Pew International Journalism Program

Women's Political Power Grows with Democratization, Asia Expert Says

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2000 -- Worldwide trends towards democracy are opening up unprecedented opportunities for women, a leading activist on women and politics told the Pew Fellows in International Journalism today.

Carol Yost, director of the Global Women in Politics Program at The Asia Foundation, said that democratization in all regions of the world has provided millions of previously oppressed women the chance to improve their political, economic and social status.

"You'll never put that genie back in the bottle," Yost said of gains made by women in countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and Indonesia where democratic gains have empowered women. The focus of the Asia Foundation's program is "increasing women's rights and status through political means," she said.

In Asia, Yost said much work remains to raise the status of women. "Nowhere in Asia do women have equality with men in all spheres," she said. In South Asia, for example, dowry deaths, disfigurement of women and trafficking remain enormous problems.

But Yost cited several examples of growing awareness of women's rights in several newly-democratized countries of Asia. In 1994, she recalled, Mongolian women did not even have a term or a concept for domestic violence. After learning of the existence of worldwide programs focused on the issue, one Mongolian woman told Yost that "bothering your wife" had long been a real but vaguely-defined problem when "men drink vodka and beat up their wives."

In Thailand, women are becoming increasingly active in politics, previously a profession that had no women at high levels, Yost said. Thai women began issuing a "Gender Watch" newsletter informing women about what the politicians were doing. A follow-up campaign of post cards and press conferences forced Thai political parties to publicly define their positions on women's issues for the first time. A new Thai constitution has been written to guarantee women's rights.

Even in Asian countries with well-established democracies, such as Japan, new conditions are enabling women to play more prominent political roles, Yost said. The financial crisis in Japan has "forced more women into the job market," and has encouraged many women to speak out on women's issues, such as domestic violence. "There's been a huge change in the social fabric of the society," Yost said.