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In recent decades, the role of digital communication in the lives of migrants in Asia has greatly expanded, becoming integral to the decision to migrate, earning a living, and the practice of keeping in touch with left-behind families and friends. The papers in this Special Issue foreground how gender structures and practices within migrant households and the wider political economy shape migrants' digital communications. They expand the breadth of our thinking about the interlinkages among gender, migration and digital communication from a range of new subject positions including transnational families, international students, and marginalized minorities in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper serves as an introduction to the three substantive papers in this themed section on the impact of migration on the well-being of the ‘left behind’ in Asia. In the light of recent migration trends such as the ‘feminization’ of migration and ‘brain-drain’ of health workers in the region, the paper provides a brief review of the existing scholarly literature on the vulnerability of different groups of the 'left behind’, particularly women, children and the elderly. It argues that a multi-dimensional approach is needed, taking into consideration not only the economic impact of remittances but also factors such as social networks and gender effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major paradigms of the development discourse have recently incorporated the language of rights. To move from the rhetoric of human rights to concretely elaborate the content of rights for informal workers, particularly women, in Asia is the purpose of this paper. Using a rights-based approach to development, the paper takes up the issue of gender-enabling worker rights in the context of developing economies that are increasingly open to external influences. A matrix of rights consisting of the right to work, broadly defined, safe work, minimum income and social security are identified as core issues for informal workers. Further, we focus attention on four specific groups of informal workers: self-employed independent producers and service workers, self-employed street vendors, dependent producers such as homeworkers and outworkers, and dependent wageworkers. Gender-sensitive micro-economic and macro-economic and social polices are identified for each of these segments of the informal workers. The access to economic, market and social reproduction needs are to be addressed simultaneously to ensure the basic matrix of rights for women informal workers in developing countries. Each of the needs of the workers have to be viewed as a right and a system of institutions or mechanisms that will help to bring these rights to the center of policy have to be worked out. The claim of women and informal workers for a voice in the macro policy decisions through representation at the local, national and international levels is at the heart of the rights-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrimination towards females – a trait of regional demography so far deemed unique to Asian countries – has inspired historians to revisit demographic series to look for instances of gender imbalances within Europe. In this paper, we show why a proper appreciation of Europe's experience of gender discrimination in the past may help us to understand the future of contemporary sex selection throughout Asia. We stress in particular how the demographic discrimination of females appeared to have vanished during the 20th century from all areas where it was reported earlier. We examine the main factors that may explain the gradual disappearance of the 'missing girls' from Europe. We finally discuss the best ways to identify the potential micro- or macro-mechanisms accounting for the transformations observed in Europe, using, in particular, the distinct trajectories of countries in Southeastern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution examines the relationship between socioeconomic development, corruption, the level of democracy, and women's parliamentary representation in contemporary Asia. Previous studies have argued economic development offers women new opportunities and resources to participate in politics. Despite some notable gains in gender equality through this process, prosperous Asian nations perform poorly compared to other world regions in terms of women's parliamentary representation. Using an emerging method of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) on a dataset of 47 Asian nations, this research suggests the level of women's presence in legislatures throughout Asia is a result of multiple configurations of conditions beyond simply one or two explanatory variables. In contrast to the expectations of modernisation theory, this paper finds that national economic variables do not account effectively for the level of women's political representation in Asia. Furthermore, countries with predominantly Muslim populations can still elect more women if other conditions are supportive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives an overview on international marriage in East and Southeast Asia. It first reviews the available data on the incidence and trends of transnational marriage. It then discusses the factors generally cited as contributing to the rising incidence of international marriage in the region: the increased mobility of population, particularly with respect to tourism, business travel, short-term employment and international study; and marriage market issues in a number of countries of the region, leading to deliberate and targeted search for spouses in other countries. It also reviews the types of international marriages in the region, including the national, ethnic and social characteristics of spouses in such marriages. Finally, it discusses the issues and problems covered and not (or inadequately) covered in the literature of international marriage in East and Southeast Asia in relation to the questions of rights and of the boundaries and sovereignty of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on ongoing research into the use of Japanese cute (kawaii) character customisation of mobile phones in the Asia-Pacific region. Far from illustrating a form of homogeneous Japanisation in the region, consumers are using kawaii customisation in diverse ways to articulate practices of interiority and exteriority, cultural capital and habitus. The dominance of cute character culture (‘cuteness’ or kawairashisa) as the mode for customising/personalising technologies such as mobile phones is very particular to this region. So what does this form of ‘humanising’ the dehumanised technological spaces say about local nuances and tendencies? How is kawairashisa being transformed through its appropriation outside mobile phones (in the form of hanging doll-like forms) and inside the telephonic and net spaces via ‘email pets’, as the region moves into 3G (third generation) mobile net telephony? And why has there been so little work into analysing cultural adaptations of kawairashisa outside Japan despite its apparent ubiquity? In his seminal work on Japanese global cultural production, Koichi Iwabuchi evokes the notion of Japaneseness as being ‘odourless’ (2002). This paper revises the notion of ‘odourlessness’ Japanese global products in relation to the use of kawairashisa adornments inside and outside mobile net telephonic spaces. By sketching some of the ways in which the kawaii has been theorised and the current research into mobile telephony, this paper seeks to outline a framework for understanding the ubiquitous phenomenon of mobile customisation that is still relatively under-theorised and under-researched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across Asia, the pursuit of national and global capital accumulation has relied on flexible, feminised work forces and patriarchal models of social reproduction. These gendered patterns of production and reproduction, while central to Asia's neoliberal 'miracle' economies, have also generated powerful discourses that devalue women and their work. Drawing on case studies from across the region, this paper examines the links between these globalising dynamics and provocative local depictions of Asian women as active, desiring, and immoral. These 'gendered morality tales' reveal the complex cultural and ideological work that sustains neoliberal models of national economic development. At the same time, these moralising narratives offer insight into the localised negotiations through which marginalised and gendered citizens confront their subordination within the region's hierarchically ordered political economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) among young people, identifying intersecting factors that create inequities in access to services, health-seeking behaviour, and ultimately health outcomes. Based on qualitative interviews with young people in the Maldives, it demonstrates how these intersectional experiences are contrary to what is often assumed in official data, policies, and services. Three factors were found to shape young people's experiences: marital status, gender, and urban/rural differences. Non-marital sexual activity is illegal in the Maldives, but it is somewhat expected of unmarried men, while unmarried women are stigmatised for being sexually active. Although access to SRH services is restricted for all unmarried people, young women face additional difficulties, as the risk of being exposed is much greater in small island communities. Maldivian island communities are extremely small and characterised by an inward-looking culture that exerts considerable social pressure, particularly on unmarried women. For an unmarried woman, being known to be sexually active, or worse, pregnant outside of marriage, has severe social consequences including stigma and isolation from the community, and their own family. This concern is more prevalent among rural young women, as they live in smaller communities where stigma is inescapable. The need to avoid public scrutiny and humiliation contributes to making unsafe abortion a common solution for many unintended pregnancies. Failure to acknowledge these intersecting factors in SRHR experience and access has led to inequities among an already overlooked population, shaping their experiences, knowledge, health-seeking behaviour, and health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by discussing why gender equality is a necessary condition for economic transformation in the current phase of development. It argues that economic transformation in developing countries will be determined to a greater extent by gender equality than was the case in an earlier phase of transformation in the nineteenth century in non-industrialized countries. This is because gender equality is central to hastening the demographic transition. It goes on to show that the human development status of women in most East and Southeast Asian countries has also hastened that demographic transition. But then it also examines the surviving forms of gender discrimination all over Asia and finds that in South Asia gender discrimination is most severe. These surviving forms of gender discrimination have shown themselves in an adverse sex ratio as well as political non-representation throughout most of the region - most severely in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we draw on feminist and post-colonial theory to situate an account of a six-month therapy between a black, Asian woman therapist and a woman patient of mixed parentage, within contemporary Britain. We draw on this analysis to further the debates between psychotherapeutics and social theory, challenging each in three ways. First, in relation to the literature on culture, class, gender and sexuality in psychotherapy, we indicate how these enter into the therapeutic relation in distinct and intersecting ways, which, second, challenge the separation between inner and outer worlds frequently maintained within psychotherapy circles. Third, in terms of the correlative challenge psychotherapeutic perspectives pose for social theorists and activists, we highlight how the therapist's constructive and explicit use of her power and socio-cultural position was central to the progress of this client's therapy. Finally, we reflect on the broader questions around the theorizing of culture and gender within psychotherapy, including the available positions and representations of black therapists as well as black patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Absent from the important debate on the determinants of rapid Asian growth is the role of gender inequality. This paper argues that gender wage inequality has stimulated growth, with Asian economies that disadvantaged women the most growing the fastest from 1975 to 1990. Low female wages have spurred investment and exports by lowering unit labor costs, providing the foreign exchange to purchase capital and intermediate goods which raise productivity and growth rates. These results contrast with recent studies that argue income equality at the household level contributed favorably to Asian growth by reducing political conflict. The divergent findings can be explained by the fact that gender norms and stereotypes that convince women to accept their low status curb labor and political unrest, stimulating investment. The results indicate that which group bears the burden of inequality in the process of economic growth matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognising the need to expand research on intimate labour beyond the predominant focus on intimate occupations in which low-waged migrant workers are often engaged, we highlight in our editorial the processes and exchanges taking place in the provisioning of intimate work. We juxtapose existing research with the articles in this themed section to engender a deeper understanding of how intimate practices and relations are mediated by the orderings of power, gender and class. By examining the nature, conditions and obligations of intimate exchanges within domestic and public spheres located in both urban and rural contexts, the editorial further emphasizes the interplay of power and global neoliberal conditions in (re)producing uneven intimate exchanges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the rise of tourism in Asia, a growing female travel market has been observed in the region. Nevertheless, limited research has considered the travel experience of Asian women. In response to the dearth of research on Asian female travellers, this study employs a narrative synthesis approach through a postcolonial feminist lens to review the extant literature on Asian female travellers, with the aim to contribute to a cultural understanding of the historical and contemporary travel practices of Asian women. Based on this review, it is evident that Asian women’s travel behaviour is influenced by cultural identities and gender stereotypes. However, existing literature has also demonstrated the agency of Asian women in resisting discriminatory gender practices in tourism, which is represented in the transformation of the identity of Asian female travellers. Accordingly, an agenda for future research is proposed and some implications for the industry are discussed. This study addresses the western-centric and androcentric criticisms in tourism field and provides an alternative reading of women’s travel behaviour from an Asian perspective. This study has contributed to the critical tourism scholarship in Asia and has built an important foundation for future research on Asian female travellers, an area that is not well investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Articles in this special issue probe the relationships between strategies for upward socio-economic mobility and intergenerational aspirations in Asia. With capitalism, urbanisation, mass media, education and migration increasing throughout Asia, now is a time of flux in opportunities and subjectivities. Such changes are lived as deeply personal and relational. Young people are often instrumental to familial 'development' strategies, and this effects divisions of labour, norms of moral economy, life course ideals and distributions of power. At the same time, media, education and development discourses often exhort people to author autonomous destinies through entrepreneurialism, career and consumerism. Contributors to this issue, 'Development, Gender and Intergenerational Aspirations in Asia', ethnographically explore how old and new dreams—some emphasising autonomy, while others stress familial obligation—conjoin, elide and compete, and how people negotiate associated life course expectations. We also show how dreams find limits, requiring redreaming and rerouting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research uptake is achieved when research findings are translated into meaningful change in capacity to understand development problems, policies and practice, and funding streams. While there is consensus among those working to prevent violence against women and girls that this is essential, relatively little guidance exists on how to achieve this. We reflect on RU approaches used by the What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls Programme and the dilemmas encountered and navigated. We recommend a nimble and flexible approach, incrementally unfolded; guided by a theory of change, evolving key messages; underpinned by comprehensive communications and capacity development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth have long been involved in informal peacebuilding, and the United Nations' recent adoption of the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda makes space for more formal involvement. These policy developments echo scholarship highlighting gender as crucial to understanding the roles and experiences of young people across a range of conflict-affected settings. This understanding is necessary to ensuring gender-equitable youth peacebuilding efforts. Yet much remains to be done in theory, policy, and practice to pursue these ends. This work will necessarily involve considering the diverse roles gender may play in young people's everyday experiences of peacebuilding across a range of settings. The majority of the world's young people reside in Asia and the Pacific. Yet, more research on YPS is needed in the region, particularly when it comes to accounting for gender. Reflecting on existing research, this article considers learnings to date and seeks to develop a future research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Test preparation has been shown to affect educational test scores to varying degrees. In language testing, however, there are no cross-regional studies that consider the effects of gender and age on test preparation practices. This study represents an attempt to remedy this situation. Questionnaire respondents to a global survey were tasked with indicating their preferences for test support activities by rank ordering twelve options identified by the research team. Respondents were then grouped into three geographical areas: East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Central and South America. Results of Principal Components Analysis indicated that there does not appear to be a hugely different approach or preference to test preparation across the globe. While there are some differences in how important the different elements are seen in different regions, it is likely that similar preparation materials and strategies will be applicable regardless of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market-oriented agricultural intensification is a major development strategy, yet its alignment with sustainable development goals (SDGs) is unclear. We apply indicators for SDG 2 (eradicate hunger) regarding income, food production, food security and land tenure to recent intensifications in Rwanda and Laos to reveal their disaggregated impacts. We find while market-oriented intensification may generate poverty reduction, it also exacerbated marginalisation and poverty through various forms of land tenure insecurity. Ethnicity and gender were influential factors in Rwanda, and post-conflict resettlement policies in Laos. We discuss implications for development practice and selection of suitable indicators to reflect the ambition of the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Suicide ideation is a health issue affecting adolescents worldwide. There are significant variations in suicide ideation between countries and genders, which have not been fully explained. Research is especially lacking in countries outside Europe and North America. Gender equality has been shown to matter in other aspects of adolescent mental health, such as life satisfaction, but has not been researched in relation to suicide ideation at national level. Objective: To investigate how national gender inequality is related to self-reported suicide ideation among adolescents, and whether this association differs between boys and girls. Methods: This is a cross-national, cross-sectional study using individual survey data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey, a survey in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the South Pacific, developed and supported by among others the WHO and the CDC; connecting this to national data: the gender inequality index from the UNDP; controlling for GDP per capita and secondary school enrolment. The data was analysed using a multilevel logistic regression method and included 149,306 students from 37 countries. Results: Higher national gender inequality, as measured by the gender inequality index, was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of suicide ideation in both girls and boys (odds ratio: 1.38 p-value: 0.015), but for girls and both sexes this was only after adjusting for selection bias due to secondary school enrolment (as well as GDP/capita). Interaction models showed that this association was stronger in boys than in girls. Conclusions: National gender inequality seems to be associated with higher levels of suicide ideation among adolescents in mainly low- and middle-income countries, especially among boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we explore the recent trends in global marketing, gender and family entrepreneurship in Asia. Taking into account previous contributions, this article aims to provide a better portrait about research on global marketing, gender and family entrepreneurship in Asian countries and future directions. The article presents a few comparative analyses for Asian countries in terms of gender representation in the entrepreneurship sector in recent years as well as the succession in larger family businesses in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to describe the deleterious impact of higher educational changes affecting female faculty members working in Tajik universities in the post-Soviet era. Over the past two decades, the social and economic position women gained during Soviet times has significantly eroded, bringing enormous challenges to education and higher education access, completion and staffing. The demographic and cultural marginalization of women here has negatively impacted university teaching opportunities and the status of women faculty members. Ethnographic interviews – along with relevant secondary data – reveal that despite various official gender-equity policies announced by the state, female participation issues remain prominent in the university. Our interviewees also report continued difficulty entering higher faculty ranks and leadership positions in university. However, significant numbers of women are still to be found there, and they report a workable compromise between being professional educators and trying to navigate a local culture that is becoming more ‘traditional’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Studies on gender and migration have focused on how and why men and women migrate. While women often migrate for family reunification, they increasingly do so for their own work and economic opportunities. Studies on women’s migration flows are rare; those that exist neglect increasingly prominent migration dynamics within Global South. Addressing this gap, we map understudied women’s migration flows within Asian sub-regions from 1960–2000. Building on qualitative studies, we consider what these quantitative flows suggest about women’s migration, and their involvement in reproductive labor–care, domestic, and entertainment work, and marriage migration–in the context of bilateral migration policies. We find high volume flows, even if not feminized, are directed primarily from countries in South and Southeast Asia to countries in West Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. We find strong evidence that within Asia, transnational migration has become increasingly feminized and diversified since the 1960s. Variations in women’s migration flows, among countries and over time, suggest a growing demand for women migrants. Mapping these regional flows provides a more comprehensive understanding of women’s migration within the Global South. Our findings reaffirm, complicate, and deepen accounts about labor exportation and migration policies that support a transnational reproductive labor economy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Progress in education in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban has been described as ‘fragile, limited in reach, depth and uncertainty of sustainability' [UNICEF. 2013.Basic Education and Gender Equality: Afghanistan. United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.http://www.unicef.org/afghanistan/education_2206.htm]. This is particularly true for Afghan women participating in higher education, within a culture that remains resistant to women's education. This article documents the views and attitudes of Afghan women who have sought to gain a higher education, within a context where only 5% of the Afghan population attends university, and less than 20% of university students are female [The World Bank. 2013. World Development Indicators: Poverty Headcount Ratio at National Poverty Lines.The World Bank Group. http://data.worldbank.org/country/afghanistan]. It is an attempt to listen to the voices of Afghan women to ascertain what they see as the best ways to improve their educational outcomes. Findings illustrate that while progress has been made in enabling a small percentage of women to pursue higher education, there are still significant and enduring obstacles for Afghan women seeking such a path. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Large-scale land deals have attracted much attention from media and policymakers, and several international initiatives are attempting to regulate and address the impacts of such deals. Little attention has been paid to the gendered implications of such deals in the literature, and most regulatory initiatives do not address gender adequately. To fill this gap, this contribution identifies implications of land deals for women and recommends measures to mitigate negative impacts. It reviews evidence from four case studies commissioned for the International Land Coalition (ILC)Global Study of Commercial Pressures on Land conducted in 2010. The evidence is analyzed within a framework that posits women's vulnerability to land deals as due to four dimensions of underlying discrimination. This study analyzes three of these dimensions in depth, arguing that women are likely to be affected differently by land deals and disproportionately more likely to be negatively affected than men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay provides a comparative reading of the female protagonists in two action films from Korea (My Wife is a Gangster) and Thailand (Chocolate), focusing on how representations of their fighting abilities and non-feminine behavior rework dominant masculine discourses of bodily and national authenticity in action cinema. The first half of the essay looks at how Eun-jin, the heroine of MWG, humorously critiques cinematic Korean ‘soft’ femininity and ‘hard’ masculinity, the latter itself a transnational hybrid of indigenous codes of manhood and those invoked in the action films of Hong Kong, Japan and the USA. It then proceeds to consider how the cultural and ontological hybridity of heroine Zen in Chocolate and her lack of conflict with a foreign other likewise revises existing notions of national masculinity in Thai action cinema. The essay shows how both protagonists diverge from conventional representations of fighting women insofar as their sexuality is not emphasized but rather parodied or elided. It argues that the films ultimately celebrate the heroines' proficiency at mimicking Korean and Thai forms of masculinity. In the process, the essay critiques the idea that aesthetic imitation is linked to cultural inauthenticity – an idea that has characterized the nationalist discourses of the postcolonial West and the anticolonial non-West – and suggests unpacking this notion of masculine mimicry to expand existing theoretical frameworks for understanding popular images of physically aggressive, ‘masculine’ women on screen. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present article explores an Asiacentric framework as an alternative for theorising and researching Asian women's rights and welfare. The article first problematises the hegemony of Eurocentric discourse in feminist movements around the world. It offers a critique of the individualist and rights bias in the Eurocentric conception of gender equality. The article then proposes an Asiacentric feminism that negotiates a centre for Asian women in conceiving a project for female flourishing and gender egalitarianism that is rooted in the experiences and the particularly cultural and historical situations of Asian women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in many countries in Asia, families in Indonesia are experiencing substantial change as new patterns of marriage emerge. Currently, a significant number of adults are ignoring the traditional standards for men's and women's appropriate marriage ages. Utilizing Indonesian censuses data for various years and in-depth interviews with 35 never-married women, this study describes the trends and patterns of singlehood among adults in Yogyakarta and Medan. It also explores the lifestyles of single women, including the process of remaining single, views toward marriage and how they cope with the social stigma of being single. The data show that the proportion single among women aged 30-49 increased sharply over three decades. As a consequence, the median age at marriage for females rose between 1970 and 2000 from 24.4 to 27.4 in Yogyakarta and from 23.2 to 26.1 in Medan. Most women agreed that marriage remains an ideal norm, but it does not mean that being single can not result in a satisfied and happy life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]