The last time I was in Asia was 31 years ago, when I went to the United Nations Fourth Annual Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

More accurately, I went — along with 35,000 other women from all over the world, feminists in saris, sarongs, business suits, kangas, and jeans — to meet each other in the village of Huiarou. There, we lamented the state of the world’s women while keeping tabs on the claims and promises of their official representatives meeting in Beijing, 15 kilometres away.

That experience was transformational, politically and personally. It was where Hillary Clinton said, “Women’s rights are human rights.” The meeting produced a 40-page document called the Beijing Platform for Action. No other writing on women’s status has been better in the years since.

I returned recently, this time in the company of a bright and tech-savvy nursing student at the University of Alberta — my granddaughter, Sarah, from Edmonton. And it was on a........

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