Japan allows divorced couples to negotiate joint custody of children for first time Critics say that joint arrangements could allow an abusive former spouse to exploit greater access to continue abusing their former partner or child.

I estimate there are at least several tens of thousands of people at the anti-war protest happening in Tokyo right now. I've never seen a demonstration this large here.

When racialized people dare to disagree with white colleagues, the BIPOC often gets labelled as problematic. This is all too common for BIPOCs working in white-dominant spaces. If folks have resources on explaining "racialized aggressor" & "white victim" in the workplace, please send them my way.

Women’s Day, Minus the Women On the eve of International Women's Day, China shut down at least 10 WeChat accounts devoted to feminism, gender rights, and sexual minority communities — part of a widening censorship campaign tied to Beijing's push to reverse a record-low birth rate.

India’s Govt Wants to Turn Trans Rights Law into Trans Persecution Law; Queer Groups Prepare to Fight Back A contentious amendment bill threatens to scrap self-determination of gender, impose medical scrutiny, and criminalise trans communities in India.

Bra checks, exams and a ghost: How a Singapore director turned her school years into an award-winning film Tan Siyou wasn’t sure her deeply personal film would resonate beyond Singapore. But "Amoeba" went on to screen at festivals worldwide and win multiple awards.

A Japanese single mother turns to free AI for legal help in finding her son's father Japanese single mother Rika (a pseudonym) is suing to compel her son's father to admit paternity -- not with a lawyer's help, but with the guidance of a free generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.

A Japanese single mother turns to free AI for legal help in finding her son's father Japanese single mother Rika (a pseudonym) is suing to compel her son's father to admit paternity -- not with a lawyer's help, but with the guidance of a free generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.

One Weird Trick for Being a Better Man When a man is with other men, why does he lose his moral compass so reliably?

Exposing a global ‘rape academy’ In shocking group chats, men encourage one another to drug and assault their wives – and swap tips on getting away with it.

96 child abuse deaths in S Korea in 5 years, most involving parents Nearly 100 children in South Korea died from abuse over the past five years, most at the hands of their own parents, according to police data covering tens of thousands of reported cases nationwide.

Japan faces record high stalking investigations in 2025 Japanese police investigated 3,717 stalking-related cases in 2025, the highest number since a law criminalizing the act took effect in 2000, according to police data.

Feeling drained? 8 types of hidden work cause women to feel overwhelmed Many women find themselves grappling with an invisible yet overwhelming burden known as the mental load, the often unrecognised mental work required to keep a household and family life functioning.

‘Wouldn’t life be easier if I were white?’: inside a provocative race-swap body In director Amy Wang’s debut movie Slanted, a mysterious procedure allows people of colour to become white, speaking to her own difficult feelings as a teen.

Why Men Who Don’t Do Chores Will Have Sons Who Bully A global study of over 50,000 adolescents reveals an unexpected link between household chores and aggressive behavior at school. www.sixthtone.com/news/1018288

'No-one will hire women' - India's top court rejects menstrual leave petition The two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant said mandatory leave would make young women think they were "not at par" with their male colleagues and would be "harmful for their growth".

Iran women’s football team feted in Tehran after asylum battle at Asian Cup Iran’s national football team returned to their war-torn nation after several of the players sought asylum in Australia.

JAL Group allows sneakers for 14,000 workers, citing better working comfort Flight attendants & ground staff have long suffered from foot fatigue & swelling from constant standing. Now, Japan's airline industry is undergoing a transformation, driven by a focus on comfort & diversity in the workplace

South Korean President Lee orders stronger protections after stalking victim’s murder Criticism mounted that authorities had failed to properly protect the victim despite multiple warning signs before a fatal stabbing in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province.

Nepal welcomes first transgender lawmaker Nepal's Election Commission confirmed LGBTQ rights advocate Bhumika Shrestha as an MP from the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which won a majority in parliament.

Singaporean man fails to get half of flat in divorce as court finds ex-wife was both breadwinner and homemaker The judge found that the wife had shouldered the burden of being the primary breadwinner, homemaker and caregiver in an "extraordinary imbalance".

Fatherless Country? Rethinking Fatherhood in Contemporary Indonesia New research suggests some fathers are coming together to reconstruct their roles, support gender equality and change understandings of masculinity in Indonesia.

Unsafe Abortion Kills, Harms Thousands of Filipino Women but Safe Abortion Website Blocked in Philippines Women on Web’s online service was censored in the Philippines in early December 2025, leaving thousands without access to critical abortion information and care.

"Many of the women stayed silent for decades, both out of shame and for fear of tarnishing the image of a man who has become the face of the Latino civil rights movement." This is, unfortunately, common in my experience of working in advocacy.

Civil Rights icon, @doloreshuerta, made a brave move today, revealing a secret she had been holding for 60 years for the sake of the Farm Workers movement. You can read her letter here: medium.com/@dolores_hue...

When you think you're a liberator of your people and you're also sexually abusing women and girls from among those people you're demonstrating that you have trouble recognizing them as people. (And that is way too common.)

Teachers say the impact of the "manosphere" on the classroom has been getting worse. Female teachers are being subjected to anti-feminist hand gestures, coded messages and intimidating behaviours at school.

Japanese publisher faces backlash for hiring abusive manga authors Publishing giant Shogakukan Inc. is facing mounting criticism after hiring an author found civilly liable for sexually assaulting a former student, allowing him to publish new work under a different pen name.

A survey from Takumen asked women in Japan what would make them more likely to visit a ramen restaurant. About 60% said cleanliness matters most. Around 50% wanted a place where they could eat slowly without feeling rushed. buff.ly/e5kmUDQ

White supremacist content grips teens plotting attacks in Southeast Asia Police are grappling with a surge in teenagers plotting violence inspired by white supremacists, according to interviews with security officials in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Louis Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere exposes the business model of misogyny Misogyny does not require trauma to flourish. Sexist ideas are ideological and structural, with long-standing gender hierarchies repackaged and broadcast at scale.

Menaka Guruswamy’s Rise to Parliament Carries the Weight of Legal Contradictions Menaka Guruswamy is India’s first openly queer member of Parliament from the state of West Bengal. It is a good story. It is also a complicated one.

As modernist Islamic education flourished in late colonial West Sumatra, girls' schools emerged as dual sites of transformation, becoming training grounds for both anticolonial activism and a new generation of strong, devout Muslim women envisioned as shaping the future Indonesian nation-state.

A South Korean government-run research institute has found that gender discrimination remains the most common social risk factor for health among young women. www.koreaherald.com/article/1068...

Women in Taiwan had to work an average of 59 additional days last year to earn the same annual salary as men, one day more than in 2024, data released by the Ministry of Labor showed. www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...

Gen Z males twice as likely as baby boomers to believe wives should obey husbands Global survey shows young men and boys hold more traditional views about gender roles than older generations. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

AWARE’s new executive director Lim Shoon Yin reflects on the backlash against feminism and why work on gender equality in Singapore remains unfinished. The 50-year-old single mother of four draws on her own experiences to explain what feminism means to her.

Alysa Liu Isn’t Worried About What Comes After Olympic Gold “I would've been loving life outside of skating just as much," says Liu. "But yeah, I'm really happy with how my life is right now.”

Iraqi women’s rights activist Yanar Mohammed killing spurs call for justice Yanar Mohammed, 66, was killed earlier this week after unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire outside her home in the north of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/...

Taiwan director Tsou Shih-ching challenges gender norms in 'Left-Handed Girl' Superstitions can shape people's lives in subtle yet lasting ways. In her debut solo feature film, Tsou uses one such belief to examine gender roles and social expectations imposed on women in Taiwanese society.

Malaysian Deputy Minister Marhamah Rosli said that the government is opting to replace references to LGBT persons with the term “deviant culture.” The remarks represent a dangerous escalation of state-sponsored misinformation and hostility towards LGBT people.

I am a 15-year-old girl. Let me show you the vile misogyny that confronts me on social media every day Objectification, hate, rape threats: the politicians debating online abuse mean well, but to truly understand, they need to see what I see.

Bombay High Court Allows Child Raised by Single Mother to Drop Father’s Name In a significant judgment, Indian judges emphasised that recognising a single mother as a complete parent for determining a child’s civic identity is rooted in constitutional principles rather than sympathy.

Bhikshuni Lineage Restored in Bhutan 265 Tibetan Buddhist nuns took ordination vows in Thimpu. The event marks a great victory in the struggle for gender equality in Buddhist monastic communities.

At 85, South Korea’s oldest college graduate this year proves it’s never too late to learn Kim Jeong-ja received an associate degree in social welfare from Sookmyung Women’s University. Her 7 years of study began when she first picked up a pencil at age 78 to learn how to read and write.

Single women plan community home in Osaka to age together Their vision is simple but, in today’s Japan, still radical: if the kind of home they need does not exist, they will create it themselves.

Molestation cases on the rise in Singapore as physical crimes increase 4.4% in 2025 More than half of the molestation cases reported last year in Singapore involved offenders who are known to the victims.

New Taliban penal code puts husbands on par with ‘slave masters’ and legalises domestic violence A Kabul-based legal adviser says it is now ‘impossible for women to get any justice’ in the Taliban-run courts.

Malaysia blocks same-sex dating sites Grindr and Blued, mulls legal measures to curb LGBTQ+ dating apps www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysi...

The Japanese Justice Ministry is moving toward revising Japan's anti-prostitution law to punish the sex buyers, addressing a legal imbalance that has only targeted the sellers for 70 years, according to government sources.