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Women's movement comes of age

A new book titled The Tracks of Women (女人屐痕) and published in the name of the National Cultural Association, but jointly written by cultural workers involved in the women's movement, has finally come off the presses. As the title implies, the book tells the story of gender reform and the impact it has had on society.

It is a landmark documenting Taiwan's gender culture. In contrast to the political crisis and the wanton exposure of unsubstantiated scandals over the past few months, the book represents the pure voice of enduring gender reform that has stayed true to its ideals.

The book is like an in-depth travel guide to the history of Taiwan's gender reform. It features both text and illustrations, but also functions as educational material. With the in-depth guidance provided by The Tracks of Women, readers are able to travel across the gender space which on this beautiful island is scarred and marked by conflict.

The book begins with a historical look at gender education in Taiwan's early modern history. It shows us that modern Western education for women was only introduced in the late 19th century by Canadian Presbyterian missionary George Leslie Mackay. Mackay founded a school for girls in Huwei -- the old name for Tamsui -- later renamed Tamsui Girls' School.

It is interesting to learn that the first Taiwanese woman to receive a complete Western education was an Aboriginal named Hsieh A-yun (偕阿雲), and not a Han.

In this book, we learn that during the 1950s White Terror era, dancer Tsai Jui-yueh (蔡瑞月) -- also called the Matriarch of Taiwan's modern dance -- maintained her exuberant vitality and courageously carried on alone after her husband was arrested. In 1953, Tsai founded the Chung-hua Dance Research Institute, Taiwan's first modern dance studio. It is now called the Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute.

Shifting our gaze to southern Taiwan, we can see that working-class women were the major contributors behind Taiwan's economic miracle. We should therefore look back and rewrite the history of the 25 unmarried female workers who drowned in a boat accident in 1973 on their way to jobs in the city. We should create a monument for these women to affirm their contributions to the development of Kaohsiung.

Following the tracks of Taiwan's women as they moved toward modern democratic society, we can clearly see the emergence of women's movements around the time of the lifting of martial law. From Pioneer Publishing, founded by Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), and the Awakening Magazine, which was started from a small desk in an office, to the founding of Fembooks Publishing, the first feminist bookstore in a Chinese community and which incorporated even more female intellectuals, feminism in Taiwan developed from sketchy beginnings into a fullblown gender map for all to follow.

Starting from the development of personal gender awareness and following through to the emergence of a gender landscape, The Tracks of Women not only provides a historical summary, it is also marks the beginning of the restoration of a spatial awareness to gender politics.

Feminist geographer Linda McDowell once said that space is not a static container, but rather both the material foundation for gender consciousness, and the base where gender-power relations and gender identity are reproduced.

Redefining the meaning of space means that the reappearance of the gender issue no longer simply relates to appointing political representatives. Rather, the question involves how to negotiate the core values of gender reform and bring about their universal implementation -- from the legislature into our daily lives.

Competitive global tourism is almost upon us, bringing with it worries that we have no stories to tell foreign visitors. But The Tracks of Women is an excellent alternative visitors' guide. We no longer have to envy the US for its guide to the historical monuments of its women's rights movement in Ithaca, New York -- now we can proudly say to our foreign visitors: "Do you want to know the history of Taiwan's gender reform? Follow me, and I'll show you."

Sabina Sun is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Fine Arts at National Taiwan University of Arts, and a board member of the Taiwanese Association of Feminist Scholars.

Translated by Lin Ya-ti
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