Women's Rights in Taiwan :
discrimination & violence
Violence & discrimination against women is one of
Taiwanese major human rights problems.
★ 2011
USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,
April 8, 2011
Women's human rights problems in Taiwan :
(1) Violence against women, including
rape and domestic violence, remained a "serious
problem.
(estimated that
the total number of rape, spousal rape was 10 times the number
reported to the police,
- 6818 rape/sexual
assaults were filed till Sept 2010, till
Nov. 2010, 91457 family violence, 22089 children abuse cases were filed. )
(2) judicial authorities remained
“dismissive” of complaints of sexual harassment in the
workplace.
(3) Child abuse continued to be a widespread problem. sexual
abuse was more prevalent than the public realized, with the
estimated number of victims reaching approximately 20,000
annually, while only approximately 3,000 were reported.
(4) foreign-born spouses were targets of discrimination.
★
CNA
Central News Agency, Taiwan
(<中央社>)
， March
8, 2012
For this national Women's Day,
DPP legislative in a press conference
lists Taiwan's 5 problems lead to
Taiwanese women's unhappiness ― reduced
income, food (birds-flu chickens, Paylean beef, etc) may get illness,
unequal pay for female ( salary 17.6%
less
for same work by the male), workplace not
comfortable
( female victims accounted for 97.15% of all sexual
harassment cases ) , difficult to get promotion ( women only 1/4
of high-end civil
servants/officials ).
★
<Apple Daily News>,
editorial , Sept. 23, 2011
"National
Sexual Prison "(「國立性煉獄」)
: What a shame on Taiwanese government !
So
many sexual harassment crimes , and sexual assault cases in
Taiwan,
...... far more than
the number reported by media,
we can say
Taiwan has already became a society
hostile to the female. Shame on all Taiwanese,
particularly, shame on Taiwanese government......
★
2011
DPP opinion polls <the
Liberty Times>, Taiwan, May 8, 2011
( Mother's
Day )
◎ 54.9%
female (age 20-49) : Taiwanese mother are not happy.
◎
details
(1)
Taiwanese mother "kind (bit)
unhappy" : 34.5%
(2) "very unhappy": 20.4%
(3) "kind (bit) happy" :
33.9%
(4) "very happy" : 7.4%
(5) Not willing to have
baby at present : 87.3%
― reasons include having enough kid(s), economic burden,
not married yet, cannot have baby for age or health etc,
not willing to give birth, living environment not good ...
★
<Apple Daily News>,
Taiwan, head-page news , Nov. 5, 2011
◎
according to a report estimated by
<日日春>, the number of
person at time to call/buy prostitutes per year is about
30,000,000 ( ps: Taiwan's population : 23,000,000 )
◎ At present, there's no
legal place for sex business.
★
<Apple Daily News>,
Taiwan, Dec. 1, 2011
According to a world survey (18-49
yrs old) by Durex, the average
number of sexual partners for life as below:
| World / female |
Taiwan / female |
World / male |
Taiwan / male |
|
7.6 |
3 |
18.5 |
5 |
| |
rank next to the last |
|
rank next to the last |
★
2009 Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices - Taiwan Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
issued
at March 11, 2010, by the
U.S. Department of State.
Violence against women, including
rape
and domestic violence remained a serious
problem. Rape, including spousal rape,
is a crime. Because victims were socially stigmatized, many did not report the
crime, and the MOI estimated that the total number of sexual assaults was 10
times the number reported to the police.
Social pressure not to disgrace their families
discouraged abused women from reporting incidents to the police.
Trafficking in women
remained a
problem.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a crime, punishable
by fines from NT$100,000 to NT$ one million (approximately $3,080 to $30,800)
and imprisonment for up to two years.
Women's groups complained that,
despite the law and increased awareness of the issue, judicial authorities
remained dismissive of sexual harassment complaints.
Taiwan is primarily a destination for
Southeast Asian and PRC nationals trafficked into forced labor or sexual
exploitation. There were reports of women being trafficked from Taiwan to Japan
for sexual exploitation purposes.
★
2010 Trafficking in Persons Report Taiwan (Tier 1)
Released by the U.S. Department of State, June 14, 2010
Taiwan authorities fully comply with the
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Taiwan is a destination, and to a much
lesser extent, source and transit territory for men, women, and children
subjected to forced prostitution and forced labor.
Most trafficking victims in Taiwan are workers from Vietnam, Thailand,
Indonesia, and the Philippines, employed through recruitment agencies and
brokers to perform low-skilled work in Taiwan's manufacturing industries and as
home caregivers and domestic workers.
Some women from Taiwan are recruited
through classified ads to travel to Japan, Australia, the UK, and the United
States for employment, where they are forced into prostitution. Taiwan is a
transit territory for Chinese citizens who enter the United States illegally and
may become victims of debt bondage and forced prostitution in the United States.
★
Amnesty
International
Violence against
women and girls
The strengthened
Domestic Violence
Prevention Act
failed to provide
adequate protection
for victims due to
poor implementation.
In June, a High
Court judge revealed
that it could take
days to issue an
emergency protection
order, much longer
than the four-hour
limit required by
law. Women’s groups
continued to
criticize
judges for
lacking gender
awareness.
Women continued
to be trafficked
into Taiwan. In
November, the
cabinet approved a
draft Anti-Human
Trafficking Law.
★
United
Nations
UNDP（GEM）
2004
/ 10 / 02 ( reported by <the United
daily News> Taiwan )
Taiwan's
< Gender
Empowerment Measure > (GEM)
in 2002 is 0.657,
ranking world No. 20, better than Singapore's
No. 21 and Japan's No. 39, but actually Taiwan has
moved backwards ― No. 17 in 1997...
Taiwan's three other items ranked no so well ...
i.e., Taiwanese women's GDP index (57%) in UNDP
survey ranked world No. 61, which is much worse than
China's ( communist China ) ranking world No. 22.
PS: it seems no Taiwan's data
in latest UNDP reports
― Measuring inequality: Gender Empowerment
Measure (GEM) and Gender Development Index (GDI)
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/
★
Taiwan's harassment &
indecency controversy cases
◎
Feb. 14, 2011, <United Daily News>
35% of the
cases that Taiwan's judges sentenced ( brought in a verdict )
sexual assault offenders is lower than the statutory minimum
sentence.
◎ June 16, 2010
A
top position man in a tech company was accused to sexual
harass his girl-subordinate by indecent behaviors : placed his hands on her upper
hip (waist) for ten seconds and hooked her shoulder twice while in the
colleagues party,
she
felt being offended
and failed to evade his dirty hands, finally left the seat.
The Taiwan Supreme Court decided the case that the
accused is not
guilty of sexual harassment crime , because he did not touch accuser's breast,
physical
privacy
parts (waist doesn't count) or bottom.
The accuser asked compensation of
NT$1230000 after first instanse by elementary court ( the
accuser won the 1st round ).
ps:
73% Taiwanese in poll/survey think holding a girl's waist
against her will is sexual harassment crime.
The largest women
organization in Taiwan has same view. |
◎
March 2009
A
girl brought a case ( sexual harassment crime) against a man who
masturbated
in the Taipei train station and
threw his sperm (seminal fluid) to her skirt. The prosecutor
decided this is not a prosecution case, because the man did
not reach his hands to the girl's body.
◎ Sept., 2008
A alumnus
is accused to be sexual
harassment crime for placing his hand on
his alumna's shoulder while taking a group photo in alumni gathering party.
This case has not decided yet (3 years passed already).
◎ Jan. 2008
A man squeezed a girl's breast for 10 seconds
―
judge in first instance decided
it's just a sexual harassment crime, not a
compulsory indecency (a serious crime), in 2nd instance the judge decided it is a
compulsory indecency since the girl cannot escape to anywhere from a very crowded
place.
◎ Aug. 16, 2010
A 31 yrs old man sexual assaulted
with his fingers
to a minor (6-year-old child girl), the judge decided it's a 3 years & 2 months
penalty sentence, for the sexual assault offender's behavior was not
against the victim's will/intension. (The
prosecutor asked a 7+ years sentence)
◎ June, 2010
An officer
in Taiwan's Dept. of Defense
sexual assaulted with his hands on a high-school student's
breast in day-time, and also
humiliated her by dirty words. The martial
court in first instance decided in Aug. it's a
sexual harassment crime ―
4 months or fine penalty.
◎ Sept. 1, 2010
A
3-year-old child girl was sexual assaulted, the Supreme Court
decided there's no proof that the offender's behavior was
against the victim's will/intension.。
source : apple daily taiwan
ps: Taiwan
plans to modify the law to punish
the accused who sexual assaulted on kids,
Apple Daily News at Sept 28, 2010 urged Taiwan should not be affected too
much by Taiwanese Populism and political correctness.
ps sexual assaulting on
child under 12 yrs old : 5+ yrs sentence
(10 13, 2010)
