Australia

• Women Have 'Moved On From Feminism'. [NEWS.com.au, Australia] Australian women have moved on from the days of feminist demonstration and no longer need to measure themselves by career success, said Prime Minister John Howard. Mr. Howard said women today had greater awareness of the disadvantages of leaving child-bearing too late and were more confident about their choices. "Fortunately I think today's younger women are more in the post-feminist period, where they don't sort of measure their independence and freedom by the number of years they remain full-time in the workforce without having children,'' Mr. Howard told News Ltd newspapers. "I think they've moved on from that demonstration phase... (when) they thought `I'll be letting the sisterhood down if I don't stay in the workforce until I'm a certain age'.'' Discussing a rise in births triggered in part by his government's baby bonus scheme, Mr. Howard said the majority of families were now in a "one-and-a-half'' structure, where one parent worked full-time and the other part-time. "In the last figures I saw about 27% were one-and-a-halfs, 18 or 19% were two full-timers and about 22% were single incomes,'' he said. 

• Trends: Loose Women. [Sydney Morning Herald, Australia] Botox was hot last year but word is that 2007 is all about vaginoplasty. Ever the early uptakers, Australian women are getting in on the labia-enhancing act, according to the "leading" American cosmetic surgeon, Robert Rey, who stars in the TV series Dr 90210. The Harvard-educated Dr Rey reveals that Australian women are combining their vaginal remolding experience with holidays in Los Angeles, where they can have their private parts lanced and restitched and perhaps pop in a trip to Disneyland during their vaginas' convalescence. "It's the bourgeoisie," Dr Rey says. "Regular Australians stay in Australia and go to these excellent local plastic surgeons, but the bourgeoisie, they find their way here. It's become kind of a luxury item. You know - 'I drive a Mercedes, I wear Gucci and I had my work done by Dr Rey."' He links the surge in demand for the procedure to women's liberation, a felicitous byproduct of the feminist struggle. "Prior to the sexual revolution, sex was very puritan, in the dark, and in 15 minutes it was over," Dr Rey said.

• Abortion Groups Clash Over Counseling Plan. [The Age] Pro-choice and pro-life groups continue to clash over the government's decision to involve Catholic agencies in a helpline for women with unplanned pregnancies. The two Catholic and, therefore, anti-abortion groups denied a conflict of interest, while federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said the helpline would be monitored to ensure its impartiality. But Reproductive Choice Australia, a coalition of pro-choice groups, said the so-called safeguards would not prevent pro-life activists misleading women.

• Microsoft Appoints Female MD. [Smart House, Australia] Microsoft Australia has announced the appointment of Tracey Fellows as the first female Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand effective from February 8. Ms. Fellows steps into the role vacated by Steve Vamos, who was appointed to a US-based position as Vice President, International, Online Services Group at Microsoft. In her previous role, Ms. Fellows was Director, Business and Marketing Operations at Microsoft ANZ, reporting to Mr. Vamos. "Our ANZ offices have done a tremendous job in establishing and maintaining numerous programs that have created positive social and economic impact," said Mr. Emilio Umeoka, Regional Vice President, Microsoft Asia-Pacific.

• Women Band Together to Warn Off Predators. [NEWS.com.au, Australia] It was an impressive show of defiance and a warning to Brisbane's bikeway predators. With signs bearing police identikit pictures of the alleged attackers and declaring: "You will be caught", Brisbane mum Phillipa Tzilois, her sister and her niece joined The Courier-Mail's Walk Without Fear rally. "We all go walking and it makes it very difficult when there's someone out there making it a bit scary," Ms Tzilois said. "This is really affecting our lifestyle." Although three of the 38 reported attacks on women in Brisbane parks and bikeways in the past year took place near her Kelvin Grove home, Ms Tzilois is refusing to abandon her afternoon walk along Enoggera Creek. Instead, like others who stood together at the rally, she is adopting a strength-in-numbers approach. "I've buddied up with a girl who lives around the corner. I used to see her around, but I noticed she'd stopped walking, so we go walking together now. It's really great and you get a new friend."

• Pioneering Female Jockey Farewelled. [Ninemsn, Australia] Mourners packed St Patrick's Cathedral in Ballarat to farewell one of Victoria's pioneering female jockeys. Brigid Payne, 36, died from a heart attack believed to be connected to a fall during track work in Euroa in July last year. The eldest of 10 children, Brigid was the second female jockey in Australia to become licensed. Family and friends paid tribute to a woman full of grit and determination. "She managed to succeed in what was a man's world," Racing Victoria Jumps Manager Peter Griffiths said.

• Protect Consumers, Protect Women. [The Brunei Times, Brunei Darussalam] Kudos to the Ministry of Health for acting promptly to protect Brunei's consumers when it advised the public against purchasing or using a total of 27 cosmetic products, which have been found to be adulterated with banned substances. Mercury, Rhodamine B and CI Pigment Red 53 have been found to be harmful causing ill effects from allergy reaction to cancer and may act as poison even at a low concentration. They are controlled under the Poisons Act (Chapter 14), which stipulates that it is an offence to import, sell or offer any products containing a poison without a license.

• Positive Outlook for Development of Women This Year. [Borneo Bulletin, Brunei Darussalam] Assistant Minister of Resource Development and Information Technology Melanie Chie anticipates changes for the better in the women's landscape in the coming year.  She praised the State government under Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman on giving women development due emphasis in the State Budget 2007. The government is funding the building of Wisma Wanita at RM12.35 million, planning to set up a women's co-operative, creating a women information system and implementing the Sabah Rural Women Entrepreneur Development Program. Musa had also reassured Sabah women that the government endeavors to provide a conducive environment and support mechanism to help women utilize their potential as partners in State development and in facing the challenges of globalization, she said here.

• French National Sentenced to Six Years for Prostituting Women. [The Associated Press] French bar owner has been sentenced to six years in prison for prostituting his waitresses to foreigners in the Cambodian capital. Bruno Fumat, 52, was convicted in a trial of forcing seven Vietnamese women to have sex with his customers, according to Kry Sok Y, a court prosecutor. He had denied the allegation. Thach Va, a 32 year-old Vietnamese woman who is Fumat's girlfriend, was sentenced to six years in prison on the same charge, the prosecutor said, adding that the woman was charged with recruiting the girls. During the trial, Bruno said he had hired the women to work merely as waitresses, Kry Sok Y said. His lawyer, Ly Sovanna dismissed the verdict as unjust and said he will file an appeal.

• China Will Have 30 Million More Men Than Women of Marriageable Age in 2020. [Xinhua] There will be 30 million more males of marriageable age in China than females by the year 2020, which will make it difficult for men to find wives. The report, issued by the State Population and Family Planning Commission, said China's sex ratio for newborn babies in 2005 was 118 boys to 100 girls, compared with 110:100 in 2000. In some regions, the sex ratio has reached 130:100. "Discrimination against the female sex remains the primary cause of China's growing gender imbalance," said Liu Bohong, vice director of the women studies institute under the All-China Women's Federation. Liu said that rural people in China are widely believed to be more "traditional", preferring sons to daughters, but the newborn gender imbalance is also widening in cities. The Chinese capital Beijing saw 109 boys born for every 100 girls in the first 11 months of 2006. Some couples, with a traditional preference for boys and only one chance to have a child, opt for abortion when they find out their unborn child is female. Many Chinese localities have outlawed fetus gender diagnosis to prevent the trend. The report predicted that in the year 2020, Chinese men of marriageable age will find it difficult to find wives, especially those with low income or little education. This will create social instability.

• Women Tie the Knot Later in Life. [China Daily, China] Chinese women have pushed back marriage over the past decade with the average age for a woman to marry now 24, a research report has found. In the 1990s, the average age for Chinese women to marry was between 21.9 and 22.8 years old, but the age was 22.6 in 2000, says a report published by the China Youth and Children Research Center, an institution for helping the government set youth policies. China's economic reform and development has offered unprecedented opportunities for women, who can have many goals to pursue and often are too busy to marry early. "Today's job market puts higher expectations on one's professional skills. To get a good job, they have to work extremely hard to beat their peers in fierce competition," said Liu Junyan, a research fellow with the center. "They simply miss out on the prime time for romance and marriage," Liu said.

• For Guangdong Women, Family Trumps Careers. [China Daily, China] For the women of Guangdong, it would seem that tradition is king where aspirations are concerned. Some 93.3% of the women polled in a recent survey said having "a happy and harmonious family" is the most important factor in a woman's life. By contrast, only 1% rated "having a successful career" as the key to a fulfilling life. Three women's societies in the province, led by the Guangdong Women's Federation, conducted the survey between April 12 and June 20 last year in nine cities in this province in South China. Major metropolises like Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai were among the sample cities. The groups' goal was to get a sense of how women in Guangdong view life and work, and, perhaps, to offer solutions to their most vexing problems.

• Scientific Research Ship to Have First Female Chief Scientist. [People's Daily Online, China] The scientific research ship "Dayang Yihao" ("Ocean No. 1") set off from the eastern coastal city of Qingdao. Part of the trip will be led by Han Xiqiu, an ocean scientist and China's first female chief scientist for scientific exploration of the sea. "The 220-day journey will consist of six different phases, and each phase will have its own chief scientist," said 38-year-old Han, who is a renowned researcher on sea floor science with the Second Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration.

• Report: Premier Says China to Continue With One-Child Policy. [The Associated Press] China has no plans to change its one-child policy, Premier Wen Jiabao said, adding family planning was critical to China's modernization plans. The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Wen as saying the "government will adhere to the basic policy of family planning with improved services and stronger leadership." He added that family planning was crucial to China's modernization and the building of a "harmonious society," a catchphrase meant to mean a more equal distribution of riches in a country with a growing wealth gap. Wen told a conference on population and family planning that the family planning priority was China's highly populated countryside, where maintaining a low birth rate was crucial. Critics say the policy has led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to a traditional preference for male heirs, which has prompted countless families to abort female fetuses in hopes of getting boys. 

• Military Denies Female Strip Report. [Fiji Times, Fiji] The military defended its treatment of a person taken to Queen Elizabeth Barracks last week, saying they were treated as they deserved. This was in response to reports that a woman was taken to the camp and forced to strip to her underwear and then run around the exercise yard. Senior military liaison officers said two women had been drinking heavily and smoking marijuana at Makoi and acting in a disorderly manner and disturbing the peace. One of the women allegedly attempted to rob a mini-bus driver who made a complaint to the military. They said that on arrival at the camp the woman was spoken to by female soldiers and asked to remove some of her clothing. They said it was normal procedure to remove from people in military custody any items of clothing that could be used in a suicide attempt. However, they said that when the woman began to remove her clothing, the female officers became suspicious. The woman was later found to be a male, they said. The officers said once this was ascertained, it was decided that the man could be put through the usual male routine of running around the exercise yard. They said this was only done when the person being questioned was not telling them the truth in this case about the attempt to rob the min-van driver.

• At WHO, a Chief Cut from Hong Kong Cloth. [International Herald Tribune] She was nominated by the People's Republic of China to be chief of the World Health Organization and has been repeatedly dubbed "the Chinese candidate." But there is little in terms of style or history that links Dr. Margaret Chan, who took office this week as the agency's new director general, to the country she still calls "mainland China." Raised in the British colony of Hong Kong and trained as a doctor in Canada, Chan was Hong Kong's chief public health official from 1994 to 2003, an extraordinary decade that spanned not only the territory's return to China, but also two public health crises: the first outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, in 1997, and the 2003 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which killed 800 people worldwide, nearly a third of them in Hong Kong. Weathering each crisis with a direct, outspoken approach, Chan proved to be more of a no-nonsense British civil servant than a Chinese Communist Party bureaucrat. Throughout her tenure, Chan was best known for her differences with Chinese officials over how to handle health issues, from counterfeit medicines to infectious diseases. During the SARS and bird flu outbreaks, the Hong Kong government published painstaking daily updates on illness and death, while China — the place that many scientists believe both viruses originated — worked hard to cover up the problems, allowing the diseases to spread.

• Hong Kong to Levy $6150 Birth Fee on Chinese Women. [Telugu Portal, India] Hong Kong is to impose a birthing fee of up to $6,150 on women from mainland China crossing the border to give birth in the city's public hospitals. The fee - expected to be imposed from February - comes after the number of mainland Chinese women giving birth in the city of 6.8 million swelled from a few hundred to more than 10,000 a year. Cheung Wai-lun, spokesperson for the city's hospital authority, said the charge for non-native women giving birth in Hong Kong would range from $5,000-6,150. Non-native women who book ahead and have a record of prenatal treatment in Hong Kong would be charged $5,000. Women with no record of prenatal treatment would be charged $6,150, he said.

• Hong Kong to Turn Away Unregistered Pregnant Women at Borders. [Reuters AlertNet, UK] Hong Kong will repatriate heavily pregnant women without prior hospital bookings at its borders under new rules aimed at stopping mainland Chinese women from crowding public maternity wards. Starting Feb. 1, Hong Kong immigration officers will step up arrival clearance checks for all non-local Chinese women who are more than seven months pregnant. Pregnant women who cannot provide booking confirmation certificates issued by local hospitals that prove prior arrangements for admission will be "denied entry and repatriated", according to a government press release. The new checks will mainly be implemented at the porous border checkpoints between Hong Kong and China, including Lowu, where millions of people stream across by road and rail each week. Other foreign pregnant women from outside mainland China would not be subject to these new repatriation rules since they represented only "isolated" cases, the government added. Hong Kong's Hospital Authority says 30% of babies delivered in Hong Kong are born to non-native mothers, mostly from China, who are attracted by the territory's cheap, modern and well-run public hospitals. Last year, more than 14,000 non-local women gave birth in the former British colony.

• Religious Police Raid Beauty Parlor; Men Arrested for Receiving Haircuts from Women. [The Associated Press] Enforcing Islamic law, religious police in Indonesia raided a dozen beauty parlors and arrested 13 beauticians for failing to wear Islamic attire and two male customers for having their hair cut by women. Sharia Police Chief Bahagia Hadi said raids on beauty parlors would be intensified in the Indonesian province of Aceh because such places were often found to be used for prostitution. Hadi said police found used condoms during a raid in one of the parlors in the capital of the tsunami-ravaged province, Banda Aceh. The 13 female parlor workers were arrested because they wore tight shirts and jeans but no head scarves, while the two men should have known that Islamic Sharia law states they can only receive haircuts from male hairdressers, he said. All were released after being admonished by the Sharia Agency, he said.

• Female Backers of Aceh's Rebels Now Battle to Rebuild Lives. [ReliefWeb, Switzerland] Women like Juayriah are the hidden face of an armed struggle that tore Aceh apart during three decades. As the male-dominated rebel movement lays claim to the economic spoils of peace, female ex-combatants, activists, and widows are trying to rebuild lives and find a political voice. Today's struggle is against discrimination and hardship as well as lingering mental scars. "Without women, GAM is nothing. During the conflict, the women fed the men, and they hid them," says Liza Fitri, an activist in the Aceh Women's League, an advocacy network created last year. "Women were also combatants and were trained to fight. There's been almost no assistance to women since the [peace accord]. So now we want to see how women are treated in the future. We want women active in politics."

• Top Ten Stories of 2006. [Centre Daily Times] The top 10 Japanese news stories of 2006, selected by The Yomiuri Shimbun’s readers, highlight a variety of events. The news voted most important was the birth of Prince Hisahito, son of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko. Before the birth of the new prince, there was much debate over the pros and cons of allowing a female to become empress regnant and whether a female line of succession should be allowed after a panel of Imperial House Law experts argued for it. The panel was prompted to begin its discussions by concerns that Japan would run out of heirs to the throne unless the law was revised. However, after the announcement of Princess Kiko’s pregnancy in February, the opinion that hasty discussion on the matter should be avoided rapidly spread.

• Foes of Female Reign Bask in Prince's Birth. [The Japan Times, Japan] "It's a boy!" The news spread like wildfire on red-letter Sept. 6 with the birth of Prince Hisahito, the first male born into the Imperial family in 41 years. Over the past few decades, only girls have been born into the Imperial family. Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako had Princess Aiko, while Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko had Princesses Mako and Kako. Conservative lawmakers let out a sigh of relief with the birth of Prince Hisahito, safe in the knowledge that male-only Imperial succession is safe for now, and debate on female succession was effectively shelved. Traditionalists continue to argue that it is essential to maintain the male paternal line in the Imperial system. They stress their belief that Emperor Jinmu was the first monarch, and that he was a descendant of Amaterasu Omikami, the mythical progenitor of the Imperial family and the principal Shinto deity. Under the Imperial Household Law, only males can assume the throne. There have been eight ruling empresses, but they were all members of the Imperial family on their fathers' side. But since 1889, women have been barred from the throne regardless of blood ties to the emperor.

• Japan to Drop Plans to Allow Female Monarch. [The Associated Press] Japan will drop plans to allow women to inherit the country's imperial throne, following the birth last year of a long-awaited male heir. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to ditch recommendations by a government panel in 2005 that an emperor's first child — boy or girl — should accede the throne, according to a report by the daily Sankei Shimbun. The reform was designed to defuse a looming succession crisis for the royal family, which had produced no male heir in four decades. But the drive, championed by the former prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, lost steam after the birth of Prince Hisahito on Sept. 6 to Kiko, the wife of the emperor's second son. Abe now plans to encourage debate on other ways to make the imperial succession more stable, the paper said, citing unnamed officials.

• Women Expect to Keep Working, Excel. [The Japan Times, Japan] An increasing number of working mothers in Japan are trying to juggle careers and housework. Many women decide to leave their jobs after having a child. Although many women are as educated as men, about 70% quit their jobs when having children, knowing most companies won't tolerate employees whose working hours can be compromised by children. Many critics, however, are voicing concerns that the world's second-largest economy will not be competitive in the future if it effectively continues to suppress this segment of the workforce along with all its experience and knowledge. According to an estimate by Japan Research Institute, the nation will have a shortage of about 3.9 million workers in 2015 as the population continues to shrink, and will need 880,000 more working women than there were in 2005 to keep growth at around 2%. Some companies are finally becoming aware of the need to hire women.

• First Female Prime Minister. [Korea Herald] Han Myeong-sook's appointment as the country's first female prime minister signaled a major breakthrough in the seemingly impenetrable political glass ceiling. In March this year, President Roh Moo-hyun selected the feminist Uri lawmaker for the top Cabinet post. Usually of a reserved character, Han is said to possess a gentle charisma that surfaces in times of crises. On several occasions she has mediated disputes between Cheong Wa Dae and political parties, and also soothed public sentiment over a series of scandals that erupted the past year. During the latest, over illegal video games involving government officials, Han stepped up to the plate to issue a public apology. Han, 62, was a two-term legislator of the ruling Uri Party before her appointment to prime minister. In 2003, she was Minister of Environment. Before that, she served as the first minister of the newly created Ministry of Gender Equality in 2001. Han had been an avid student activist when young. In the 1970s, she was imprisoned for two and a half years for her involvement in an institution called the Christian Academy, which was labeled an illegal underground communist group by the authoritarian Park Chung-hee regime.

• Female Prosecutors, Judges on Steep Rise. [Korea Times, South Korea] More than half of the judicial trainees selected to be judges or prosecutors last year were women, the Judicial Research and Training Institute said. It was the largest proportion of women appointed to these posts ever. About 54% of the 190 trainees appointed last year to be judges or prosecutors were women, it said. They will assume their posts this year. The appointments are based on bar examination scores and training scores. Students with the highest scores are appointed as judges, students with slightly lower scores are appointed as prosecutors and the rest who pass the test become lawyers. Women who passed the bar examination and finished the training course numbered 242. That was 24.8% of the total of 975. The proportion was higher than last year, when 186 out of 895 passed. Of the 90 appointed as judges, 58 were women. Of the 100 appointed as prosecutors, 44 were women. An increasing number of women are passing civil servant examinations, as well. In 2005, the person who topped the diplomatic civil service examination was a 24-year-old woman.

• Guides for Female Immigrants Published. [Korea Times, South Korea] The Ministry of Health and Welfare published guides for immigrants married to Korean men. The guides are intended to help these women adapt to Korean society. The guides are published in English, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean and will be distributed through the immigration bureau and organizations that deal with female immigrants. The guides include information about the kinds of services provided to immigrants, the process of acquiring Korean nationality, the culture and traditions of Korea, education, medical services, women’s rights, vocational training, pregnancy and birth. There were 43,121 international marriages in Korea in 2005, up 21.6% from the same period the year before. About 72% of these marriages involved a Korean man and a woman from another country. International marriages account for about 13% of all marriages in Korea.

• Divorce Laws Test the Divide Between North and South Korea. [International Herald Tribune] Selling noodles and seaweed rolls 12 hours a day, six days a week at her hole-in-the-wall snack booth in southern Seoul, Kim Sung Hee earns $54 on a good day. In Seoul, that's hardly enough to provide for her 5-year-old daughter and her ailing 74-year-old North Korean father, who unexpectedly showed up last year in search of his daughter. "I am at least learning how to make a living in a capitalist society, said Kim, 33, a refugee from North Korea. "But I don't know what to do about the other problem." Her other problem is one that frustrates hundreds of North Koreans who fled famine and dictatorship and still struggle to build a new life in the South: How can they divorce their spouses in the North? South Korea's family law says they cannot remarry here because they are legally still bound to their husbands and wives across the border whom they probably will never meet again. Since 2003, 220 North Korean defectors have filed for divorce in South Korean courts. In the first and only ruling of its kind, a judge in the Seoul Family Court granted a divorce to a female North Korean defector in 2004. But judges have since suspended all the other cases, which were mired in a thicket of legal riddles.

• Gisaeng: South Korea's Version of Geishas Becomes Country's New Cultural Craze. [The Associated Press] They are known as the "flowers that can understand words" — graceful entertainers from Korea's past who are adept at poetry, art and music, and are the peninsula's version of Japan's geishas. And they have become the new hot cultural property in 21st-century South Korea. A TV show based on the life of a famous 16th-century "gisaeng," as the women are known in Korean, has become a runaway hit in South Korea, driving the country's entertainment industry to fuel the trend with a musical, comic book, movie and more TV shows. Ironically, the gisaeng are enjoying popularity as a model for today's women seeking a greater say in male-dominated Korean society — with the entertainers having enjoyed special privileges to participate in the men's sphere despite their low standing in the rigid class hierarchy of imperial times. "Theories of gisaeng origins vary, with some believing they date back to the Shilla dynasty that emerged in the fifth century. Their nickname is "Haeohwa" — a word combining the three Chinese characters for "understand," "word" and "flower," objectified as a symbol of indigenous beauty.

• Young Female Comedian Dies. [Korea Times, South Korea] Comedian Kim Hyung-eun, who was hospitalized after a serious car accident last month, died of heart failure after a series of lengthy operations. Kim, 27, was in a car crash after losing control on an icy highway on Dec. 16 last year and had been hospitalized ever since. It was rumored that she was paralyzed after suffering a broken neck, but after her latest operation—lasting seven hours—she seemed to be making a recovery according to reports, although still being kept on an artificial respirator. Kim began her career in 2003 as a comedian on SBS television, becoming famous as a plain but playful girlfriend character on the network’s hit comedy show Utchatsa.

• 40% of Women are Victims of Domestic Violence. [Sun2Surf, Malaysia] Nearly 40% of women in Malaysia are victims of domestic violence by their partners or husbands, Wanita MCA chief Datuk Dr. Ng Yen Yen said. She said the disturbing figure was based on police statistics for domestic violence in 2005. "The figure is a concern for us, but there are still more of such cases which are not reported to the authorities due to fear or lack of awareness. This situation has caused such violence to be repeated on the victims, and it is also a contributing factor to the increased incidence of rape, child abuse and incest cases in the country." Ng said many women accept domestic violence as part of their lives. "This is wrong as women have to wake up and realize what they can do about it and how to make it stop," she told reporters.

• Malaysian Group to Research Polygamy's Effects on Muslim Families. [The Associated Press] Opponents of polygamy in Muslim-majority Malaysia said Thursday they will spearhead a rare survey to prove their claims that the practice throws families into emotional and economic turmoil. Researchers hope to interview 6,000 members of polygamous households over the next 10 months in what could be the most comprehensive survey ever conducted on polygamy in a Muslim society, said Zainah Anwar, director of Sisters In Islam, a Malaysian women's rights group. "We need evidence-based material to strengthen our advocacy for awareness and reforms, rather than merely use stories or assumptions about polygamy," Zainah told a news conference.

• Breastfeeding Of Babies By Single Women Disrupts Social Structure. [Bernama, Malaysia] The tendency among some women to take pills that encourage milk production and feed the milk to their adopted babies could disrupt the social structure, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Sahrizat Abdul Jalil said. "We want the current social structure in which couples marry and have children. But women who are not married and take pills to encourage milk production are causing concern," she told reporters. The issue of single women breastfeeding adopted babies was raised in Parliament by Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Mashitah Ibrahim recently. She would seek the opinion of the Health Ministry on the risks such women were facing, she said. "They may have good intentions, but they must get married first before milking the babies," said Shahrizat.

• Marxist's Attack Poor Women. [Melbourne Indymedia, Australia] Eight Maoists came to the village and beat sixteen women of the Badi community living in the Mudha bazaar of the Kalilali district, thirteen of whom were involved in Pesha (prostitution). This incident is a reminder that the Maoists were quiet when several men in Mudha burnt the house and hand of a woman when she asked for money for her occupation. The victims were refused water to drink when they asked. At 4:30 pm, eight Maoists came to the Mudha bazaar and ordered all the women engaged in Pesha to stand in a line beneath the Simal Tree. Then they beat them with wooden sticks. Forth-one-year-old Bhawisara Nepali said, "I am a woman with a husband and children; I have never engaged in Pesha, but they did not spare me." The victims said they requested to not be beaten on the hands because of their Norplant (contraceptive implants), but the Maoists hit them there more severely.

• Nude Female Haka Stirs Controversy. [Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand] An English women's rugby team have had a strip torn off them after performing a nude haka. The girls from the Canterbury women's rugby team in Kent went topless in their version of the sacred war dance for their raunchy 2007 calendar. But Maori academics have labeled their interpretation of the All Blacks' Ka Mate haka as racially ignorant. "It looks like misuse of the haka to me," Dr Poia Rewi, senior lecturer in the School of Maori Studies at Otago University, told Sunday News. "I think Maori would be offended by this," he said. "Women traditionally did do the haka, and if they really wanted to vent their spleen they might have been prompted to expose their private parts. But that's the ultimate expression of soul feeling. If Maoris aren't doing it now then I think other people who the culture doesn't belong to should be a bit cautious. It's not something I would promote." Maori Party co-leader Dr. Pita Sharples said: "There's two issues here - doing the haka and doing it topless. The haka is sacred to us and we do it in the proper way at different times, but if people imitate it then we're fair game to be imitated. I would feel differently if it was a New Zealand women's team - it would be bastardizing it in a way."

• Muslim Women Seek Special Pool Facilities. [New Zealand Herald, New Zealand] There are calls for special pool facilities to be set up for Muslim women so they can swim without compromising their religious beliefs. Naaz Shah of Christchurch said many Muslim women had no opportunities to exercise and were putting on weight as a result, the Press newspaper reported. "They become medically unfit. Their health is affected and they're quite depressed," she said. Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand chief executive Sultan Eusoff said privacy and modesty were very important for followers of Islam. He backed the idea of a special pool for Muslims, but said he was not aware of any reports of Muslim women feeling uncomfortable swimming in pools. "It is not so much a problem of other people making us feel uncomfortable, but there would be an issue if pool dress codes forbid our women covering up," he said.

• Women Lead Fashion Stakes. [Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand] The wind played havoc with hats and frocks, but it did not stop women stepping out in style at the races in Richmond. About 20 women put on their glad rags for Fashion in the Field at the Nelson Harness Racing Club's summer meeting. At least one man also joined in the fun, dressing in shocking pink from head to toe. Judge for the event, Richmond's Baku homeware shop owner Jill Speight, said her brief was to find the most outstanding outfit that was visually stimulating. She said a group of women turned up in similar floral dresses. "It looked great and was fun." But Mrs. Speight didn't know why they had all chosen that look which failed to secure a winning place. The winner of the best hat was Brightwater woman Doretta Hodgkinson for her elegant creation, and she received a voucher from Baku. Nelson woman Kymberly Allsopp was named best dressed for her two-piece burgundy outfit and matching hat, and she won an accommodation voucher from The Honest Lawyer.

Philippines

• Activists, Rape Victim Condemn Return of Convicted Marine to U.S. Custody. [The Associated Press] Angry Filipinos burned a U.S. flag and condemned President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as a traitor who should be impeached after her government allowed a U.S. Marine convicted of raping a Filipino woman to be moved from a local jail to American custody.

• Girls Beat Boys in Nearly All Subjects. [Manila Standard Today, Philippines] Girls outshine boys in mathematics, science, English, Pilipino and social studies, according to the results of the national standardized tests for grade six pupils and high school seniors in 2005. The report says the results of the tests are expressed in the so-called mean percentage scores, and that grade six girls rated 48.52% in math while the boys received only 47.25%. High school girls rated 55.39% while the boys scored 52.03% in the same subject. “Noteworthy is the fact that in all subject areas, whether elementary or secondary, the girls outperformed the boys,” the report says.

• Teen Escapes Tamil Rebel Camp. [The Associated Press] A 15-year-old Tamil girl who said she was abducted by separatist Tamil Tiger rebels and forced to undergo training has escaped from a rebel camp in eastern Sri Lanka. The girl, whose name was withheld for her protection, told police that two women from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels snatched her on Dec. 13 as she was walking to her aunt's house in eastern Batticaloa district. The rebels took her to Thoppigala, a jungle training camp in the east, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said in Colombo. At the camp, the rebels put about 16 girls through physical training and told them to be prepared to fight for a Tamil homeland — a cause the Tigers have been fighting for over two decades. She said they had not yet received weapons training when she decided to escape.

• Police Suspect Headless Female Body as LTTE Suicide Bomber. [Asian Tribune, Thailand] Sri Lankan police suspect the body of a decapitated woman recovered from the site of the bomb blast as the suspected LTTE suicide bomber. Hospital workers help police officials to remove dead bodies from a damaged bus in Godagama. "The arms and head of the woman were detached from the body and we suspect her to be the bomber," police sources claimed. Initial and unconfirmed reports disclose that the suspected suicide bomber had boarded the bus from Colombo and at the time of the blast, the bomb was on her lap. Already some three persons have been questioned on suspicion, but no arrests have been made still. The blast occurred at around 2.35 p.m. on the Ambalangoda – Hikkaduwa Galle road. Majority of the injured are still being treated at the Karapitiya and Balapitiya hospital.

• More Challenges in Store for First Female Central Bank Chief. [International Herald Tribune, France] Tarisa Watanagase's first big decision in her new job may have sent shivers down the spines of international investors, but Thailand's first female central bank chief is hanging tough as she tries to rein in speculators and salvage her credibility as a leading monetary policy maker. The veteran, no-nonsense banker is countering criticism of her moves to restrict foreign investors, which sent the Thai stock market plunging nearly 15% Dec. 19 and sparked anxieties about a replay of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Despite the stock losses, there have been no calls for her resignation probably because she has received full public support from military-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont as well as powerful exporters. "One has to do what one has to do. As a governor, you can't please everyone," Tarisa told The Associated Press. "A governor that is popular in every sector of the market is probably not a very good one. It means they are trying to please everyone indiscriminately."

• Royal Displeasure Shows Anything-Goes Thailand the Limits of Undercovered Dancing. [The Associated Press] Even in a country where scantily clad dancers are something of a national icon, there is such a thing as crossing the line. A comment by Thailand's revered royal family has set off a campaign against one particular type of dancer, known here as Coyote Girls, after the 2000 American film "Coyote Ugly," about a group of sassy 20-somethings who dance seductively on a New York City bar top. The movie inspired mainstream Bangkok nightclubs to feature their own brand of Coyote Girls. Soon they were dancing at auto shows. Shopping malls and businesses hired them to promote new products, and their sexy dancing became a regular feature of outdoor festivals. A troupe even entertained soldiers manning their tanks in Bangkok on a September afternoon after the military staged a coup. But Queen Sirikit intervened after a recent performance near a Buddhist temple, on one of the religion's holiest days, prompting a crackdown that has turned Coyote Girls into a subject of national debate and official disapproval.

• Buddhist Teacher Pronounced Dead after Muslim Insurgent Attack. [The Associated Press] A female Buddhist teacher who was attacked by suspected Muslim insurgents in a restive southern town was pronounced dead. Chutima Ratanasamnieng, 31, who was in a coma since being admitted to a hospital, died from bullet wounds in the head and body, said Dr. Sumet Theerawut. Chutima and Rungnapha Kongsuwan, 31, were on a motorcycle riding to work at a secondary school in Yaring district of Pattani province when a gunman on the back seat of a motorcycle opened fire on them, said police Lt. Col. Upthai Chaimala. Chutima is the 61st teacher killed by suspected Muslim insurgents since 2004. More than 1,900 people have died in the predominantly Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat since separatist violence re-emerged after more than two decades of relative peace in the region.

• Female Drug Dealer Caught in Phuket. [ThaisNews, Thailand] 600 amphetamine tablets, with a mobile phone, bank transfer sheets, and a parcel sent from Bangkok, sent to Nuannong Paleerah, were treated as evidence for legal charges on a woman, aged 28; Nuannong is being investigated at Tung Thong police station and she is charged with drug possession. The arrest took place after anti narcotic police on January 3rd arrested Mr. Pojana Thamtatco with 160 tablets of amphetamine in a Paklok village. Pojana told police that he bought the tablets from Nuannong. The officer then took action against the female dealer.

• Army Spokesman Threatens Legal Action Against Female Southern Protesters. [Nation Multimedia, Thailand] The Army spokesman threatened to take legal action against women in southern border provinces for launching protests to pressure police to release suspected insurgents. Army spokesman Col Akkhara Tipparoj said the insurgents used protests by women to try to incite the authorities to respond with violence so that they could claim with various human rights groups that they were mistreated by the authorities. Akkhara said he would like to warn women groups, who liked to stage protests to pressure the government to release suspects, to stop doing so. "So, I would like to warn women groups who like to resort to violent protests to stop that illegal action. They should turn to use peaceful negotiations under the scope of the law," Akkhara said. "Such protests are wrongdoings warranting punishments."

• Women's Union Holds 9th Conference. [Nhan Dan, Vietnam] The Vietnam's Women's Union Central Committee (VWUCC) opened its 9th conference in Hanoi on January 8. During the two-day conference, preparation documents for the 10th National Women's Congress and Vietnam's Women's Union 2002-07 report will be discussed. In 2007, the VWUCC plans to disseminate the law on gender equality and contribute to building the government's decree on implementing the law. It will also be involved in promulgating the Party Political Bureau's resolution on strengthening Party leadership with women's participation, particularly their role in national industrialization and modernization.

• Women’s Group to Present Gender Report to UN Head. [Viet Nam News, Vietnam] A women’s interest committee will cross the globe to present its national reports on implementation of the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The National Committee for the Advance of Women (NCAW) will defend its report, which outlines domestic solutions to a global problem, at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on January 17. The NCAW held a conference in Ha Noi to review reports No 5 and 6 on the implementation of CEDAW in 2005. Ha Thi Khiet, chairwoman of the Viet Nam Women’s Union and of the NCAW, said the Prime Minister has appointed a NCAW delegation to attend the 37th meeting section of CEDAW in New York. Under UN regulation, once every four years each member country must present its reports to the UN general secretary and the CEDAW Committee to see what solutions the country has carried out to implement the convention.