ADAM ESCLAMADO WRITES – One would not think of a humble safety pin as a tool for self-defense; yet a movement in India has thousands of women on social media platforms claiming to have utilized the pins to ward off attackers. Originally intended to keep together bits of clothing, the…
Full Article INDIA: WHERE WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE LEFT HANGING BY A THREAD … AND A SAFETY PIN
IREH KIM WRITES — South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol will visit Japan this week March 16-17, for the first time in almost twelve years, in an attempt to resolve a wartime labor compensation dispute. It all began in 1910, with the annexation of South Korea by Japan. During Japanese…
Full Article JAPAN VS. SOUTH KOREA: EXTREME DISCOMFORT CONTINUES
HEATHER CREAMER WRITES – News about Iran sentencing 15,000 protestors to death predictably spread like wildfire across various publications and social media outlets. Posts from celebrities, politicians, publications, and other users condemning the action have been seen by millions. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted about it, before deleting it, furthering…
Full Article IRAN: POLITICIANS, CELEBRITIES AND NEWS OUTLETS SPREAD MISINFORMATION ABOUT JUSTICE SYSTEM’S RESPONSE TO PROTESTORS
SAMANTHA LUNDIN WRITES – Who runs the country? Women! In the last week of October, when Soraya Peke-Mason became the 60th female representative sworn in among the 59 male representatives, Parliament gained a female majority. New Zealand has a history of pioneering women in politics. In 1893, New Zealand women…
Full Article NEW ZEALAND: WHERE WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS
BENJAMIN BARRETT WRITES – On Sept. 13th, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was taken by the Iran morality police, enforcers of traditional Islamic behavior and dress, for incorrectly wearing a head covering. Sadly, Amini died in their custody, leaving many to believe that the morality police were responsible for her death. This…
Full Article IRAN: WORLD CUP PLAYERS CALL FOUL ON THEIR GOVERNMENT’S POLICIES
ARYANA KHALILZADEH WRITES – One year ago, the world watched images of desperate Afghans clinging to taxiing military planes in hopes of fleeing the Taliban regime at Kabul Airport, or seeing hundreds of desperate Afghan citizens pushing the fences on the tarmac to be flown out of the country. That…
Full Article AFGHAN WOMEN: POWER STRUGGLES WITH THE TALIBAN
ASIA MEDIA INTERNATIONAL PRESENTS – Video Anchor, Janelynne Galera sits down for an exclusive interview with Tiana Day, a 19-year-old activist, organizer, speaker and founder of the non-profit organization, Youth Advocates for Change. Tiana Day has chosen to fight for her rights as a half-Black half-Asian American woman living in the modern…
Full Article EXCLUSIVE: YOUTH ACTIVIST LEADER TIANA DAY’S INTERVIEW WITH ASIA MEDIA INTERNATIONAL
ARYANA KHALILZADEH WRITES – The major headline out of Iran the past week was not about the ongoing nuclear talks, but the continued struggle of Iranian women fighting for gender equality. The final match of the World Cup qualification between Iran and Lebanon was held in the holy city of…
Full Article IRAN: LET FEMALE SOCCER FANS HAVE FUN
CADY ABE WRITES – Disney Pixar’s newest movie, “Turning Red”, premiered on March 11, 2022, on Disney Plus. The new animated film, directed by Domee Shi, brilliantly shines with themes of women empowerment and Asian American representation. “Turning Red” is the first Disney animated movie to have an Asian woman as head…
Full Article MOVIE REVIEW: “TURNING RED” (2022) – DISNEY PIXAR CHIPPING AWAY AT THE BAMBOO AND GLASS CEILING
ETHAN PATRICK WRITES – As part of a new co-sanctioned golf series, the Asian male and female Tour and Ladies European Tour have announced the creation of two mixed-gender tournaments that will be set to take place in April of 2022. The tournaments will be held on the Waterside Course…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: WILL MIXED-GENDER GOLF TOURNAMENTS IMPROVE EQUALITY IN SPORTS?
GABY RUSLI WRITES — “You can turn her into a prostitute and take the money she earns for as long as she lives,” said the old man. “Or, if there’s no man who wants to be with her, you can chop her up into bits and sell her flesh at…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: BEAUTY IS A WOUND (2002) BY EKA KURNIAWAN – A TRAGIC STORY OF INDONESIA’S EARLY YEARS
BADER ZAINAL WRITES — On April 20, Farah Hamza Akbar was killed in broad daylight after turning down the marriage proposal of the perpetrator. In another tragic killing, Fatima Al Ajmi was shot dead by her brother, who felt hate and anger because she had married someone outside of their…
Full Article KUWAIT: A WOMEN’S MOVEMENT ARISES FROM THE ASHES OF MALE VIOLENCE
KIANA KARIMI WRITES – “Who lives, who dies, who tells your stories?” The refrain from the American Musical Hamilton encapsulates the fears of Afghans as the Taliban once again usurped power. A crescendo of terror stupefied all as the Taliban quickly bludgeoned their way to Kabul following the withdrawal of…
Full Article AFGHANISTAN: THE WITHDRAWAL WAS A MESS. BUT BIDEN’S SUDDEN MOVE IS MORE RIGHT THAN WRONG
LAMA ALTAHER WRITES – On April 19, 2021, the brutal murder of Farah Hamza Akbar offered a watershed moment to grapple with the country’s discriminatory laws against women. A Kuwaiti woman was killed by a man against whom she had previously filed two cases for harassment which followed her family’s…
Full Article KUWAIT: WOMEN’S RIGHTS FACE AN UPHILL BATTLE
SHAE KUROKAWA WRITES — In response to the recent shooting rampage in Georgia, in which three Asian spas were targeted and six Asian women were killed, investigators have begun to theorize that the massacre was not motivated by rising hate towards Asian Americans generated by the coronavirus. Instead, they say,…
Full Article ASIAN AMERICANS: UNDERSTANDING THE SEXUALIZED HISTORY OF ASIAN WOMEN
LIAM ROGERS WRITES — Afghanistan has been an unfriendly place for women. During the 1996-2001 Taliban rule, women were not allowed to attend school, work, leave their homes without men, or show skin in public. The 2018 Academy Award Nominee, The Breadwinner, featured a beautifully horrific presentation of this reality.…
Full Article AFGHANISTAN: WITH THE WITHDRAWAL OF AMERICAN TROOPS, ARE WOMEN LEFT BEHIND?