It’s easy to get the impression, as the US celebrated the 45th annual Women’s Equality Day on Sunday that the march toward equality has slowed to a crawl. Allow me to disagree.True, the usual statistics tell a story of stalled progress. Women’s labor force participation stands at less than 57 percent, down from a peak of 60 percent in the late 1990s. The rapid improvements in the gender wage gap that occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s show little sign of returning. And mothers — particularly

This is the ninth article in a series of columns on global affairs written by top editors from members of the Asia News Network and published in newspapers across the region. Ed Zhang is editor-at-large of China Daily. -- Ed.　In early September, China will host the 2016 G-20 Leaders’ Summit in the scenic city of Hangzhou. But soon afterwards, it will hold a high-level event with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to take place in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The big power club is for

Many Western media outlets were highly critical of France’s 2010 law banning face coverings, such as burkas that cover a woman’s face and entire body, and local decrees adopted this year banning full-body “burkini” swimsuits on public beaches have drawn further negative attention. French-bashing in the press is nothing new, but those who criticize these measures ignore the historical and sociopolitical reasons for why most French people support them.For starters, secularism — or “laicite” — is a