The Republic of China (ROC) has one of the world’s most advanced legal frameworks for the protection and fair treatment of women. When the Domestic Violence Prevention Act went into effect in 1998, for example, it was the first legislation of its kind promulgated in Asia. Several countries in Asia, including Japan and South Korea, have sent experts to Taiwan to observe and learn about how such regulations are enforced. The passage of the act not only protects Taiwanese women, but also immigrant spouses, from domestic abuse, marking a very important development in relations between the sexes.
The ROC’s passage of the Gender Equality in Employment Act in 2002 was also one of the first in Asia. The act prohibits hiring, training, promoting, paying or dismissing employees based on gender or gender-related issues. It also considers employees’ work-related physical needs. For instance, the law grants female workers the right to menstrual leave, as well as provides for two months of paid maternity leave and up to two years of unpaid leave after childbirth.
In 2005, the passage of the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act established a legal framework to protect women from unwelcome verbal or physical advances. Today, that protection has been extended through media campaigns that promote awareness of sexual harassment, as well as through educational programs in schools. The widespread application of the act offers another indicator of Taiwan’s achievements in the promotion of equitable gender relations.
Apart from the lawmaking and enforcement efforts, the rise of local feminist movements has contributed substantially to the well-being of Taiwanese women. Many women’s groups have been established on the island that play aggressive, influential roles in advocating the rights, interests and empowerment of women. Their activism has propelled major political parties, for example, to compete for women’s votes by supporting their agendas and ensuring places for them in the party structures and in government.
With an average of just one child born per woman over her lifetime, Taiwan’s current birthrate has been reported as the world’s lowest. (Photo by Chang Su-ching)
Setting a Ratio
As a result of the efforts of women’s groups, there has been a growing emphasis on setting a ratio for female participation in government from the central to local levels. Meanwhile, public facilities are also increasingly taking women’s needs and safety into account. For example, regulations have been established that require five toilets for women be installed for every men’s toilet in schools, train stations and theaters, while three women’s toilets should be installed for every men’s toilet in workplaces, restaurants and other commercial venues. The platforms of Taipei’s mass rapid transit lines also offer special nighttime waiting zones for female passengers that are monitored by video surveillance systems.
All is not rosy in the area of gender relations in Taiwan, however, as an increasing number of men and women are choosing not to get married or have children, either because they do not wish to face such responsibility or choose to focus on their own lives and enjoyment. Consequently, the total number of local couples marrying each year has dropped precipitously, falling from 162,972 in 1991 to 138,819 in 2010.
In recent years, Taiwan has also reportedly registered the lowest birthrate in the world, with an average of just one baby being born per woman over her lifetime. That, combined with a rapidly aging society, will cause a spate of social problems in the future. The working percentage of the population, for instance, will bear a much greater burden in providing for the welfare of senior citizens in the years to come.
Complicated Love Lives
Another worrying trend is that men and women now tend to establish or end relationships based on passion, not long-term commitment. While a relationship is blooming, no sacrifice is too great, but when the relationship encounters difficulties or they find another object of desire, the tendency is to sever ties unilaterally. We are seeing more and more people, including social elites such as intellectuals, with such complicated, unstable love lives. That has caused the island’s divorce rate to trend upward. It thus is critical for the government to educate the public about the importance of marriage and how to “manage” marriage through self reflection and consistent efforts to tackle problems that occur in married life.
Decades ago, traditional Chinese marriages were largely arranged by parents or matchmakers, who emphasized pairing couples from families of equal standing. But in the last 20 to 30 years, modern Taiwanese men and women have tended to pursue love and marriage outside that social framework.
The other major gender-related phenomenon taking place in recent years is that an increasing number of Taiwanese men are arranging to marry women from Vietnam, Thailand and mainland China. Most of those Taiwanese men are economically disadvantaged and choose foreign brides after experiencing difficulty in finding local marriage partners. On the other hand, many of the female immigrants marry Taiwanese men in hopes of obtaining financial resources that will help improve the economic status of their families back home.
As a result, more and more babies are being born to immigrant wives, with such newborns accounting for approximately 10 percent of Taiwan’s total number each year. Given the increasing number of these “new Taiwanese children,” we need to place greater emphasis on providing them a healthy environment to grow up in.
—Translated by Taiwan Review