Gender democracy

In an interview, Hong Kong activist Kaspar Wan talks about his experience of becoming a transman and the transgender rights movement in the city.

Interfaith relations and marriages are fairly common in a multicultural society such as India. Long history of shared neighbourhoods and women’s rights movements made such unions easier in the last few decades. However, religious majoritarianism and bigotry are posing unprecedented challenges to interfaith marriages and, most importantly, the agency of women.

Population policies should be devised within a reproductive justice framework as women’s bodies have been easily objectified and utilised for national development when maternity is only understood as a woman’s duty. South Korea’s current pronatalist approaches have failed to address the real issues of low fertility trend.

Change is all around us; experiencing it can be exciting or worrisome, confusing or even disturbing. By contrast, the idea of “transition” stands to provide a sense of direction, in a sea of change and insecurity. Change may be happening to us; a transition has direction, it can be planned, perhaps even be initiated. It moves into a positive, sustainable direction – or so we hope. The equivalent German term “Wende” and its numerous composite terms play a prominent role in the programme of the German Green and in the international work of Heinrich Böll Stiftung (hbs).

The Global Feminist Pitch is back to support feminists from Latin America, Asia, Africa, Middle East and (South) Eastern Europe. This year we are looking for ten feminists who will write on the topic of feminist mobilisation in their region. Apply now!

8 March is International Women’s Day. Dr Ruby Lai shares her viewpoints on abortion and reproductive rights in Hong Kong and East Asia.