Little fair for the fairer sex
South Asian women face discrimination at birth and even before, according to report published by a Pakistani-based, United Nations-linked think tank. 12-16-2000

Mock trial forces Japan to confront wartime past
A mock trial in the Japanese capital, which looks into sexual slavery used by Japanese troops during World War II, is putting public pressure on the country to look once again into its wartime record. 12-13-2000 

Russia on the verge of an Aids epidemic
An increasing number of Russians are falling prey to the HIV/Aids virus and Vadim Pokrovsky, director of the Institute for Preventing and Combating Aids, says Russia can no longer forestall the "Aids disaster" - because it is already happening. 12-5-2000

Religious backing boosts use of contraception
Efforts to promote emergency contraception pills in Indonesia met unexpected success when a major Islamic group in the world's fourth most populous nation agreed to stock these in its clinics. 12-5-2000 

India fails the Aids test
On the eve of World Aids Day December 1, the Indian government has claimed that the spread of HIV has been arrested in the country, but many refuse to believe this. 12-1-2000

Quickie Muslim divorces could be on the way out
Muslim husbands in India are to lose the option of getting rid of their wives by just saying the word "divorce" to them three times. Authorities are introducing a marriage contract which will make Muslim men more accountable, and give the divorced wife more rights including the matrimonial home. 11-11-2000

Ordinary folk battle against degradation of women
Consider what happened to "Kusuma" (not her real name), a 21-year-old woman living in rural Sri Lanka. She was assaulted and gang-raped by five men one October morning as she was on her way to work. 10-11-2000

Play tests Singapore's burgeoning freedom
Singapore's newfound commitment to artistic freedom is being tested in a battle between a Singaporean playwright and the government over the staging of a play on Muslim women and divorce. 11-10-2000 

Bangkok urged to focus on HIV/Aids among drug users
Thailand's Aids control program is a model for developing nations, but the country should reverse sharp cuts in spending to fight the pandemic and shed legal inhibitions in tackling it, the World Bank said here Friday. 11-7-2000 

Thai women under debt bondage in Japan
Thousands of Thai women suffer debt bondage and "slavery-like conditions" in Japan where they are trafficked into the country's sex industry, according to a new report released here Thursday by a major US human rights group. 9-21-2000 

India's women continue to tread water
Women have led many ground breaking social and economic movements in India. Yet despite their contribution to Indian society, women continue to be denied due recognition as they are kept in their place by a mindset which once sustained apartheid in South Africa, say activists. 9-14-2000

Caught between here, there, and nowhere
It's not a shortage of eligible grooms, but an acute accommodation problem that's the reason behind a large number of women remaining single in the cramped refugee camps for Pakistani nationals in Bangladesh. 3-21-2000

India, Bangladesh read warning signs for AIDs explosion
The high levels of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) prevalent in India and Bangladesh could signal an HIV/AIDS explosion in the South Asia region, says Peter Piot, executive director, UNAIDS. 3-9-2000

Bangladeshi sex workers demand end to police harassment
Sex workers in Bangladesh Monday staged demonstrations to demand rights recognition and an end to police harassment. Some 50 people gathered in front of the Press Club in this southeastern port city carrying banners that read "Stop repression and torture" and "Rehabilitate us, we want our rights". 3-3-2000

Breaking the silence
"I do not look upon myself as a savior or an outstanding person. I feel I do what I can do, for a society and country that have given me so much by making me a privileged person," says Dr Ambreen Ahmad, child psychiatrist. 3-2-2000

Portrait of a Malaysian activist
Visitors to her home are greeted by a poster that reads, "I have a dream". The words of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King are an inspiration to Malaysian rights activist, Irene Fernandez. 2-10-2000 

New Japanese anti-porn law aims at child sex trade
Naked women may still greet magazine readers as they head home from work on the subway, but Japan hopes a new pornography and child prostitution law will help it lose its image as one of Asia's most licentious capitals. 1-28-2000

Muslim women reshape Islam's gender lens
Former Indonesian first lady Sinta Nuriyah Wahid was once quoted as saying that unfortunately, women are seen as being lower than the lowest of slaves when it comes to the rights and responsibilities of spouses as defined for Muslims in her country. 1-4-2000 

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