Women's WG

I was nine that year
One day with tears in her eyes
My mother told me “Tomorrow
you have to go to another house”
I asked mother why
“Because father and mother cannot feed all of you”
The next day a middle-aged woman came My mother told me to go with her
I tried to run away, the woman
caught me by my wrist and pulled me away
I turned to look at mother
Mother had gone inside the house The doors were shut
After a very long walk
The woman took me to a house

Women constitute half of Nepal’s total population of 10.7 million but are backwards in comparison to men in every way. In education, women are only 12% of the 33% of people who can read in Nepal. Various data show that in agricultural and household works, it is women that occupy 60 to 80% share, but they do not have any hold in the property. The legal right on the ancestral property has not yet been secured. Similarly, women lag behind compared to men in employment opportunities.

Korea, annexed as a colony in 1910, suffered under oppressive Japanese rule until the end of World War II. During that time there were many acts of repression against the Korean people, no single example of which was more severe or massive than the forcible drafting of Korean women for sexual service to Japanese troops located throughout the Asia-Pacific area. The euphemistic term by which these women were known is translated into English as ‘comfort women’ (or girls).

It’s never too early…a beautiful variety of Christmas cards are available from the London office. Also cards with an original floral design, for every day letters and notes. Donated by the artist, proceeds from the cards go to the Conference. Inquiries from bookshops and stationery shops welcomed.

Très chic! From France, stylish black/gold/red pins with the logo “4th WRI Women’s Conference 1992”. Available for 20 FF per pin (plus postage), or 15 FF per pin for 10 or more.

All of us have been watching the developments in the struggle for democracy in Thailand and concerned for our friends there. We have been assured by our co-organizers in Thailand that the conference will still proceed. When making your travel plans, please be aware that progressive groups within Thailand such as the International Network of Engaged Buddhists have called for a boycott of Thai International Airways. One of the most powerful military generals in the country, Supreme Commander Kaset Rajananil, is also Director of Thai International Airways.

In the world today, women have many duties and obligations. They are responsible for giving birth and have transformed humankind so as to develop sufficient abilities to build up world peace.

Unfortunately, in the poorest countries, women have weak spirits as a result of customs, religion and civil war. Specifically, in Indochinese countries such as Cambodia, women have been victimized by government policies since post-independence. Mental and physical repression made women not undertake key leadership positions.

In the southern pan of India, thousands of very young girls are dedicated every year to the Goddess Yellamma. They are called devadasis or “Servants of God”. These girls account for an average of 15% of Indian prostitutes and up to 80% of those prostitutes living in the south.

[from The China News, 26 May 1991]

On February 23, 1990, the first lesbian group in Taiwan was started. Its name is Wo Men Zhi Jian (Between Ourselves).

The first task of the founders after starting was to network and start letting other lesbians know about the group. They got a post office box in Taipei (number 10464) to give women a way to Contact the group. Roberta, one of the members, went to the Asian Lesbian Conference in Thailand in December 1990.

(by Brett McDonnell, from The China News, 25 May 1991)

“I didn’t come out to my friends until last December. Only two or three close friends knew I told several friends. Most of them said, ‘Oh, I already know.’ This made me feel very relieved.”

“I always thought I didn’t need friends, that I was a rock. That was until I started to come out. Then I found, ‘Oh, I’m in paradise. Communication is so important.’ I feel closer to my friends.”

Many thanks to all the women who worked on preparations for the WRI Women’s Conference at the Triennial. Much progressive was made: we now have a date—November 25 (International Day Against Sexual Exploitation of Women) to December 1 (WRI Prisoners for Peace Day) 1992. The proposal by Laddawan and Niramon to hold the conference within the framework of PP21 was accepted. PP21 stands for Peoples Power in the 21st Century, and it is a broad-based Asian coalition of groups and movements dealing with trade unions, the environment and womens rights, to name a few of its many issues.

According to a report in the major Thai newspaper The Nation (September 24, 1991), Dr. Saisuree Chutikul of the Thai government has expressed concern about the increasing number of Burmese women lured or tricked into Thailand to work as prostitutes. At a meeting with the wife of Burma’s Public Health Minster, Dr. Saisuree said, “I asked the minister’s wife to tell her husband to think about how concerned Burmese officials can stop the flow of Burmese women coming to Thailand for prostitution.

by Shelley Anderson