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WOMEN IN THE STRUGGLE

LEUNG

The following pointers may serve as springboards for discussion on this important aspect of the total struggle for liberation in Asia. For this concerns one half of the population of the whole region — the women populace.

In traditional society women's role was limited to the family and though traditional society itself has undergone tremendous -change, the attitude towards the roles of men and women have revolved very little. The women in Asia are still regarded as the cornerstone of a household — as a symbol — while the men's role is still to master and conquer the world.

Education

One of the major problems which hinder the expression of self-reliance in women, according to a United Nations report, is the lack of education. Nearly one-third of our women cannot read and write.

Economic Role

All over Asia women workers encounter many especial difficulties in obtaining or holding jobs owing to the lack of laws and regulations which enable them to combine their jobs and family responsibilities and also owing to customs and prejudices of society. Many women employees in factories in many developing countries do not enjoy equal pay for long

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hours of work, neither do they have protection and guarantee in their working conditions. Take, for example, the Korean women who work in Japanese firms in South Korea. Their plight and aspirations are poignantly expressed in their song:

"We live for today/ The labour laws do not protect us. We have no holidays/Even with 12 hours work put in We can only afford a bowl of soya. Let us change our working conditions."

But this cry has been ruthlessly silenced by the South Korean Government's Special Act of 1970. In effect, workers in any foreign investment enterprise are denied the right of collective action through unionisation and are deprived of other basic rights.

The working conditions for women in Hong Kong are similar to those in South Korea. Employees work on a 3-shift system; e.g. the morning session begins at 6 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. with 2 short breaks of 10 minutes each and a lunch break of 20 minutes. In short, they continuously work for 8 hours. Also, factories, when they expand, have adopted the policy of employing female workers in place of skilled workers, less skilled workers in place of skilled workers and part-time women workers in place of full-time labourers. Working conditions pose a serious problem, e.g. women workers do not receive maternity leave or pay nor are there provisions to protect their health, especially the pregnant women.

When we look at the Asian countries where industrialisation has been more developed like Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Singapore and discover that nearly 40% of the population of workers are women, we must realise the tremendous contribution women make towards the economic development, of the region. And yet they, more than their fellow male workers, suffer from the economic exploitation and social prejudices in these societies.

In Asia the rural women have been men's co-workers for ages both in the Held and in cottage industries that one finds it difficult to understand why this prejudice against working women prevails. Women, together with their husbands, plough and cultivate the land and augment family income by engaging themselves in village work and industry. This is not to include the very important role of managing the household. Rural women indeed form a kind of cheap labour in agricultural work.

The Domesticating Role of Religion

In many Asian religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, women are considered to be unclean. In Catholic circles, the traditional image of women emphasised docility, obedience, submissiveness, prudence, patience, virginity. I am afraid that this was a means that the western church with a mentality developed by men used for the domestication of women. This was used in feudal times for maintaining the subordination of the lower class by giving them spiritual compensation. Thus, in a way, the mother of Jesus Christ was used as a justification of the suffering conditions of women and of the poor people.

Women and the Total Struggle for Liberation

The emancipation of women should be treated, not in isolation, but as a part of the total liberation struggle of mankind. I believe it's only in an unexploitative and equal society that women can develop as integrated human beings with full equality. Thus unless we link the struggle of women with the liberation of the whole people our achievement will be limited. The Vietnam experience exemplifies our point.

The situation of Vietnam especially has changed radically in the last 20 years. The war and national mobilisation have strengthened the position of women in society. When men were mobilised to war, women had to take care over agricultural and industrial work as well as local administration. There were areas where 80% of the agricultural workers consisted almost exclusively of women. The women made sure that work and production continued in spite of the war. They took care of the family and brought up their children to be citizens of a unified society. They took part in defence and were prepared to depart for the front if necessary. A Vietnamese poet illustrates what women are doing for their country in one of his poems:

Wake up, my sister the nightmare is over

You live again, sister, you really live

The searing electric shock, the piercing point, the brilliant knife;

The consuming fire have not killed you;

Heroic girl, your heart, my sister, your heart is great,

With one drop of blood it will beat again

And it will not beat for you alone.

It will beat for justice, for your native village,

For your country, for humanity.

From the regions of death, you have come back to us

Resplendent as on the day you went away when the nation called;

You have come back, daughter of glory.

The whole nation embraces you as flesh of its flesh and blood of its blood,

You live again for you have conquered.

SEMINAR GROUP

I. Description

The situation of women in most parts of Asia today is generally characterised by a dependent and subservient mentality, confining them into a secondary role in their society. Although this is a general condition of women in Asia, we also noted that women also play a dominant role in the government structures (Sri Lanka and India, for example, have women

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Prime Ministers, Mrs. Marcos of the Philippines seems to be in equal partnership with Mr. Marcos in administering the Philippine government). It was also said that Asian women are usually the controller of the purse and that mothers-in-law have a tight grip over their sons and daughters-in-law. Although these are exceptions, we feel that this does not negate the fact that Asian women are not full participants in the process of development and change in their own societies (we excluded from our discussion the women of China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).

This general observation was supported by specific examples of women's condition in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, for example, women may control the purse and even supplement the husband's income by working outside the home, but they often have an unquestioning and obedient attitude towards their husbands. It is only recently that women began to participate in the political and economic sphere of the national life, and these women are mainly from the student population. The situation of women in Australia, on the other hand, is much more similar to that of the women in developed countries. Although many graduate from universities they are usually confined to the traditional role (wife, mother, housekeeper). The main problem that they face is that of loneliness and isolation due to the absence of communal life normally found in other Asian countries. These women often seek employment outside the home in order to alleviate the problem of isolation. On the other hand, some women are forced to seek employment in order to supplement their husband's wages. It was noted, that in cases where women earned more than their husbands, this has often led to the demoralisation of the husbands and ultimately the breakdown of marriage and family.

Other social problem discussed: the problem of prostitution which is endemic in most Asian countries and the imposition of western culture and values through the educational systems and mass media. We noted, for example, the use of provocatively dressed (or undressed) women in advertisements. On the other hand, we also noted the submissive, dependent attitude of Asian women, who accept and adopt the western culture and lifestyle unquestioningly.

The seminar group also focused their discussion on the condition of women among the poorer class. Their presence in factories are noticeable, their wages are often much less than men. In Hong Kong, they are hired for the dexterity of their fingers in handling minute electronic parts for radios, computers, etc. Such work also requires good eyesight but due to the intricate work, their eyes deteriorate and most women are made redundant after 4 years. The use of child labor in the factories is also noted — these are mostly children who leave school at 13; many of these young girls end up in prostitution. Then there is the presence of Filipino and Thai women working as domestic servants in Hong Kong and European countries and the maltreatment some of them receive from their employers. The presence of Filipino women domestics in Europe, especially in Britain, is now very obvious, and their economic, social and psychological condition are similar to that of the Filipino men who migrated to the farms of California and the sugar plantations of Hawaii in the 1920s and 1930s.

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II. Analysis.

An analysis of the women's situation in Asia along sexist lines is inadequate and does not touch the basic problem facing Asia today. There cannot be a liberation for women in Asia from the oppressive cycle of poverty and dependency, without the liberation of the total society from the same oppressive condition, and vice versa. In what ways can women play a meaningful and responsible role in the programme for self-reliance?

On the personal level, the concept can be realized through the overcoming of the paralysing characteristics often attributed to women dependent, submissive, self-effacing, lacking in initiative and confidence, etc. This transformation could only come about when men recognise and accept women's potential as equal partners in the struggle and not as a threat to their dominant position in society. The group therefore rejects the idea of an autonomous women's movement, but endorses a movement of both sexes in mutual co-operation and equal participation. An attempt to trace the roots of the causes of the condition of women today in relation to the whole situation in Asia was done.

Firstly, the traditional culture in most Asian societies have been patriarchal and men are categorised as the more valued sex ill society. For example, the dowry system of Sri Lanka and the polygamous practice of the Muslim culture are very oppressive to women in those societies.

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Secondly, the coming of colonialism in Asia imposed another oppression on women. Whereas in the traditional society women were involved in productive labor for a subsistent economy (which was self-reliant), now they are employed in the service sectors (prostitutes, waitresses, domestic servants) which is non-productive and in factories earning a very small percentage of the products of their labour. Not only have they become dependent for their livelihood with little or no rights to negotiate their earnings, but their living conditions have remained subsistent, if not worse, and most tragic of all, they have been subjected to a loss of self-respect and demoralisation. So, the dependent and submissive mentality of Asian women was conditioned by the traditional cultural values, which facilitated the use and abuse of women in the new Western-influenced system.

The problem of prostitution is the most obvious example of the exploitation of women. The group felt that it is also the most dehumanising (not only to women but also to men) because women in the profession are either willing or unwilling participants. The tourist industry has become partly responsible for the institutionalisation of prostitution. For example, planeloads of tourists (German and Japanese businessmen) are flown regularly to Bangkok and Hong Kong for 'recreation'. During the Vietnam War, American soldiers went to the cities of Asia (would you believe, including Sydney!) for what was euphemistically called as "Rest and Recreation".

Of equal concern to the group is the depraved conditions of the minority groups in Australia and New Zealand, of the women in the industrial sectors and in the farms and plantations.