Patriarchy is the root cause of gender injustice

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
(Based on an interview given to CNS by Ivy Josiah, Executive Director, Women’s Aid Organization, Malaysia, during the 2nd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum—APFF 2014-- held recently in Chiang Mai, Thailand)
The overarching challenges which women are facing in the Asia Pacific region are fundamentalism and the return of conservative politics. Religion and culture are being used to promote a particular kind of politics which is usurping women’s rights. Militarization, fundamentalism and globalization are joining forces with patriarchy to worsen the civil and political rights of women resulting in more inequality.

Despite progress, long way remains for gender justice

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
Despite women’s rights to economic, social and cultural equality, poverty and discrimination still remains the reality for a large majority of them in the Asia Pacific region. Women not only comprise 70% of the world’s poor, they are also victims of the greed and avarice of the powers that are. They are the ones who endure physical, mental and emotional hardships and are yet denied any political or economic gains.

Connecting the dots: Women, climate change and natural resources

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
There is a growing struggle in communities of the Asia Pacific region for environmental justice. This is true of other developing countries too where development projects challenge the traditional ways of life. Policies of increasing consumption and unregulated exploitation of natural resources have made life on our planet unsustainable. Women who account for nearly 66% of the people living in extreme poverty bear the brunt of policies of increasing consumption and unregulated exploitation of natural resources, leading to gross inequity and insecurity.

Building feminist movements to stimulate change

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
Grassroots women of the Asia Pacific region have borne the brunt of the unrelenting global desire for increased consumption and accumulation of wealth by a tiny minority. Their aspirations and livelihoods are regularly trampled upon in this new Asian century, prompting thousands of women to be at the forefront of leading movements in their communities for social justice, economic equity and accountability.

Gender Justice to be at the heart of development justice

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
The Asia and the Pacific region contains some of the world’s most powerful economies and the 21st Century is often touted to belong to this region. Yet the region is home to 66% of the world’s poorest poor. Denouncing such stark disparities, the 1st plenary session at the 2nd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2014) currently being held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, focussed upon ‘Feminist Visions—framing strategies, analysis and resistances in the current political, economic and social movement’.

2nd APFF 2014: Creating Waves, Fostering Movements

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
The 2nd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (2nd APFF 2014), organized by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) kick started in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It has brought together nearly 300 feminists from 30 countries of the five sub-regions of Asia and the Pacific as well as global allies. Activists, lawyers, academics and women human rights defenders working on the multiple struggles of women in this region have gathered to collectively share and strategize to shape movements, and to imagine different social, political and economic structures.