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“Women are shock absorbers,” remarked Roopa Dhatt, an Indian American physician and co-founder of Women in Global Health, a non profit that advocates for gender equality within the healthcare sector.
Dhatt was speaking about the fact that women suffer more in times of crisis such as the Covid-19 epidemic and the effects from climate change. “Women and health workers also have an unexpected expectation to perform an impossible balancing act of both paid and unpaid work,” she said in April last year.
Unpaid care work, pandemic-related job loss, and unpaid care work have all cost women US$800 billion in income. This is more than the combined GDP of 98 nations, according to Data from Oxfam. While 70% of all healthcare workers are first responders and 70% of all healthcare workers are women, three-quarters of government taskforces set up to fight Covid are led by men.
To recognise the role that women have played on the front line of social and environmental issues in Asia Pacific over the past few years, Eco-Business asked four remarkable women in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore to tell their stories.
Jeanne Tabangay, managing director, Conservation International, Palawan
Jeanne Tabangay, managing director, Conservation International Palawan, the Philippines. “We saw children trying to dry their printed work modules after the storm. They still wanted to do their homework despite the typhoon,” recalls Tabangay. Image: Jeanne Tabangay
Jeanne Tabangay, her Conservation International (CI), team were hosting a Christmas party in Sito Sabang, west coast Palawan when Typhoon Odette made landfall. Winds of up 260 kilometres an hour ripped through town, downgrading homes, flattening classrooms, and removing trees.
Tabangay lost her mobile signal and used a satellite phone for communication with her family in Puerto Princessa (the capital of Palawan) and the CI regional headquarters. Her nine-member team made the 80-kilometre journey on foot to Puerto Princessa in 10 hours, navigating fallen trees along the way. “One member of our team was in her late fifties, and there were two young girls in their early twenties. They were my responsibility. I was worried,” recalls Tabangay.
The Conservation International Palawan team making the 10-hour trip from Sito Sabang to Puerto Princessa, negotiating the devastation wrought by Typhoon Odette. “We could hire a motorbike for short distances, but because of the fallen trees we had to walk again,” says Tabangay. Image: Jess Pagliawan
“As we have witnessed the devastation, unavailability of clean water, electricity, communication and the loss of homes and livelihoods (fishing boats, sari-sari stores, farms, and livestock), we simply cannot ignore the people we left behind,” wrote Tabangay in a letter of appeal to CI’s Asia Pacific headquarters, which donated US$15,000 to the relief effort. Tabangay helped coordinate the distribution of 2,150 kilogrammes of rice, 1,290 corrugated roof sheets and 753 kilogrammes of assorted nails to rebuild homes for 1,500 families.
The CI Palawan, led by Jeanne Tabangay make their way back from the typhoon-hit coastline to Puerto Princessa. Image: Jess Pagliawan
Tabangay has had to face additional challenges with the Covid-19 pandemic. They are working to protect the forests of Mount Mantalingahan, which are threatened by illegal logging, wildlife poaching, palm oil development, and nickel mining. The forests are a watershed for more than 200,000 people who rely on them for their food, water, and livelihoods. It has been home for the Palawans indigenous people for thousands of year. Tabangay works with them to create natural climate solutions that will keep the forests standing. “The indigenous people have ancestral rights to use the area’s resources and their traditional practices have kept more than 100,000 hectares of forest intact,” she says.
Pandemic lockdowns had a devastating effect on the income of the indigenous people. They were no more able to sell their local produce at the local market. Tabangay and her team provided sacks of rice, hand sanitiser and clean water using Hydropanels SourceSolar-powered water dispensers. During the lockdown, 100 families were able to get clean water from the hydropanels. The risk of helping the indigenous population is that most of them are not vaccinated. “The thought of going to help people but giving them the virus is a constant worry,” says Tabangay. “I’ve been lucky so far.”
Sherry Sherqueshaa, researcher and writer, Project X Singapore
Sherry Sherqueshaa (left) and the Project X in pre-pandemic times, in 2019. Image: Project X
Sherry Sherqueshaa has fought for the rights of sex workers since 2014, when she joined Project X, a non-profit that provides social, emotional, and health support to vulnerable sex workers in Singapore. On a typical working day, Sherqueshaa will spend from 3pm to 11pm on Project X projects, and 11.30pm to 5am with her clients, earning a few hundred dollars a night.
The pandemic has made her outreach work a lot harder, since the trade has gone underground. Since the outbreak started almost two years back, only licensed brothels are allowed to perform sex in Singapore. She visits karaoke Bars and massage parlours are good places to look for help. Many sex workers from overseas are concerned that asking for help will upset their pimps. Or they suspect that Sherqueshaa might be trying to steal the business. “I can always tell which establishments are offering sex services, but the pandemic has made it even harder to find women who need help without scaring them off,” she says.
Pandemic pinch
Life is tough for sex workers, who can face abuse from their handlers or their clients, social exclusion and harassment, according to Sherqueshaa. She reckons that sex workers have lost about half of their income, possibly more, due to the pandemic. Some have returned to their homelands, while others have attempted to find alternative jobs as sales assistants in shopping malls and Grab drivers. Those who continue to work in the trade face greater risks. “Sometimes women will charge more [for sex services], but I hope they don’t do risk behaviours to get more money,” she says. Project X, whose headquarters are in the self-contained red light district of Orchard Towers, distributes condoms, sanitary items and tests for sexually transmitted infections to sex workers. They also offer pro bono legal aid to anyone who is in trouble with law enforcement.
Project X’s busy office in Orchard Towers. Pictured right, wearing the “Sex workers rights are human rights” hoodie, is Project X’s executive director Vanessa Ho. Sex workers are welcome to drop by to pick condoms, sanitary towels, or STI tests or to have a chat with staff. Image by Robin Hicks/Ecobusiness
KTV bars were linked to an outbreak of Covid in July 2013. A number of Vietnamese women were believed to have been held. “It was hard for us to access these women. We don’t even know their names,” says Sherqueshaa. A new law set to be introduced in Singapore, the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA), could make it even more difficult for non-profits like Project X to advocate for sex worker rights safely. The law gives authorities the power to impose harsh punishments on troublemakers. “We have to be really careful about what we say and put online,” says Sherqueshaa, who has taken considerable personal risk by speaking out against the treatment of sex workers in the past.
Sherqueshaa and her coworkers have taken a more pragmatic view of activism post-Covid. Project X was founded in Programme for Emergency Safety NetIn April 2020, financial aid was distributed to sex workers in Singapore. It totalled more than S$23,000 (US$17,000), and was used to pay rent and bills. “I would never have imagined that I could handle and help a big group of people,” Sherqueshaa. “I had to put any biases aside, and not favour friends or fellow transgender people. They needed us in times such as these, many of whom were far from their families. It really helped us earn the trust of the community.”
Sylvia anak William Endak is an agroecology volunteer at Sahabat Alam Malaysia
Sylvia Anak William Endak at an Agroforestry plot in Sarawak where crops are grown alongside native forest trees. Image: Amelia Collins/ Friends of the Earth International.
Sylvia anak William Endak’s farm in Lubok Nibong, a village in Sarawak, Malaysia is located on the banks of the Baram River, on the border with Brunei Darussalam. The 51-year old lives in a community with 80 residents, many of whom are Ibanese. Some of the younger generation travel regularly to a nearby town for work, but many in Sylvia’s village have turned to small-scale farming.
Sylvia used her time to travel to nearby villages to give courses on sustainable agriculture before the pandemic. She’s a volunteer for environmental non-profit group, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, in its agroecology programme. The program promotes crop diversity, soil fertility, and recycling to lower costs and increase food security. It also reduces the impact of farming on the environment.
“I’ve been able to raise awareness of the benefits of agroecology and train people how to apply organic fertiliser,” Sylvia told Eco-Business in her native Bahasa Melayu. These benefits were evident on her farm 10 years ago after she took home the lessons from a workshop.
The half-Iban, halfKadazan farmer used work in palm oil plantations, rubber estates and in paddy fields. But, in the last ten years, she has shifted to sustainable farming to make her living. She cultivates crops like terung asamHer fields were full of long beans and cucumbers, which she earned about 300 ringgit (US$72).
Sylvia (right), tending to her crops. Image by Amelia Collins/ Friends of the Earth International
She trains a lot of women who joined because they saw that chemical fertilisers were making their land less fertile. GRowing crops sustainably is a defense against the encroachment of industrial farming companies. Household crop gardens such as Sylvia’s share the landscape with sprawling palm oil plantations, many of which were The last ten years of planting.
The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns sent Sylvia’s workshops into a hiatus for close to two years. She also had more pressing issues at home. Lockdowns prevented her from traveling to other towns to sell her produce. She tried to arrange delivery online, but the internet was unstable. Sylvia drove 32 km to reach a regional Sahabat Alam Malaysia branch to obtain a stable internet connection to make the interview.
Sylvia said that women were harder hit by the pandemic as they had to manage work and family obligations. Sylvia distributed fertiliser to nearby farmers during the lockdown. Her 10 years of agroecology knowledge has helped small farmers produce higher yields, which enabled families to be more food-secure during the worst of the pandemic.
Rosemarie Ayos Lujero is the senior lead for Criminal Justice System Monitoring and Evaluation. International Justice Mission
Rosemarie Ayos Lujero sTarted working Non-profit International Justice Mission in 2004 As A litigator, ProsecutionChild sexual abuse cases in the Philippines. Image: Rosemarie Ayos Lujero
Rosemarie Ayos Lujero (a lawyer by trade) is a specialist in fighting child sexual abuse in the Philippines for the International Justice Mission (IJM). Because the scale of the problem has not been well documented, the internet-based sexual exploitation of children in Southeast Asia has remained relatively unreported. According to IJM, child traffickers, who are usually relatives or neighbours of the victims, are paid to live-stream abuse, which is directed by sex offenders, typically from Europe, North America or Australia, in real time. About 80 per cent of victims are girls, who are 12 years old or younger by the time they are rescued.
Covid-19 lockdowns have created “the perfect storm” for increases in online sexual exploitation of children, according to IJM, as quarantined child sex offenders are spending more time online and vulnerable children are also confined at home, often with their traffickers. CSexual abuse with hild Sites have crashed during the pandemic because of a surge in traffic. IJM was involved during lockdowns in the Philippines. raids that rescued 76 victims, and arrested 16 traffickers. 15 victims were rescued from traffickers in one case. in an operation in Mindanao.
Ruby is a survivor from the online child sex trading. She IJM helped to rescue him. She currently campaigns to raise awareness about online sexual exploitation. Image: IJM
One of the greatest challenges in combating online child sex violence is the lack reliable data to help investigators or prosecutors focus their resources. “For the past few years, we’ve been trying to figure out where we’re needed the most,” said Lujero, who is working with the Department of Justice’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) to develop a new system that reliably monitors trafficking data in the Philippines. The system is known as the ProtectPortal Anti-Trafficking Data Harmonization Project, emerged despite delays caused by the pandemic, which Lujero says has taken a heavy toll on many working in her field.
“My father succumbed to Covid-19 infection in September 2021. Because of the pandemic, me and my siblings didn’t have time to grieve as a whole family. It was very difficult for me to focus on work,” she said. The loss of her father, who had passed on to her a “fervent love for public service”, led to depression and Lujero sought counselling. “If you experience trauma, you usually have friends or family around to comfort you. During lockdown, this support network disappeared. Filipinos are warm. We love to touch and hug each other, cry on one another’s shoulders. Not being able to do that was very hard.”
Lujero is encouraged by the work IJM did to help victims of online sex trading. “It is always a joy whenever I hear good news about the achievements of my former clients, victim-survivors. Some of them already finished a degree in college and have their own careers while others were survivor advocates who unselfishly help other victims of abuse by being their friend and mentor,” she says.
This story is part a series. Women to mark International Women’s Day 2022.
