This Week in Women’s Rights 2018–09–02

“President Rodrigo Duterte has been “very supportive” of women’s rights, even when he was still mayor of Davao City, the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) conceded Sunday after criticizing his joke on rape.
Duterte last week drew ire for saying in jest that Davao City, which he ruled for 22 years, has the highest number of rape cases in the country because it has many beautiful women.
As mayor, Duterte organized Davao City’s Gender and Development Office which gives legal assistance to victims of sexual assault and mounts information campaigns at the community level, said PCW Chairperson Dr. Rhodora Bucoy.”
“The American Association of University Women Guam chapter will meet to discuss women’s rights and the historic Roe v. Wade case on Sept. 8 at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa in Tumon.
Guam attorney Anita P. Arriola, a partner at Arriola, Cowan & Arriola, will deliver the keynote speech on “Promoting and Preserving the Rights of Women — The Importance of Roe vs Wade.”
Arriola is a tireless advocate for women, who has won a U.S. Supreme Court case for Guam women, according to a news release.”
“Tributes poured in over the weekend for Alice Yotopoulos-Marangopoulos, the country’s first female university rector, a leading criminologist and former president of the International Alliance of Women, who was laid to rest on Saturday in a civil funeral. She was 101.
“Alice Yotopoulos-Marangopoulos’s institutional and political legacy is an emblematic academic career and a committed — indeed uncompromising — battle in defense of the fundamental rights of man,” said Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.”
“Among almost 200 independent nations across the world, there are probably few more different in their national characters than Canada and Saudi Arabia.
The current diplomatic dispute erupted when Canada’s foreign minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted concerns after several social activists were arrested in Saudi Arabia, including Samar Badawi, sister of imprisoned dissident Raif Badawi, whose wife is a Canadian citizen. The language used in the tweet was consistent with past media releases by successive Canadian governments criticizing the Saudi human rights record.
The monarchy counter-tweeted, vexed that it had been shamed by the public platform used by Canada to call for the release of the prisoners. It expelled Canada’s ambassador, ended two-way trade, liquidated its investments in Canada, ordered about 15,000 Saudi students out of Canadian universities, and threatened other retaliation.”
Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/riyadh-overreacts-to-canadian-stand-on-womens-rights_2639158.html.
“The organisers of the largest women’s rights protests South Korea has ever witnessed say they have been forced to hide their identities after threats of acid attacks and the risk of losing their jobs in a backlash against an unprecedented wave of female-led activism.
In a rare interview, the group, which calls itself ‘Women’s March For Justice’, told The Telegraph that “we are ridiculed and even fired from our jobs because we speak out … women can only survive by maintaining their anonymity because Korean society is run by men.”
The traditionally conservative society of Asia’s fourth largest economy has seen snowballing protests against sexist behaviour since the start of the year after a female public prosecutor went public with allegations of workplace sexual harassment, adding a Korean voice to the global #MeToo movement.”
Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

