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Women fighting challenges conventional notions of femininity in many ways. A bleeding nose, bruised eyes and swollen lips embody perhaps masculine success but, for many, constitute failed femininity. Yet women fighters, who are attracting unprecedented media attention, are in novel ways forcing a re-imagination of femininity. This article draws on 17 in-depth semi-structured interviews with professional and amateur female Muay Thai fighters based in Thailand to explore the subversion and reinvention, and also reinforcement, of feminine norms. Theoretically, we advance the debate around fighting and femininity by developing the concept of bio-borders to investigate the presentation, protection and penetration of bodily femininity. We conclude that women fighters inspire a femininity recognising physical and emotional strength alongside conventional feminine norms of beauty, relationality and compliance.

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The gender pay gap of higher paid women working in traditionally male-dominated sectors has received less analysis in equal pay research than low paid, female-dominated and undervalued women's work. This article explores equal pay from the perspectives of female engineers, well paid women working in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) sector in New Zealand, who perform work of the same or like nature to male engineers but who are paid less for doing so. It explores the gender pay gap against the complex intersections of labour market de-regulation, family demands, work and the 'cost of being female' that women in engineering must constantly navigate. The research uses quantitative pay data in the sector disaggregated by gender, and new qualitative data from focus groups and interviews with 22 female engineers. It finds a surprising lack of transparency around pay and remuneration in the sector at the individual level which negatively impacts on women. The article concludes by recommending new public policy initiatives for equal pay in sectors like engineering, where individualised negotiation and bargaining is embedded in neo-liberalism.

Indonesia’s 2014 health reforms advocated for universal health coverage for all Indonesians. The reforms made provision for integrated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) programmes, with testing available at community health centres and hospitals for pregnant women and women of childbearing age. The question remains, though, as to whether testing has been effective. This article focuses on barriers women face accessing HIV testing and presents findings from the experiences of 18 HIV-positive women. To triangulate findings, interviews were conducted with 26 health workers, 9 non-governmental organisation workers and 12 HIV stakeholders. The article examines barriers to pregnant women’s access to HIV tests, showing that barriers relate to women not having reproductive health rights. It highlights reproductive rights noted in the Respectful Maternity Care Charter, and violations to them relevant to HIV testing in pregnancy. Five reported rights violations include: women being unable to access information; being unable to make informed decisions; having no right to confidentiality and privacy; experiencing ongoing discrimination; and having no right to timely HIV testing. The failure of Indonesia to protect these rights contributes to women being denied HIV testing. Findings show the need for increased HIV testing services for pregnant women and assert that health personnel and programme policy-makers need to be held accountable for the protection and fulfilment of women’s rights in respect of HIV testing. The findings show that policy makers must make changes to ensure health services improve, health professionals must be better trained, and women’s socio-cultural and political contexts must be considered.

Over forty-nine days of Level 4 and Level 3 lockdown, residents of Aotearoa New Zealand were subject to 'stay home' regulations that restricted physical contact to members of the same social 'bubble'. This article examines their moral decision-making and affective experiences of lockdown, especially when faced with competing responsibilities to adhere to public health regulations, but also to care for themselves or provide support to people outside their bubbles. Our respondents engaged in independent risk assessment, weighing up how best to uphold the 'spirit' of the lockdown even when contravening lockdown regulations; their decisions could, however, lead to acute social rifts. Some respondentssuch as those in flatshares and shared childcare arrangementsrecounted feeling disempowered from participating in the collective management of risk and responsibility within their bubbles, while essential workers found that anxieties about their workplace exposure to the coronavirus could prevent them from expanding their bubbles in ways they might have liked. The inability to adequately care for oneself or for others thus emerges as a crucial axis of disadvantage, specific to times of lockdown. Policy recommendations regarding lockdown regulations are provided.

Despite a decade of reform, Indonesia's police continue to be plagued by systemic corruption. This article examines the reasons for the persistence of police corruption by firstly establishing that corruption is rife and then discuses Indonesian police reform post-Suharto. The international understandings are explored with a view to developing a definition of police corruption that accounts for sociocultural and historical factors in Indonesia. There is an examination of the relevance of international theories of police corruption for Indonesia. It is argued that these theories are only partially applicable to Indonesia and the authors posit the 'cultural constraints theory of police corruption', which accounts for invitational, slippery slope, noble cause, and predatory theories, but recognizes the distinct nature of Indonesia.

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