Asian countries: Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Each of these countries has a distinctive historical and cultural environment which in turn affects the business landscape for both women and men in different ways. Ultimately, our findings will allow us to advise APEC and local governments on best approaches to improve the business environment for women as well as to more effectively implement our own programs to facilitate the successful growth of women-run businesses.

As women’s earnings can be directly traced to the reduction of hunger and poverty in their communities, improving gender equity in business is good for the economy, good for the family, and good for the future.

Reid Hamel is a program associate with The Asia Foundation’s Economic Development Program. She can be reached at rhamel@asiafound.org. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and not those of The Asia Foundation.

Last month, the world watched as Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy brought home the first ever Oscar win for Pakistan for her short documentary, “Saving Face,” which recounts the brutal story of survivors of revenge acid attacks. Within minutes, social networking sites were abuzz with messages, status updates, and tweets by jubilant Pakistanis – the euphoria was almost tangible. Despite the film’s harrowing subject matter, the day brought immense pride to the people of Pakistan.

For women’s rights activists who have spent decades working for the emancipation of Pakistani women, the moment was perhaps even more poignant. Not only did the Oscar win attract international attention to a critical women’s rights violation, but it also drew attention to the inherent strength of Pakistani women – despite the myriad hardships confronting them on a daily basis and the dismal statistics and images of women that media coverage most often focuses on.

After over three decades, Pakistan's women's movement is finally beginning to witness results, and the long-standing demands of women rights advocates are gradually being endorsed and met by the government. Photo by Gretchen Alther.

“Saving Face” follows the personal journeys of two acid-attack survivors and their struggle to bring their assailants to justice. In her acceptance speech, Chinoy dedicated the award to the women of Pakistan for their commitment and perseverance in the face of adversity. Raising the Oscar high in her hand, she said, “To all those women in Pakistan working for change: this is for you. Dream on!”
In reality, women’s struggle for equal rights, status, and recognition in Pakistan’s society, in addition to inclusion in actual legislation, has been long and arduous. What began as spontaneous reactions to General Zia ul-Haq’s anti-women laws put in place in the 1980s has developed into a decades-long struggle for equal treatment by both society and law. Early protests were mostly in opposition to the harmful effects that Zia’s martial law and the Islamization campaign had on women, which essentially declared women as secondary citizens. Countering and preventing acid-throwing is one of many issues that have since emerged on the agenda of today’s women’s movement.

After over three decades, the movement is finally beginning to witness results, and the long-standing demands of women rights advocates are gradually being endorsed and met by the government. A series of pro-women bills passed over the last year in particular suggest real change in the policy-making quarters of Pakistan.

On Dec. 12, 2011, the Senate unanimously passed two important bills: the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill and Acid Control and Acid Crimes Prevention Bill. Both bills include significant policies and mandates to protect women from exploitative and discriminatory practices such as forced marriages, honor killings, marriage to the Quran, deprivation of inheritance of property, and inflicting pain and torture by acid throwing. The bills also indicate that culprits found and indicted for committing any of these crimes will be penalized and subject to severe punishments.

The following day, the Senate passed an amendment to the 1996 Women in Distress and Detention Fund Act. The new bill allows the Ministry of Human Rights to utilize allocated funds for the provision of legal and financial assistance to women languishing in jail, which was not previously possible under the original legislation. A study conducted by Society for Advancement of Community Health Education and Training (SACHET) reveals that approximately 7,000 women and children were being held in 75 jails across the country, both those awaiting trial and those convicted. Not only are they living in harrowing conditions, but according to a paper written in 2003 by Shaheen Sardar Ali, a respected academic and former chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), nearly 95 percent of the women were being held as a result of false accusations by their close relatives of illicit sexual relationships.

Early last month, the Senate also unanimously passed a bill granting the NCSW autonomous status, which gives it financial and administrative autonomy for the first time, 12 years after its inception. The Commission plays a pivotal role in promoting the social, economic, political, and legal rights of women as provided in the Constitution and in accordance with international declarations, conventions, and agreements related to women. It also assesses the implementation of these laws and makes suitable recommendations and suggests repeals, amendments, or new legislation to eliminate discrimination. In addition to greater autonomy, the new bill also grants the NCSW additional authorities, including the power of inquiry into cases of violence against women.

And, less than a week before Chinoy got her Oscar, another landmark bill was passed in Pakistan,  the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2012, which makes domestic violence against any vulnerable person, including women and children, an offense carrying jail sentences and fines. A 2009 survey conducted by the Aurat Foundation, Pakistan’s leading women’s rights organization and one of The Asia Foundation’s local partners, found that nearly 80 percent of married women in rural areas fear domestic abuse while 50 percent of women in urban areas report having been subjected to spousal abuse. Until now, the State failed to recognize domestic violence as a crime, instead, deeming it a “family/private matter.”

Since these bills were passed, women activists and others have been discussing whether this legislation is enough by itself to protect women. Implementation is a major stumbling block for any law, but even more so for these pro-women laws and policies that challenge traditionally accepted cultural norms. However, recognizing that challenges remain and require committed efforts on the part of both government and civil society to overcome this should not diminish the significant advances made by this landmark legislation. In the past seven years, seven pro-women laws were passed in Pakistan – a worthy feat by any standard. Given the Pakistani context where the majority of women rights violations continue to occur in the private/family sphere under the garb of culture and tradition, this legislation has, for the first time ever, brought these injustices into the public domain for scrutiny.

Aysha Adil is a senior program officer for The Asia Foundation’s Gender Equity Program in Pakistan. She can be reached at aadil@asiafound.org. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and not those of The Asia Foundation.

Presidential and parliamentary elections in Timor-Leste are scheduled for March and June of this year, respectively. With only two women among the twelve candidates contending for the largely ceremonial post as president, it is unlikely that a female candidate will make it past the first round. However, there is much greater anticipation for women’s success in the mid-year parliamentary election, due, in part, to a recent amendment to a decree that increases the number of required female nominees from one in every four candidates to one in three.

A young woman works on a research project at Timor-Leste's Parliamentary Research Center. Capacity remains a challenge for many of the potential and existing candidates in politics in Timor-Leste, particularly among women. Photo by Conor Ashleigh.

Since the mid-1990s, it has been considered international best practice to encourage women to participate in politics, with many states introducing gender quotas into their electoral systems. These norms, standards, and quotas, however, have not come without intense debate over their ability to ensure women’s effective and robust participation in the largely male-dominated field of politics. Proponents of the use of quotas argue that they are necessary to gain access, since women can only effectively change the system from within; while opponents cite philosophical notions of the stigma of tokenism and the undercutting effects that can have on legitimate women candidates.
With Timor-Leste’s third-ever parliamentary elections coming up in June, the debate surrounding the quota system has once again risen to the forefront. While the nearly 30 percent female representation in the current legislature constitutes a comparatively high number in Asia and the world, many current and potential women candidates are wondering about the exact significance of their own participation. As part of The Asia Foundation’s work to help female potential parliamentary candidates prepare for the elections, we recently met with over 40 stakeholders in the Timorese political arena to discuss these very issues.

While scholars debate notions of “descriptive” vs. “substantive” female representation, Timorese women are questioning the practicalities of participating within a historically patriarchal society. What was interesting in our research was that many of the women currently active in politics were adamant in demanding more meaningful participation. They cite the lack of women in leadership roles and decision-making positions as evidence that political parties use women’s participation only in an attempt to placate critics and to satisfy the quota requirements. Other potential candidates cited the lack of regard for women’s views within the political fray as one of the main deterrents from becoming involved themselves.

There is certainly no doubt that capacity remains a challenge for many of the potential and existing candidates in politics in Timor-Leste, particularly among women. Historical exclusion from educational opportunities, language barriers, family responsibilities, and a huge gap between the capital, Dili, and rest of the country are only a few examples of the challenges that women have to overcome. Perhaps not surprisingly, we found during our research a dichotomy between the views of women who were active during Timor-Leste’s resistance and the more recently returned members of the diaspora. Many cited the need for women themselves to be able to bring more skills and capacity to the table if they want to be taken seriously and promoted into leadership roles. They expressed a dire need for greater professionalization of candidates and current members, including strengthening analytical skills and critical thinking, to ensure that women are not only heard, but listened to. At the same time, Timor-Leste’s historically male-dominated political parties need to commit to implementing more targeted programs that help develop and nurture up-and-coming female leaders.

Organizations such as the Women’s Caucus in parliament, women’s organizations within the political parties, and women’s specific civil society umbrella organizations such as Rede Feto are important lobbying platforms for women in politics here. Similarly, the current quota system for women in parliament is an important mechanism to support greater women’s access and participation. But according to a growing number of Timorese women in politics, the quota should only be seen as a “temporary special measure,” a means to an end, and not an end itself. The women we spoke with said that there is an opportunity with the new generation of female leaders to eventually transition to a purely merit-based participation, but only if political parties are willing to change their own patriarchal ways and allow women full participation in leadership.

Susan Marx is The Asia Foundation’s deputy country representative in Timor-Leste. She can be reached at smarx@asiafound.org. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and not those of The Asia Foundation.

While in Saudi Arabia this week for bilateral talks, Nepal’s finance minister, Barsha Man Pun, made a much-needed request to Saudi Arabia’s government to grant amnesty for at least six months for illegal Nepali migrant workers. According to the Department of Foreign Employment, 10,000 Nepalis enter Saudi Arabia every month for work.

In Nepal, where 42 percent of the population of nearly 30 million lives below the poverty line and the unemployment rate is at a high of 46 percent, labor migration to places like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Malaysia is emerging as a real economic option, particularly for women. According to Amnesty International, more than 294,000 Nepalis migrated abroad for work in 2010, compared with just over 55,000 in 2000. Remittances from migrant workers are critical to Nepal’s economy, as they make up 23 percent of the country’s total GDP. And these official figures do not account for the large number of migrant workers, primarily women, who are using  irregular or undocumented channels to migrate for work in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, and the UAE, with most using India as their transit route. Women migrant workers primarily work in the unskilled or low skilled labor sectors, such as domestic work or caregivers and other jobs that are not recognized as a part of the formal labor sector in the receiving countries.

The growing demand for labor in sectors like domestic work and caregiving has led to an increase in the “Feminization of Labor Migration,” which on the one hand, has provided greater opportunity for women from the lower-economic strata to obtain livelihood opportunities that are not available at home. On the other hand, limited or non-existent protection policies and regulations in both the sending and receiving countries often lead to exploitative conditions for women. In most South Asian countries, labor recruiting agencies operate with little or no governmental oversight. The risk of exploitation and trafficking increases exponentially in irregular migration, and there is little scope for redress.

Historically, well-intentioned but gender unresponsive measures have actually further disadvantaged female Nepali migrant workers who are often already marginalized. In 1998, following the death of a female Nepali migrant domestic worker in Kuwait after being physically and sexually abused, the Government of Nepal in its zeal to “protect women” banned them from migrating as domestic workers to Gulf countries. Unfortunately, such policies end up increasing the risk of exploitation and abuse, as migrants start using unsafe routes to get around such bans and access much-needed jobs. Though Nepal lifted the ban on labor migration to the Gulf countries for employment as domestic workers in 2008, the negative fallout is still being experienced by women migrants. Public knowledge on lifting of the ban is still very limited, so brokers and traffickers continue to convince potential migrants to use irregular channels. This has allowed brokers and traffickers to escape responsibility when the process becomes dangerous, during transit or at the site of employment. This has made the line between trafficking and irregular migration even murkier.

A recent case of a repatriated migrant worker, Anita (name changed), is a classic example of a migration journey gone wrong and a testimony to the abuse and exploitation women often face. Anita traveled to the Middle East to work as a domestic worker with a valid work permit and visa for the destination country, but she traveled on a forged passport arranged by a broker. Being too young (16 years old) to get a valid labor permit from the Government of Nepal, she chose the irregular channel and transited through India. Her cycle of abuse began as soon as she reached her work site in the Middle East. She was denied food, beaten, held in confinement, made to work excessively long hours, and did not get paid for her services. In less than a year, Anita was moved by her agent in the destination country to three different abusive households. She finally managed to escape and was repatriated by the Nepalese Embassy. She had no recourse to compensation, as she had migrated through the irregular channel, and the broker could not be traced. She remained undocumented in the official migration records of the government. Anita’s story is neither unique nor isolated.

In the absence of effective monitoring by the government in the first four months of the current fiscal year, 222 cases of cheating have been filed against various recruiting agencies by victims demanding compensation of Rs 124.57 million; and these numbers are just for documented migration. The data on cases of fraud and abuse in irregular migration does not exist, but if it did, it would presumably be significantly higher.

It has become imperative to advocate with both sending and receiving countries to recognize and protect the rights of women migrants in the informal labor sector. The benefits of migration cannot be conceived as a one-way flow favoring the sending country alone. The Government of Nepal’s Foreign Employment Act of 2007 has taken some positive steps to better protect Nepali migrant workers. The Act provides for appointment of labor attaches in countries where there are more than 5,000 Nepali workers or more than 1,000 women migrant workers registered with the government. In November 2011, the Nepali government appointed labor attaches for six receiving countries – Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, South Korea, and the UAE. This initiative is a step in the right direction, as it reduces the onus of safety solely on the migrant worker – the most vulnerable actor in a migration journey – and puts the responsibility of protecting migrant workers on the governments. It is imperative that sending and receiving countries sign the UN conventions that protect the rights of migrant workers according to international standards.

The Asia Foundation is currently embarking on a South Asia regional research study of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh to understand what triggers or influences the choice and route of journey for the migrants. The research aims to identify the links, if any, between the agencies operating through official and unofficial channels; understand what drives the choice of a migrant in selecting the process of migration; study the gender dimension of the selection process; and define what accountability systems and mechanism are needed to ensure an informed and empowered labor migration process from start to end.

Nandita Baruah is The Asia Foundation’s chief of party for the Combating Trafficking in Persons Program and Srijana Chettri is a program officer, both in Nepal. They can be reached at nbaruah@asiafound.org and schettri@asiafound.org, respectively. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and not those of The Asia Foundation.

The Philippines has been noted as having one of the smallest gender disparities in the world. The gender gap has been closed in both health and education; the country has had two female presidents (Corazon Aquino from 1986-1992 and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from 2001-2010); and had its first woman Supreme Court justice (Cecilia Muñoz Palma in 1973) before the United States had one (Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981). These achievements reflect a long history of efforts by women to involve themselves equally in governance as well as in society.

The Philippines has been noted as having one of the smallest gender disparities in the world. Photo by Karl Grobl.

The struggle for women’s right to vote was the site for early feminism in the Philippines. It spanned three decades, culminating in September 1937 with the ratification by the Commonwealth government National Assembly after a plebiscite vote by women voters on April 30, 1937. With 447,725 “Yes” votes, a number well above the 300,000 quota stipulated by the 1935 Constitution, finally “the Filipina got the vote.”

Writer, feminist activist, and beauty queen Pura Villanueva Kalaw wrote and published a pamphlet in 1952 called: “How the Filipina Got the Vote,” summarizing three decades of organization and legislative lobbying by women’s groups, with the support – paradoxically – of men in positions of power.

The women’s organizations primarily responsible for suffrage mobilization had begun as socio-civic organizations early in the 20th century. The Asociacion Femenista Filipina organized in July 1905 under the leadership of Dona Concepcion Felix (later married to Felipe Calderon), and shortly after, Pura Villanueva (later married to Teodoro M. Kalaw) responded to the call to organize women nationwide by organizing the Asociacion Femenista Ilonga. The objectives of the organization at that time were limited to social concerns such as prison reform, improvement of education, and “prevention of individual immorality.” As gleaned from Purita Villanueva’s early writings published in El Tiempo (a major newspaper in Iloilo), this social activism was rooted in the concept of women as precisely positioned in the domestic sphere as shapers of moral sentiments of the young in their care first of all, as well as influencing their husbands and other family relations. Education to keep abreast of the times and to hone rationality were considered important for women to be able to fulfill this role.

A visit to Manila in 1912 by two suffragettes, Dr. Aletta Jacobs from Holland and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt from the United States, turned the focus of women’s organization to suffrage. The meeting of Filipino women leaders with the foreign visitors resulted in the organization of the Society for the Advancement of Women (later changed to Women’s Club of Manila). During World War I, the Women’s Club of Manila helped government efforts by participating in the sale of Liberty Bonds and fundraising for the Red Cross.

The endorsement of woman suffrage to the Philippine legislative assembly by three successive American governors-general was a major factor in the push to woman suffrage, although such high level endorsements were no guarantee of easy success.  Governors-General Francis B. Harrison, Leonard Wood, and Frank B. Murphy endorsed woman suffrage to assemblies between 1918 and 1933; the Senate approved the bill initially in 1919, but it took 26 years from the first bill presented by Congressman Sotto at the First Philippine Assembly in 1907, through several defeats, until Gov. Gen. Frank Murphy affixed his signature to a woman suffrage bill in December 1933. Throughout this period of legislative struggle, women continued to organize and mobilize support: the Women’s Club of Manila organized the National Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1921, the Liga Nacional de Damas Filipinas was organized in 1922, and the Women’s Citizens League in 1928.

However, the 1935 Constitution presented yet another hurdle for woman suffrage. The provision on suffrage stipulated that the right of suffrage shall be extended to women if “not less than three hundred thousand women” vote affirmatively in a plebiscite. Women’s organizations did not back down from the challenge, and mobilized to get more women registered and to actually come out on voting day. The campaign featured a multilingual radio campaign on the eve of the plebiscite by women leaders Judge Natividad Almeda Lopez (Spanish), Josefa Jara Martinez (Ilongo), Pilar Hidalgo Lim (English), Concepcion Felix Rodriguez (Tagalog), Geronima T. Pecson (Pangasinan), Corazon Torres (Cebuano), and Josefa Llanes Escoda (Ilocano).

Twenty-nine percent of eligible women voters registered to vote from April 10-17, 1937; of these, about 86 percent eventually voted on April 30, 1937. Filipinas voted 10 to 1 in the affirmative, handing a victory to the suffragists that exceeded the constitutional quota.  Thus, the women got the vote.

Notwithstanding this early victory, and the generally small gender disparity in the Philippines, it is in the category of “political empowerment” that the country fares less well – 16th in the world (instead of in the top 10 in other categories). Combine this with the fact that many women become officials due to their membership in political clans and it’s evident that considerable distance remains to achieve full empowerment of women. But, there’s no doubt that this distance will be far shorter, thanks to the progress forged by Filipinas in the first half of the 20th century.

This is the seventh posting in the series, “A Representative Professor,” a weekly series during a teaching sabbatical at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Steven Rood is The Asia Foundation’s country representative in the Philippines. He can be reached at srood@asiafound.org. Athena Lydia Casambre recently retired as professor of Political Science at the University of the Philippines. She can be reached at alcc@up.edu.ph. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors and not those of The Asia Foundation.