Asian Journal of Women's Studies: Ten Years and Beyond

Abstract

In publishing the Asian Journal of Women's Studies we have sought to give visibility to women's studies issues in Asia and to Asian scholarship with a feminist perspective. Issues regarding feminist writing in Asia have received attention over the last 30 years or more, along with the emergence of women's movements and women's studies in different regions of the world. The concern regarding feminist publishing and the challenge the journal has responded to during this time has been virtually ubiquitous in the many different contexts of feminist publishing. This, however, did not mean that women did not write before, but that the earlier environment had not been hospitable to publishing on women's issues. The increase in women's writing has gone hand-in-hand with a change in the social milieu that made it acceptable for women writers to have their work published. In a sense, the publication of the Asian Journal of Women's Studies too has required us to act as gatekeepers of what we understand is appropriate knowledge for dissemination in the sphere of feminist scholarship, more specifically in Asian women's studies. Tied to feminist and academic yardsticks, the AJWS seeks to represent feminist perspectives from Asia or feminist and academic voices from the region or those who speak about the region. More specifically, the range of issues that authors have approached in their contributions in the journal include studies on women's movements, politics, family, sexuality, education, labor issues, violence, the law and more. The backdrop within which a journal such as the AJWS—and the Asian Center for Women's Studies—was set up was the need to create a space within academia for feminist studies on Asia to flourish. The future challenges before the journal relate to the new dynamics in feminism and society, of which we need to keep abreast. Academic journals and other publications that represent the different disciplines, mainstream or otherwise, in the social sciences and the humanities have also accepted the inclusion of studies with gender or feminist perspectives, which in turn may imply a shrinking space for publications that are solely focused on feminist or gender issues.