“They want our daughters and granddaughters to have zero information about their bodies and sex, no ability to protect themselves from pregnancy, limited choices for an intellectual and professional life, and—once our girls have been corralled into early marriages—few opportunities to leave.”

China cracks down on anti-marriage social media content during Lunar New Year holiday The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) listed “inciting gender antagonism and exaggerating ‘fear of marriage’ and ‘anxiety about childbirth'” as primary examples. hongkongfp.com/2026/02/13/c...

Transwoman in Malaysia to be taken to court for undergoing gender reassignment surgery According to queer human rights group Justice for Sisters, this is the first ever case of its kind since the Kelantan law was penned in 2020 & that Kelantan is the only state in Malaysia which has this provision.

Expand assisted reproductive services to unmarried women, Hong Kong lawmaker says amid record low births In Hong Kong, assisted reproductive services, such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF), are restricted to heterosexual married couples.

LGBT organisations navigate Indonesia’s two homophobias Despite the widely-covered crackdown since 2016, Indonesian official homophobia is not monolithic. One homophobia aims to eradicate ‘deviant’ sexualities, but another paternalistically casts queer people as victims.

Pushed to margins, women vanish from Bangladesh's political arena Despite helping to spearhead the uprising that led to the upcoming Bangladeshi elections, women are poised to be largely excluded from the South Asian country's political arena.

‘In the end, you feel blank’: India’s female workers watching hours of abusive content to train AI Women in rural communities describe trauma of moderating violent and pornographic content for global tech companies. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

‘We had sex in a Chinese hotel, then found we had been broadcast to thousands’ Thousands of recent spy-cam videos have been found filmed in hotel rooms and sold as porn, on multiple sites. Much of the material is advertised on the messaging and social media app Telegram.

How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo The emails show the “anti-woke” crusaders are afraid of accountability.

Japan’s conservative leader bets big on Takaichi mania with snap election. Will her gamble pay off? Since taking power in October, the motorbike-riding heavy metal drummer with a savvy social media game has shaken the dust off the traditional male-dominated image of Japanese politics.

Despite recognising the pitfalls of AI, young adults and children across South Asia continue to use it for emotional, academic, and professional support. But experts worry that without sufficient guardrails, this reliance could have a negative impact. www.asiandispatch.net/why-are-chil...

Seats Without Sway: Women in Indonesia’s Parliament Women’s presence in Indonesia’s parliament still falls short of the 30 per cent quota. They are also underrepresented in parliamentary bodies handling strategic issues and in their leadership ranks.

Taiwanese women spent more than three hours per day on average providing unpaid care in 2024, only slightly less than five years before, with married and partnered women doing more housework than others, Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) data showed. www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...

Despite recognising the pitfalls of AI, young adults and children across South Asia continue to use it for emotional, academic, and professional support. But experts worry that without sufficient guardrails, this reliance could have a negative impact.

Candidates for Feb. poll divided over different surname system in Japan 47.8% said married couples should be allowed the option to keep different surnames, 45.1% backed a single legal surname while allowing spouses to use their premarriage surnames more broadly in daily life.

Let's please make this a cultural norm in the US!

the only reason i changed my name when i got married is because my husband **insisted** i do it to prove my commitment. im now finally divorcing and changing it back. don't ignore the red flags, y'all

Women taking their husband’s last names is still popular among heterosexual couples in the U.S. and the U.K. But in China, Vietnam, Korea, Ethiopia, and Senegal women keeping their last name after marriage isn’t a law, it’s a cultural norm.

‘She narrowly escaped three bullets’: Pakistan’s trans community shaken by attacks and killings A wave of violence has left transgender people afraid to go out, as experts say the global rise of far-right ideology is fuelling transphobia

A Rural Mother’s Unfiltered Rage Gives Chinese Comedy Its Edge By crafting punchlines from pain, breakout comedy star Fang Shaoli has tapped into the silent angst of many middle-aged Chinese women.

Lea Salonga's Perfect Advice if You Don't Want an LGBTQ+ Kid: "Don't Have Children" The Broadway icon has been a vocal advocate for and ally to her trans child Nic Chien.

S Korea moves to investigate Grok over sexually exploitative deepfake images The South Korean government is moving toward regulatory actions against Grok AI chatbot, following mounting concerns over its alleged involvement in generating and distributing sexually exploitative deepfake images.

Work stress may turn you gay: Malaysian religious minister Dr Zulkifli Hasan was responding to a written parliamentary question asking for updated LGBT data, including age groups, ethnic composition and main contributing factors. www.dailyexpress.com.my/news/274807/...

Work stress may turn you gay: Malaysian religious minister Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Zulkifli Hasan was responding to a written parliamentary question asking for updated LGBT data, including age groups, ethnic composition and main contributing factors.

'Gray divorces' increasing in Japan; marriage dissolution filings peak in Dec-March Lawyer Naoko Hayashi says many middle-aged & older women seeking consultations express sentiments such as "I can't wait until my husband is dead" or "I don't want to die as his wife."

Filipino journalist Frenchie Cumpio found guilty of terror financing in verdict rights groups call ‘absurd’ Reporters Without Borders said the ruling against the 26-year-old journalist showed a ‘blatant disregard for press freedom’ in the Southeast Asian nation.

TikTok Star, 25, Found Beaten to Death in Thai Forest Ko Tin Zaw Htwe, a Myanmar social media star, maintained a following of over 947,000 on TikTok, where he shared lifestyle content and dancing videos.

‘I was warned my children would be ripped in half when we divorced. But I had no idea just how brutal custody cases can be’ Maternal care comes at a price when the law is involved. And all too often custody can be more a question of restraint than care.

Small private clinics driving female foeticide in Nepal Around 300 radiologists and 200 gynaecologists in urban clinics enable sex-selective abortions, experts say.

Consent on trial: How Pakistan’s courts are failing rape survivors As 2026 dawns, women in Pakistan are left grappling with a stark reality: rape, including marital rape, continues to be misinterpreted by judges in the country’s highest courts. www.dawn.com/news/1966003

Taiwan: Women’s group argues against surrogacy legalization The Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation said that “wombs should not be treated as tools or commodities.”

China is becoming more sexually liberal – if you are a man While sexual behaviour is liberalising in China, it is still closely influenced by traditional views, leaving women less liberated than men.

Study links anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry and economic instability The study highlighted family rejection as the most damaging form of LGBTQ-phobia on the wellbeing of those affected.

42% of women who leave jobs to care for family face lower pay on return More than two-fifths of women who interrupted their careers to raise children are paid less than before on their return to work, a report by a Seoul-affiliated think-tank said.

Grok AI misuse: Victims in Indonesia, Malaysia 'angry' and 'humiliated', but is banning the tool enough? Victims and experts say there is a need for stronger safeguards, clearer regulations and accountability.

China Drafts Rules to Regulate AI ‘Boyfriends’ and ‘Girlfriends’ The proposal would require platforms to monitor suicide risk, protect minors, restrict harmful content, and trigger human intervention in cases of distress.

Watched, scared and trapped in an Australian visa nightmare, Kiran is one of India’s ‘abandoned brides’ Kiran was left with her in-laws in an Indian village thousands of kilometres from her husband in Brisbane – but the CCTV was always watching her.

Dual income no kids: China’s birth-rate push sputters as couples stay child-free More young people have either sworn against having children at all or are putting it off for the next few years. Their reasons run the gamut from high child-rearing costs to career concerns.

Sexual harassment has officially become a criminal offence in Thailand following the enforcement of an amendment to the Criminal Code, which took effect on Dec 30. www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/gen...

In recent days, alongside a new wave of nationwide protests, videos have circulated widely on social media showing young Iranian women not only burning the ayatollah's portrait, but also using the flames to light their cigarettes. www.euronews.com/2026/01/10/p...

They Answered an Ad for Surrogates, and Found Themselves in a Nightmare Dozens of Thai women traveled 4,000 miles — only to be trapped by the dark side of the global fertility industry. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/m... Archive link: archive.is/bcdQ

‘I wasn’t allowed to study, but I will make sure no girl in this village hears those same words’ Health worker Naushaba Roonjho was ostracised by her family in Pakistan for wanting to work but now she is campaigning for political office.

South Korea’s search for 'gender discrimination against men' It is an ironic policy focus in a country with one of the worst records on women’s rights in the industrialized world and one that is consistently criticized for making insufficient efforts to address gender inequality.

More women, same inequalities: How symbolic violence quietly persists in Indonesian diplomacy Female diplomats & diplomats’ wives are expected to embody the mother’s ideal: they should be fully responsible in taking care of children, skilful in hospitality, catering, decoration & femininely dressed

‘We're fighting a daily battle': Iranian women dare to shed hijab in public 3 years after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being arrested for failing to cover her head, more and more women are pushing the boundaries of Iran's strict morality laws and going out in public without a hijab.

Japan’s prime minister joins female lawmakers in fight for more toilets in parliament Just two cubicles currently serve 73 female members at Tokyo’s male-dominated House of Representatives, according to a petition filed by female MPs.

How Grok's sexual abuse hit a tipping point Users discovered that Grok, the platform’s built-in AI chatbot, will create fake sexually-suggestive edits of real photos of women and girls on request—a common form of nonconsensual deepfakes.

‘Left-handed Girl’ makes Oscar shortlist Directed by Tsou Shih-ching, the coming-of-age drama centers on a left-handed girl navigating clashes with traditional patriarchal expectations.

China social media thrashes one-child policy after population control czar dies State media praised Peng Peiyun, ex-head of China's Family Planning Commission, as "an outstanding leader" in her work related to women and children. The reaction on Chinese social media to her death was less positive.

In Malaysia, Muslim Trans Women Find Their Own Paths An anthropologist traces how transgender women in Malaysia navigate state-sponsored religious programs aimed at “rehabilitating” LGBTQ+ Muslims.