Tag Archives: women’s rights

Beauty Queens in Post War Japan (Video with Dr. Jan Bardsley)

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Hannah Smith

The study of Japanese beauty queens offers insights into democracy and gender issues in post-war Japan. In the 1905s, Japanese beauty queens were often celebrated as models of democracy. They were confident, willing to travel overseas, and represented the idea of upward social mobility. This captured the imagination of Japanese women and for some, signified a step forward for Japanese women’s rights.
However, women in the beauty contests were constructed as images, only allowed to say certain things and unable to complain. This image of beauty queens belies the true situation of Japanese women in the 1950s who were protesting over a lack of equality. Continue reading →

Posted in Japan | Tagged Beauty Queens, democracy, free speech, Post War, women's rights | Leave a comment

NGOs Prompt Report on 2002 Gujarat Incident

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Asia Pacific Memo

Memo #44 – The 2002 Gujarat incident, in which inter-religious violence fuelled mass riots, resulted in gruesome deaths and injuries. The incident led to a rise in the number of cases of sexual assault and violence against women. On October 15 2010, Members of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) took “the extraordinary measure of requesting a special report because of the seriousness of the violations, the large scale of the violence and the alarming reports that the Committee had seen at the time of the incident”. India submitted this exceptional report to CEDAW almost 9 years after the initial conflict. Continue reading →

Posted in India | Tagged Gujarat, Gujarat incident 2002, Indian justice system, inter-religious violence, sociology, women's rights | Comments Off