The regional Feminism project in Asia forms an Asian-wide network of progressive male and female feminists and political economists. The alliance aims to shape regional and global debates and agendas on economic (in)equality and the division of labour while challenging the arguments about capitalism and neoliberalism. Women’s concerns and feminist critique shall be integrated into Asian social justice.
“Feminist” is not a popular word in Asia, those trying to promote gender justice face nationalist and fundamentalist backlash. FES helps building new alliances that can bring feminist visions into the mainstream. As part of a project titled Political Feminism in Asia, in an initial phase, 21 feminists from seven countries were participating in four events called “Future Labs”, forming a network of progressive feminists with backgrounds as activists, scholars and economists. The Future Lab events served as a platform where participants split in working groups and developed innovative projects that aim to introduce feminist perspectives and discourses into the mainstream, using tools such as animation videos, a mobile reporting documentary, a feminist curriculum for trade unionists and an app.
In Asia there is a growing debate on the impacts of digitalisation, in the industrial sectors like the garment industry and others as well as in the Information and Communication Technology and the Service Sectors. Also discussions on the economy of care fit well into current debates on the future of work and is placed at the centre of feminist and workers’ movement's interests. Feminists have been demanding the recognition, redistribution and reduction of care work for decades. A recent study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) found that women do four times more unpaid care work than men in Asia. In our work we hope to be able to contribute to these and other debates around the Future of Work.
We apply an intersectional approach, to understand how globalization and economic change affect the way different forms of discrimination combine, overlap, and intersect, in the experiences of different people, especially those of marginalized people or groups.
We support activism and advocacy for equality and justice. We think women’s political participation, a more critical focus on decent work for all, and more emphasis on gender-just economic models are key to strengthening women in Asia.
We sensitise and support governments at national and regional level. We strive to reconnect issues and actors and build strategic alliances to promote policies and programmes that achieve equal opportunities for all.