Gender Politics in the Asia-Pacific Region Amidst the unevenness and unpredictability of change in the Asia-Pacific region, women’s lives are being transformed. This volume takes up the challenge of exploring the ways in which women are active players, collaborators, partici- pants, leaders and resistors in the politics of change in the region. The contributors argue that ‘gender’ matters and continues to make a differ- ence in the midst of change, even as it is intertwined with questions of tradition, generation, ethnicity and nationalism. Drawing on current dialogue among femi- nism, cultural politics and geography, the book focuses on women’s agencies and activisms, insisting on women’s strategic conduct in constructing their own multiple identities and navigation of their life paths. The editors focus attention on the politics of gender as a mobilising centre for identities, and the ways in which individualised identity politics may be linked to larger collective emancipatory projects based on shared interests, practical needs or common threats. Collectively, the chapters illustrate the complexity of women’s strategies, the diversity of sites for action, and the flexibility of their alliances as they carve out niches for themselves in what are still largely patriar- chal worlds. This book will be of vital interest to scholars in a range of subjects, including gender studies, human geography, women’s studies, Asian studies, sociology and anthropology. Brenda S.A. Yeoh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore. Her research foci include the politics of space in colonial and post-colonial cities, and gender, migration and transnational communities. Peggy Teo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore. She has research interests in tourism and social geron- tological issues. Shirlena Huang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore. Her research interests focus mainly on gender issues (with specific interest in transnational labour migration in the Asia-Pacific) as well as urban conservation and heritage. Routledge International Studies of Women and Place Series editors: Janet Henshall Momsen and Janice Monk 1 Gender, Migration and Domestic 3 Geographies of Women’s Health Service Place, Diversity and Difference Edited by Janet Henshall Momsen Edited by Isabel Dyck, Nancy Davis Lewis and Sara McLafferty 2 Gender Politics in the Asia-Pacific Region 4 Gender, Migration and the Dual Edited by Brenda S.A. Yeoh, Peggy Teo and Shirlena Career Household Huang Irene Hardill Also available from Routledge: Full Circles Women of the European Union Geographies of Women over the Life Course The Politics of Work and Daily Life Edited by Cindi Katz and Janet Monk Edited by Janice Monk and Maria Dolors Garcia- Raomon ‘Viva’ Women and Popular Protest in Latin America Who Will Mind the Baby? Edited by Sarah A. Radcliffe and Sallie Westwood Geographies of Childcare and Working Mothers Different Places, Different Voices Edited by Kim England Gender and Development in Africa, Asia and Latin America Feminist Political Ecology Edited by Janet Momsen and Vivian Kinnaird Global Issues and Local Experience Edited by Dianne Rocheleau, Esther Wangari and Servicing the Middle Classes Barbara Thomas-Slayter Class, Gender and Waged Domestic Labour in Contemporary Britain Women Divided Nicky Gregson and Michelle Lowe Gender, Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland Women’s Voices from the Rainforest Rosemary Sales Janet Gabriel Townsend Women’s Lifeworlds Gender, Work and Space Women’s Narratives on Shaping their Realities Susan Hanson and Geraldine Pratt Edited by Edith Sizoo Women and the Israeli Occupation Gender, Planning and Human Rights Edited by Tamar Mayer Edited by Tovi Fenster Feminism / Postmodernism / Gender, Ethnicity and Place Development Women and Identity in Guyana Edited by Marianne H. Marchand and Jane L. Parpart Linda Peake and D. Alissa Trotz Gender Politics in the Asia-Pacific Region Edited by Brenda S.A. Yeoh, Peggy Teo and Shirlena Huang London and New York First published 2002 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2002 Selection and editorial material Brenda S.A. Yeoh, Peggy Teo and Shirlena Huang; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-99417-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0–415–20660–X (Print Edition) Contents List of illustrations vii Notes on contributors viii Preface xi 1 Introduction: women’s agencies and activisms in the Asia-Pacific region 1 BRENDA S.A. YEOH, PEGGY TEO AND SHIRLENA HUANG 2 Nine months: women’s agency and the pregnant body in Singapore 17 LILY PHUA AND BRENDA S.A. YEOH 3 Body politics in Bangladesh 41 TATJANA HAQUE 4 The politics of resistance: working-class women in rural Taiwan 61 RITA S. GALLIN 5 Negotiating land and livelihood: agency and identities in Indonesia’s transmigration programme 79 REBECCA ELMHIRST 6 Gendered surveillance and sexual violence in Filipina pre-migration experiences to Japan 99 NOBUE SUZUKI vi Contents 7 Resisting history: Indonesian labour activism in the 1990s and the ‘Marsinah’ case 120 G.G. WEIX 8 Contradictory identities and political choices: ‘Women in Agriculture’ in Australia 137 RUTH PANELLI 9 The complexities of women’s agency in Fiji 156 JACQUELINE LECKIE 10 ‘Asia’ in everyday life: dealing with difference in contemporary Japan 181 VERA MACKIE 11 Sites of transnational activism: Filipino non-government organisations in Hong Kong 205 LISA LAW Index 223 Illustrations Tables 4.1 Population of Hsin Hsing village by gender and age, 1989–90 64 4.2 Enterprises operated by Hsin Hsing villagers, 1989–90 66 4.3 Primary occupation of married Hsin Hsing villagers by gender, 1989–90 67 8.1 Mobilisation strategies employed by the Women in Agriculture movement, 1993–4 142 9.1 Selected women’s groups in Fiji 162 Figure 2.1 Texts in a Singapore family life poster advertisement used in 1988 22 Contributors Rebecca Elmhirst is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Brighton, UK. Her research is focused on gender, migration and ethnic relations, particularly in Southern Sumatra, Indonesia. Her most recent work is concerned with resource politics in transmigration resettlement areas, and with labour politics among female migrant workers in Indonesia. Rita S. Gallin is Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies at Michigan State University, USA. Her research interests include women and change in Taiwan and global transformation. She has published extensively on her longitudinal field research in rural Taiwan and is the founding editor of the Working Papers on Women and International Development (Michigan State University) and the Women and International Development Annual (Westview Press). Tatjana Haque completed her PhD in Geography at University College London, UK. She is interested in applied research in South Asia (particularly Bangladesh) with focus on women’s participation in local governance, training in non-traditional skills, empowerment and political leadership. She has recently been appointed Country Representative and Programme Manager for Christian Aid’s field office in Bangladesh, and has authored various publi- cations on gender identities in Bangladesh. Shirlena Huang is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore. Her research interests focus mainly on gender issues (with specific interest in transnational labour migration in the Asia-Pacific) as well as urban conservation and heritage. Her publications include articles in International Migration Review, Women’s Studies International Forum, Urban Studies and Geoforum. Lisa Law is Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore. She is a social and cultural geographer interested in issues of migration and identity. Her research interests include the Filipino diaspora in the Asian region, particularly the cultural politics of activism around issues of labour migration to Asia’s tiger economies. Lisa is interested in issues of gender, place, migration and identity, and how they become entwined with Filipino women’s experiences abroad. Contributors ix Jacqueline Leckie is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Otago, New Zealand. She has published on gender, ethnicity, migration and work in the South Pacific, particularly Fiji. This includes two books, To Labour with the State (Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 1997) and the co-edited Labour in the South Pacific (Townsville: James Cook University of North Queensland, 1990). Currently she is writing a history of