Chee Yoke Ling: Not All Superheroes Wear Capes

Chee Yoke Ling's work is perhaps best described as intersectional. Among many others, she fights to uphold human rights, women's rights, environmental rights, social justice, sustainable development, public health, access to healthcare, and so much more. The Executive Director of the Third World Network (TWN), Yoke Ling is also a trained lawyer in international law, she works closely with TWN’s sister organisations, the Consumers Association of Penang and Sahabat Alam Malaysia, and is an integral part of the Family Frontiers team, who are fighting to ensure Malaysians have equal rights to confer citizenship on their children and spouses. Fun fact: Yoke Ling was also the inspiration behind the character Gi on the hugely popular Captain Planet and the Planeteers series from the 90's. In conjunction with International Women's Day, we speak to Yoke Ling about her life's work, which also embodies this year's theme of achieving "gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow."

Image credit: ETC Group