Childcare Tax Exemptions Draw Women to Work. [Australia] Childcare tax exemptions would attract more women back into the workforce, according to a survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICA). The national survey of 1,597 people revealed that 82 per cent of respondents believed the deductibility of childcare, or childcare as a fringe benefits tax exemption, would encourage more women back into work. The survey also found 53.8 per cent of respondents would consider going back to work full-time if childcare costs were made tax deductible. A further 62 per cent would consider working full-time if their employer could cover the cost of childcare as part of a salary package. ICA chief executive Graham Meyer said despite the efforts of business to make the workplace more flexible, the federal government could do more to encourage women back into the workforce, including using "tax-based" solutions. "While the institute welcomes the government's commitment to create an additional 25,000 childcare places, more still needs to be done with tax-based solutions that will give more women the choice of returning to the workforce," Mr Meyer said in a statement. Childcare tax concessions would also help in solving Australia's skills shortage, he said.

All Female Bench a Legal First. [Australia] History was to be made in the South Australian legal system this week when an all-female bench sits in the state's Court of Criminal Appeal. Thursday's court hearing will be the first time an all-female bench has sat for a matter to be heard by three judges in SA courts. The presiding judge will be Justice Margaret Nyland, who will be joined by justices Ann Vanstone and Robyn Layton.

Female Inmates to Test 'Model' Prison. [Australia] Ladies first. The maiden section of the new Risdon Prison has opened and female inmates will be the first to test the promises of politicians. Inmates will move into the 15-bed maximum security women's prison this week. Director of Prisons Graeme Barber said the Mary Hutchinson Women's Prison would improve conditions for staff and inmates. "This is history," he said. "We begin to move from an archaic prison that was outmoded when first commissioned into a new, state-of-the-art correctional environment.

'Sexy Dress' Banned For Female Officers. [China] Female officers in Communication Department of eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang, are not allowed to wear sexy dress when they are on duty, a Zhejiang newspaper reported Thursday. Their male counterpart will not be allowed to grow beards and go shirtless, report said. An official from department informed about this decision and revealed these rules are necessary to build up a more serious and sincere government image. "If officers dress too casually, it will be inharmonious with the atmosphere and professionalism of a government department," the official said.

Women Boxers Challenge Stereotypes. [China] In China, where women used to have their feet broken and bound to make them more attractive to men, women's boxing is growing in popularity and few people are batting an eyelid. In an unkempt gymnasium in northern Shanghai, some 30 boys in their late teens and early 20s pair off to jockey on mats before taking turns to fight in the ring. At the other end of the room, eight women and girls are doing the same. "I've only been boxing for half a year," said Ying Yueqi, a 16-year-old girl from China's Zhejiang province who wants to turn professional when she is older.

Women Give Birth in HK for Residential Right. [Hong Kong] Many pregnant women on the Chinese mainland are traveling to Hong Kong to give birth, lured by the residential right endowed to their babies, Beijing Morning Post reported today. According to Hong Kong's immigration department, infants will receive a Hong Kong identity if the parents can provide a birth certificate from a local hospital and their own valid identity certificates, no matter where they are issued, on the mainland or in Hong Kong. One out of every three women who give birth in public hospitals in Hong Kong is from the mainland, said the local hospital authority. Some underground agencies in Shenzhen, neighboring city of Hong Kong, are taking advantage of the regulation, arranging pregnant women to give birth in Hong Kong. These women are usually approached by the agencies while they are visiting the city's maternal and child health hospitals for check-ups. The woman will be charged tens of thousand of yuan for the service along with accommodation and traffic expenses during her stay in Hong Kong. She also has to pay the hospital bills there.  

Women Caught in a More Radical Country. [Indonesia] To a passer-by, the dress and demeanor of Lilis Lindawati would have attracted little attention as she waited in the dark in this busy industrial city for a ride home. She wore green pants, a denim jacket, beige sandals with modest heels, burgundy lipstick and penciled eyebrows. Her black hair flowed freely, unencumbered by a head scarf, the sign of a religious Muslim woman that is increasingly prevalent in Indonesia but not mandatory. In a now widely recounted incident, Lindawati, 36, was hustled into a government van that clammy February evening by brown-uniformed police, known as tranquility and public order officers. "They put about 20 of us in the police station and then went out again to target the hotels," she said, telling the story as she sat on the floor of her family's two-room, $12-a-month rental, her husband beside her. She was charged with being a prostitute under a new local law forbidding lewd behavior, and in an unusual public hearing attended by local dignitaries and residents, she was sentenced with some of the other women to three days in jail. Lindawati insists she is not a prostitute. Her case has become a symbol of an increasingly impassioned tussle in Indonesia between those who favor the introduction of Shariah, or Islamic law, by local governments, and those who assert that this large Muslim country, recognized for its moderation and diversity, must hold firm to its secular Constitution of 1945.

Female Employment Rate Hits Record High. [Korea] Female employment in Korea reached its highest level ever last month, indicating the role of women in the national economy is growing rapidly. The National Statistical Office (NSO) said Thursday that the number of employed females in Korea amounted to an all-time high of 9.9 million last month, up 2 percent from 9.7 million a year earlier and higher than the previous record of 9.77 million in October 2005. The female employment rate reached 49.8 percent in May, meaning nearly half of Korea’s female population aged 15 years and above are earning wages. The rate rose 0.5 of a percentage point from 49.3 percent a year earlier. The female unemployment rate dropped to 2.7 percent in May from 3.3 percent a year earlier, staying at its lowest level since the 2.5 percent seen in December 2002, the NSO said. Meanwhile, the number of male employees in Korea inched up 0.7 percent year-on-year to 13.59 million in May. The male employment rate dropped 0.4 percent year-on-year to 72.1 percent in May from 72.5 percent a year ago. The agency said recent hikes in economic participation by women reflect higher female education and a change in public perception toward women in the workplace.

Female 'Alongs' (Loan Sharks) Just as Ruthless. [Malaysia]  Women are now muscling in on the loan shark trade, and they certainly don’t believe in the soft approach. This is what housewife Liew Nyit Nom and her family recently discovered, when they were given a hard time by a mother and daughter “along” team. The housewife, 62, and her 66-year-old husband Chang Eng Tang, a bus driver, have been harassed and threatened by seven different loan sharks including the two aggressive women since November last year. The couple from Kulai, Johor, claim their problems began when their married daughter borrowed money from various loan sharks but used their home address. “I believe my daughter borrowed money to support my son-in-law, who has problems with his transport business,” said Liew, who came to the MCA Public Services and Complaint Department last week. The two women not only hurl abuses, but at one point, spotted Liew at a function she was attending and shamed her in public. Once, said Liew, the woman loan shark, who is in her 50s and her 20-something daughter, even brought along two burly men to the house to threaten her. But fortunately for Liew, she and her husband invested in a CCTV camera recently which they installed outside their home.

The Evils that Women Suffer. [Philippines] An Indian lady I was speaking to a week ago must have thought I was too smug when I told her that violence against women is not, or perhaps, is no longer a big issue in this country. I, of course, premised my comment to her on reports I read that in Davao city, crimes against women decreased by as much as 45 percent in 2005. And in Dumaguete, it has likewise been reported that there has been a substantial drop in reported cases of violence against women since the Law on Violence Against Women in the Philippines took effect in 2003. She, on the other hand, said that despite the rapid spread of Western lifestyle in India, women were still not accorded the same rights and entitlement in society as men. In poor families, female babies are sometimes thrown into water wells or killed by other means. Often too she said, a wife is beaten by the husband for giving birth to female babies because they are considered a burden to the family. In India, she says, dowry is paid by the bride’s family to the groom’s family in varying amounts depending on the stature in society of the male. Women whose parents cannot afford to pay dowry can expect to remain single all their lives and thus, be a continuing burden to their families. While I have also read accounts that in some Arab countries, 47 percent of all women killed were murdered by a relative after they had been raped to “cleanse” the defiled family honor, this issue did not then bother me much as it seemed too distant to affect me. Our society after all is matriarchal and women here are respected more than other women in some countries of the world. And perhaps to bolster this, we have had two female presidents while the United States of America, which claims to be a champion of equality and civil liberties, has had none.

Women's Rail Cars Launched. [Taiwan] The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) added a women-only carriage to every train yesterday to protect female passengers from sexual harassment by males. The TRA launched the special coach for female commuters in response to increasing complaints by women about groping hands on trains and calls from lawmakers who learned of the service from Japan. The last cabin of every train will be reserved for female commuters. TRA will run the service on a trial basis for three months. The first run went off smoothly yesterday, but few women used the special-designated coach. "It is because many female passengers do not know there is a women's carriage yet, and because the need for a women's carriage is not as urgent as in Japan," a TRA official said. Japan launched its female-only train cars last year after women complained of being groped and pinched by male passengers on crowded trains during rush hour.

Female Masters Make Their Moves in Turin. [Viet Nam] Vietnamese female masters continued their strong run at the Chess Olympiad World Championship in Turin, Italy, by surpassing Slovenia 2-1 to improve their ranking by a step. International Grand Master (IGM) Nguyen Thi Thanh An (Elo rating 2317) manage to hold her Slovenian rival, Muzychuk Anna, who was favoured over An, to a draw in the first match of Round 7 on Monday. IGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram (2349) put the Vietnamese women ahead when she beat Srebrnic Ana in the following game. FIDE master Le Thanh Tu (2239) drew Novak Ksenija in the final match. With 16 points, Vietnamese women, who beat Australia 3-0 in the previous matches, moved up to 8th on the table of 108. Tu herself scored 5.5 points to rank 23rd and Tram in 73rd with 4.5 points. Vietnamese FIDE master Hoang Thanh Trang, who started to play with Hungarian team early this year, is ranked 3rd in the individuals table with 6.5 points.

Shoe Anti-Dumping Case: Female Workers are First Victims. [Viet Nam] More than 80% of workers in the footwear industry of Vietnam are women, mostly from rural areas. They are first victims in the EC-triggered shoe anti-dumping case. Bich, who has been working for a shoe factory in Hai Phong for 10 years. Due to the anti-dumping case, her salary has reduced from VND800,000 to VND500,000 per month (roughly $30). However, Bich said she is lucky to have the job because 1,000 workers at her firm have been fired. Her family will be threatened if she becomes unemployed, Bich painfully put it. Tuyen, another female shoe worker cried when she thought of her parents, who are in bad health conditions. As her firm does not receive enough orders, salary has been cut since the beginning of the year. As a result, Tuyen does not have money to give her parents and they now even do not have enough rice to eat everyday. According to the Vietnam Leather & Shoe Association (Lefaso) and Action Aid, 500,000 Vietnamese young workers might lose their job due to the anti-dumping case. With current income, shoe workers can only eat instant noodles. They have no plan of what to do or where to go if they cannot find another job. Ms. Truong Thi Thuy Lien, Director of Lien Phat Shoe Company, expressed her concern, saying that a large number of female workers have become unemployed due to the anti-dumping case. They are all not trained for other jobs so it will be very, very difficult for them to change to other jobs. They thus might get involved in social vices as a result. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Binh, Deputy Director of Company 32, which is 1 of 9 firms selected for investigation, said the EC's preliminary decision reflects protectionism and is designed to restrict imports of footwear products from Vietnam into the EU market.