The Full Story
About Us
Where She Stood maps the untold resistance of ten extraordinary women across Asia during World War II — fighters, healers, survivors, and voices of revolution. Through archival stories and interactive portraits, this project re-centers courage where history forgot to look: in the margins, at the frontlines, and in silence turned testimony.
What is "Resistance" ?
Resistance refers to the collective and individual efforts by oppressed peoples to oppose foreign control, systemic domination, and exploitative rule. It embodies the struggle for dignity, autonomy, and human rights in the face of colonialism, occupation, or racial subjugation.
Resistance is not just military or political—it includes cultural survival, protest, education, and testimony. It’s the refusal to be erased or silenced by external powers that deny a people’s right to self-determination.
The subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination, and exploitation
Why "Resistance" ?
Resistance is important because it challenges injustice, reclaims dignity, and reshapes history. It is how individuals and communities refuse to accept oppression—whether from colonialism, military violence, patriarchal systems, or human rights violations.
Without resistance, atrocities go unchallenged and silence becomes complicity. When women resist—as fighters, caregivers, or witnesses—they expose hidden truths and demand accountability. Their defiance inspires policy change, justice movements, and future generations to remember and act.​
Resistance transforms suffering into power, and memory into meaning. It's not just survival—it’s insistence on being seen, heard, and honored.
Recognizing women’s roles in resistance — from peacebuilding to protest — helps dismantle patriarchal systems and ensures that future policies reflect the lived realities of women and girls.
— UN Women
“An unequivocal official apology recognizing the full responsibility of the then Japanese Government and military, as well as adequate reparations, would protect and uphold the victims’ right to truth, justice and reparation.”
“Filipina resistance fighters risked their lives to fight the Japanese Imperial Army. They served as guerrillas, spies, medics, and couriers… Their contributions were crucial in gathering intelligence and aiding Allied victories.”
