Letter From the Editors

In late 2017, the #MeToo movement brought issues surrounding sexual harrassment and abuse into the global spotlight. Across the Asia-Pacific, women marched, organized, and spoke out to demand their rights. Five years later, have things improved for women in Asia?

We approached that question by asking four authors to address the current state of women’s rights – and the women’s rights movement – within four very different countries, in terms of geographic location, culture, and political systems: China, India, Kazakhstan, and Papua New Guinea. The consensus is that the trajectory of women’s rights defies an easy explanation. Women still face violence both literal (domestic and sexual abuse, for example) and structural (a lack of political representation and gender pay gaps). But at the same time, increased conversations about these issues – thanks to committed activists on the ground – offer glimmers of hope.

Speaking of hope, Indonesia had big dreams for its 2022 stint leading the G-20. But as the annual summit approaches later this month, and Jakarta’s presidency comes to an end, it’s clear those ambitions have been complicated. Shafiah F. Muhibat, deputy executive director for research at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Indonesia, writes that with international diplomacy hampered by Russia’s war in Ukraine, the G-20 summit could fail. Few will blame Indonesia if it does, but it would be a shame: There is so much for the world’s top economies to discuss and confront, from the food crisis to the global economic downturn.

Next we turn to Pakistan, which has a chief problem – literally. As Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, a Pakistan-based correspondent for The Diplomat, writes, the entirety of Pakistan’s politics, including its conflicts and paradoxes, is wrapped up in the question of who the next chief of army staff will be. General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s term comes to an end this month and much depends on who succeeds him in the post, and where that man’s favor falls.

Finally, we take a closer look at Laos, one of a number of developing countries facing potential default amid the economic stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Laos’ economic woes are often blamed on China, the country’s biggest lender. But as co-authors Kearrin Sims of James Cook University and Emma Luce Scali of Birmingham City University explain, Beijing is far from the only culprit – and Laos’ economic problems are far from unique. Instead, the country’s economic vulnerabilities “are inherent to the growth-centric agendas that have guided much international development efforts from the mid-1980s onward.”

We hope you enjoy these stories and the many more in the following pages.