InAsia: Christiane Amanpour Weighs In on #MeToo; Thai Elections; Pakistan’s Women Judges

Share this email: March 27, 2019 New Faces, New Chapter in Thai Politics  Photo: Shutterstock By Thomas Parks Thailand's March 24 parliamentary election is still playing out, and uncertainty about the results is likely to continue for weeks. A critical stage of the process is now beginning, as the two largest parties pursue rival efforts to form a governing coalition. Probably the most exciting aspect of this election was the emergence of new faces and new parties. The new Future Forward Party was a breakaway success, with nearly 6 million votes and 87 seats making them the third-largest party. In the Muslim-majority Deep South, the Prachachat Party won six of 11 seats, and there is some optimism that this new party will change the trajectory of conflict in the region.   The people associated with the red-shirt and yellow-shirt protests of the past decade fared much worse than in previous elections, and the signs are hopeful that the massive street protests of the red vs. yellow era may be relegated to history. ...read more Meet One of Pakistan's Rare Women Judges By Abbas Hussain The law is an overwhelmingly male profession in Pakistan. While women are now a significant presence in the nation's law schools, female lawyers are rare, and judges even rarer. The patriarchal culture that prevails in the country generally deems women "unsuited" for the rough and tumble of legal practice, and they are routinely discouraged, in ways both subtle and overt, from joining the profession. But with determination and persistence, a few women have broken the mold. Shazia Kausar is a judge, and a woman, in Punjab's Okara district who has defied the gender stereotypes. Her swift ascent in her chosen profession has set an encouraging example for other women in the law. ...read more Christiane  Amanpour Tells Us Why It's Crucial to Shine a Light on Gender Inequality Every Day On April 3 in New York City, The Asia Foundation's Lotus Circle will honor celebrated journalist Christiane Amanpour and pioneering social enterprise Safetipin with its annual Lotus Leadership Award. Safetipin is a smartphone app that assesses the safety of public spaces in real time and generates a safety score for specific areas. Conceived at a moment of international revulsion over the brutal, 2012 rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a New Delhi bus, it has been adopted by women in over 40 cities worldwide. In the West, the #MeToo movement has produced a stream of accounts of powerful men in politics, media, and business who have used their positions to harass, assault, and intimidate women. "Everyday assault and rape, at home, at school, at friends' homes, at parties, has been a way of life for women in the United States, Europe, and around the world for centuries, and we are still struggling to beat that phenomenon," says Amanpour. "The positive news is that, since the #MeToo outing, there's been a huge and public accountability curve for men behaving badly."...read more Missed a recent article? Visit The Blog

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