Australia

• Women Under-Prepared for Retirement. [ABC Online, Australia] A new study has found women are lagging behind men when it comes to preparing financially for retirement. The report, conducted by the Melbourne Institute and the Australian Government's Office For Women, examined the superannuation contributions made by 20,000 people.

• Female Low Wage Earners 'Most Generous'. [The Age, Australia] Low-wage earners donate more to aid agency World Vision than those on high salaries, and women are more generous than men, a new survey has found. About 65 per cent of woman either sponsor a child or give money, compared to 35 per cent of men.

• Gender Split on Pay Equality: Survey. [Sydney Morning Herald, Australia] A survey by recruitment and human resources firm Talent2 found just six per cent of women believe they are on an equal footing with men when it comes to pay, while a much larger 43 per cent of men think women are on an equal wicket.

• Network Should Donate Prize Pool. [The Age, Australia] Network Ten should donate advertising revenue and $275,000 of remaining Big Brother prize money to organizations aimed at preventing sexual violence against women, says Federal Opposition's media spokesman. The sexual misconduct displayed by two male housemates on Saturday, which led to their being removed from the share house, was the latest example of inappropriate behavior towards female housemates.

• Sick Deal: Female Miner to Sue. [Sydney Morning Herald, Australia] A 21-year-old mine worker was allegedly told that her boss would "destroy" her and ensure she never worked in a Hunter Valley mine again unless she signed an Australian Workplace Agreement. Lorissa Stevens, a former Australian soccer representative who was sacked after refusing to sign the AWA, is now suing the company at the center of the controversy - Mining and Earth Moving Services.

• Women Should Decide. [Daily Telegraph, Australia] Women should be able to decide whether to use any drug to terminate pregnancies, as long as the treatment is safe, federal Labor's health spokeswoman Julia Gillard says. From next month, leading abortion provider Marie Stopes International will trial anti-cancer drug, methotrexate, to terminate pregnancies because of delays in obtaining the abortion drug RU486 in Australia.

• WA Women Most Sexually Active. [Sunday Times.au, Australia] West Australian women appear to be the most sexually active in the country, according to a new survey. And women in their late 40s and early 50s are having more sex than younger women, many of whom say they're in the grip of a sexual drought.

• Boozy Women Lower the Bar. [Sydney Morning Herald, Australia] New research suggests that, far from being a sign of gender equality, binge drinking among young women may have more to do with lack of confidence and a feeling that alcohol makes them more attractive and fun to be with.

• Working Women's Centre to Close. [ABC Online, Australia] The Working Women's Centre in north Hobart says the federal and Tasmanian governments have let it down. After 12 years providing industrial relations advocacy to Tasmanian women, the center’s funding has dried up and it will close.

• Blow Up Man Women's Best Buddy. [Ninemsn, Australia] He is the Buddy on Demand, a blow-up man with the aim of making solo female motorists feel less nervous about driving at night. Research by the inflatable friend's creator shows 82% of women feel safer with someone sitting in the car beside them and nearly a half do not like driving alone in the dark.

• Defence to Pay Compo to Navy Officer. [The Age, Australia] The defence department has agreed to pay compensation to a female navy officer who claims to have been physically and mentally abused. Lieutenant-Commander Robyn Fahy was Australia's first female navy officer. She says she suffered years of physical and mental abuse in the armed forces, claiming to have been "beaten up" on a daily basis.

• Chinese Actress Likely to be Named Female Lead. [Malaysia Star, Malaysia] Mainland Chinese actress Liu Yifei will likely be named the lead actress in Ang Lee's upcoming spy thriller, "Lust, Caution'', a news report said Thursday.

• Chinese Tennis Coaches Alleged to Subject Their Female Players to Inhuman Training Regimes. [Mirror.co.uk, UK] Pat Cash claims Chinese tennis coaches subject their female players to inhuman training regimes. Na Li became the first Chinese player to reach the quarter-final of a Grand Slam before losing to Kim Clijsters at Wimbledon this week. But as the Asian superpower prepares to host the 2008 Olympics, progress in tennis has come at a high physical price.

• Training Process for China's Female Astronaut Candidates. [People's Daily Online, China] NASA and the European Space program have had female astronauts flying to outer space as soon as male astronauts have made the journey successfully. ...

• Female Descendants Included in Confucius Family Tree for the First Time. [People's Daily Online, China] "In China, where men have traditionally been regarded as superior to women, and in a family in which tradition is strictly observed, it is of great significance that female descendants of Confucius will now be included in the family tree," said Liu Shifan, Vice President of the International Confucius Association.

• No Plan to Refuse Entry to Pregnant Women. [News.gov.hk] Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee says although the Government is concerned about Mainland women giving birth in Hong Kong, it will not refuse entry to a visitor solely because they are pregnant. Enforcement is a problem because even if the department refused entry to pregnant women, those who intended to give birth in Hong Kong could simply come at an earlier stage of pregnancy and overstay for the birth.

• Pulih Counselors Work on Unpopular, Grim Issues. [Jakarta Post, Indonesia] Established in the post-Soeharto era, Pulih was shaped by an increasing crime rate, including an alarming growth in the number of reported cases of violence against women, as well as communal clashes in remote areas. Since its establishment, Pulih has handled 431 cases of trauma involving female and child victims of domestic violence, human rights abuses and disaster.

• Citizenship Bill Accused of Bias Against Women. [Jakarta Post, Indonesia] The bill on citizenship has been criticized by a coalition of non-governmental organizations for allowing discrimination against women and endangering their rights. The network's biggest cause for concern is Article 26, which stipulates that a female spouse will lose her citizenship once she marries someone of foreign nationality.

• Miss Universe Contender Faces Charges. [The Australian] Indonesia's Miss Universe entrant may face indecency charges after a hardline Muslim group complained to police about her appearance on a Los Angeles stage in a bikini. The women's chapter of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) want Indonesian authorities to prosecute Miss Indonesia, Nadine Chandrawinata.

• Life Spans Decrease for First Time in Six Years; Women Still Top. [Japan Times] The life expectancy of Japanese women and men declined in 2005 for the first time in six years. The latest figures show that women lived an average of 85.49 years, while men lived an average of 78.53 years. Japanese women had the highest longevity in the world for the 21st year in a row in 2005, followed by women from Hong Kong and Spain

• Employed Women Contribute Quarter of Household Income. [Korea Times, South Korea] Wives contributed about a quarter of the average monthly income in dual-income households, where both the husband and wife work. According to the annual Women’s Life in Statistics, working wives earned 916,800 won a month, accounting for some 24.3 percent of the 3.78 million won average monthly income of two-income families in Korea in 2005.

• Women Are Moving On Up. [Donga.com, South Korea] The women’s economic participation rate in Korea exceeded 50 percent for the first time, which is attributable to the rise in the number of women with higher education and the prolonged economic slowdown.

• Jobs for Women to Be Boosted. [Korea Times] The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Tuesday announced an ambitious plan to create over 600,000 jobs for women within the next five years. Gender Equality Minister Jang Ha-jin said the Ministry will increase women's economic activity participation rate up to 55 percent by creating about 600,000 jobs by 2010 as part of a plan titled ``Dynamic Women Korea 2010.''

• Working Women Reluctant to Have More Children. [Korea Times, South Korea] The majority of married, working women have no plans for extra children because of rising childcare costs, according to government research. The KSDC survey reveals that married women are still reluctant to have more children due to economic burdens, despite government incentives to promote childbirth.

• New Force in Seoul: Dictator's Daughter. [International Herald Tribune] Many South Koreans wonder: Do they have their next president in the daughter of the man who still inspires both loyalty as the father of the industrialization of South Korea and hatred as a ruthless dictator? Because of her reputation for steely composure at a time of crisis, Park Geun Hye is enjoying political stardom in a season of discontent for South Koreans.

• Tourism Eases Sea Women's Grip on Power. [International Herald Tribune] The women earned the family living, diving into the sea for abalone and other lucrative shellfish. The men did not dive, fished little, and could not farm; they stayed home and took care of the children, or fell into bouts of gambling, drinking and idleness. Change came 14 years ago with a regular ferry, bringing with it tourists, settlers, Chinese restaurants and jobs for the formerly jobless men.

• Women From North Beat South in Football. [Korea Times] The North Korean women’s football team beat South Korea 1-0 Monday in an Asian Cup match in Adelaide, Australia, to deny the South a chance to qualify for the next year’s World Cup.

• Three Women Banned for Violence at Asian Cup. [FOXSports.com] Three North Korea players have been suspended for violent conduct against match officials during a 1-0 loss to China in the women's Asian Cup soccer semifinals.

• Safety for Women Travelers. [New Straits Times, Malaysia] If you’re female, alone and on the move, you are a target for crime. Women travelers are often labeled as complicated, vulnerable, fussy and difficult. In a country where the culture, values and language are alien, women travelers, especially those traveling alone, are real and easy targets for danger.

• Women are Forced From Their Homes. [Los Angeles Chronicle] We must know about women and justice agenda to judge. We cannot forget if opposition always arises to combat repression, deprivation and other great problems needing redress. All that was true in the world, so if not women would have been another peaceful force.  

• Women's Empowerment. [Gorkhapatra, Nepal] Studies have shown that Nepalese women have very limited involvement in decision making from the household level through to high level legislative and bureaucratic positions. The political and bureaucratic structures also prevent the entry of women into the important decision-making domains. Women's limited access to decision making is also evident in the government bureaucracy.

• Battered Women Lacking Legal Aid. [New Zealand Herald] A shortage of lawyers willing to do legal aid work has led to battered women having to represent themselves in court. The Women's Refuge and Sexual Assault Resource Centre in Marlborough has raised the issue. It said that in Blenheim the situation had become so bad there were only two lawyers prepared to take one legal aid case a fortnight.

Philippines

• Filipino Woman Breaks Down at Rape Trial of Marines. [Reuters] A Filipino woman who accuses four U.S. Marines of rape said she was too drunk to remember how she ended up in a van with one of the men on top of her, breaking down three times during her court testimony. The Marines deny the charges, saying only one of them had sex with the woman and that it was consensual.

• All Eyes on First Two Female Contingent Commanders at NDP 2006. [Channel News Asia, Singapore] All eyes will be on two very special women at this year's National Day Parade (NDP). Two female commanders have been selected for the first time to lead the Airforce and Police Guard-of-Honour contingents.

• More Women Taking Up Smoking, Health Bureau Says. [Taipei Times, Taiwan] The number of women smokers has risen and more girls under the age of 15 are lighting up, with psychological factors such as low self-esteem to blame, the Department of Health has found. According to Bureau of Health Promotion figures, 4.76 percent of women over the age of 18 smoked regularly last year, while up to 5.84 percent had smoked in the past.

• CEPD Plans Policies for Working Women. [Taipei Times, Taiwan] In a bid to help women be able to contribute more to the workplace and take better care of their families, the government is studying measures to remove barriers for career women on both fronts, a spokesman for the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.

• Former Female Minister Becomes 1st Thai Member of UN Panel. [People's Daily Online, China] Thailand's former minister Saisuree Chutikul becomes the first Thai national elected as a member of the United Nation panel for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (UNCEDAW), Thai government said Wednesday.

• Tall Order for Thai Women. [Bangkok Post] Hosts Australia thrashed Thailand 5-0 in the AFC Women's Asian Cup yesterday in Adelaide. The defeat ended Thailand's hopes of reaching the semi-finals. After the match, Thailand women's team manager Naruemon Siriwat said: "We changed our style of play and looked good. We lost this match because the Australian players were much taller."

• Women Conquer the World of Science. [Viet Nam News, Vietnam] In traditional Viet Nam, a very Confucian society, women existed only within the confines of the home and for procreation. They didn’t have the right to study. At the beginning of the twentieth century, with the country’s first modernization under the colonial French regime, girls had the chance to go to school. But they didn’t go far.