Women in the New Asia

What impact has the rapid economic development of Asia had on women? Why is Asia still home to the largest number of impoverished women? How does the feminization of poverty, one of the most urgent issues facing the continent, actually take place?

This remarkable book charts the effects of the economic boom on women across Asia. Yayori Matsui, one of Japan’s leading journalists, demonstrates how Asian women are confronting rapid economic development which is accompanied by widespread infringement of human rights. Analysing the lives of women in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Nepal and Korea, Yayori Matsui explores:

- the impact of globalization—including the feminization of migration and an increase in the trafficking of women
- sexual violence—from the ‘comfort’ women to child prostitution
- development projects—the cause of mass deforestation and displacement of communities

However she also describes women’s credit co-ops, democratization movements and unionization of women workers. She meets women who have organized anti-logging blockades, literacy classes and campaigns against trafficking. She finds women across Asia resisting the dictatorship of development, the feminization of poverty and patriarchal values. Throughout the continent, she finds the seeds of hope for a new Asia.