The MeToo movement has arrived in Asia, which is an impressive feat in a region where many societies are still highly patriarchal, where speaking out will bring shame to victims of sexual harassment.
Although the movement has been slow to take off in Taiwan, things seem to be starting to move after a former gymnast came forward to accuse her former coach — a respected figure in the field — of sexually assaulting her from 1996 to 2006, starting when she was a junior-high school student.
She posted the police report form on a popular Internet message board, which apparently prompted another of his former students to come forward with similar allegations, and it is believed that there are several more victims.
Hopefully, MeToo in Taiwan will not stop there. However, while Taiwan seems to have a favorable environment for women on paper, with comprehensive gender equality and laws against sexual harassment, several news reports this week show that this nation needs a MeToo movement just as much as any other.
These reports are concrete proof that Taiwan still has a way to go toward full gender equality and that the nation definitely needs more people to stand up and break the stigma that society unjustly places on the victims of sexual abuse or harassment and domestic violence instead of the perpetrators.
One of the biggest problems continues to be the obscenely light sentences handed down by so-called “dinosaur judges” to perpetrators of sexual assault and harassment, as highlighted by a ruling last week by the Judicial Yuan’s Court of the Judiciary.
The court in 2016 found that former Taipei High Administrative Court judge Chen Hung-pin (陳鴻斌) had sexually harassed his assistant and ruled that his actions warranted dismissal. The verdict was quickly hailed as a landmark ruling: the first time a Taiwanese court had ordered a judge to be dismissed for sexual harassment.
However, on Thursday last week, that verdict was overturned on appeal. The court decided to fine Chen an amount equal to his annual salary, saying that Chen was repentant and that only three of the eight incidents of misconduct constituted harassment.
This is completely unacceptable. It is a slap in the face to all the women of Taiwan and those who have fought hard to achieve the institutional safeguards in place for women in this nation today.
While Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers and other politicians have slammed the second verdict and the Control Yuan has announced it would file an appeal, the average person must make it clear that such rulings have no place in today’s society.
Kissing, hugging — even verbal abuse — is sexual harassment and that needs to be made clear to all corners of society.
Another sign that Taiwan needs the MeToo movement is the recently released survey by the Medical Laborers’ Working Conditions Reform Task Force, which found that 80 percent of female physicians and 63 percent of male physicians have been sexually harassed at work — but only 3 percent filed a formal complaint.
Among those who said they did not file a complaint, 33.7 percent were worried that they would be punished for complaining.
Even more dispiriting, a survey by the Ministry of Labor found that 54.7 percent of female respondents said they would “laugh it off and take no action” if confronted with sexual harassment in the workplace.
However, sexual harassment and sexual abuse are no laughing matter. Girls and women should not feel that they will be punished, made fun of or otherwise stigmatized if they report harassment or abuse. They must be given the support they need and their attackers must face punishment, not slaps on the wrist.
The numbers do not lie. Let the victims start coming forward.
China badly misread Japan. It sought to intimidate Tokyo into silence on Taiwan. Instead, it has achieved the opposite by hardening Japanese resolve. By trying to bludgeon a major power like Japan into accepting its “red lines” — above all on Taiwan — China laid bare the raw coercive logic of compellence now driving its foreign policy toward Asian states. From the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas to the Himalayan frontier, Beijing has increasingly relied on economic warfare, diplomatic intimidation and military pressure to bend neighbors to its will. Confident in its growing power, China appeared to believe
After more than three weeks since the Honduran elections took place, its National Electoral Council finally certified the new president of Honduras. During the campaign, the two leading contenders, Nasry Asfura and Salvador Nasralla, who according to the council were separated by 27,026 votes in the final tally, promised to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan if elected. Nasralla refused to accept the result and said that he would challenge all the irregularities in court. However, with formal recognition from the US and rapid acknowledgment from key regional governments, including Argentina and Panama, a reversal of the results appears institutionally and politically
In 2009, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) made a welcome move to offer in-house contracts to all outsourced employees. It was a step forward for labor relations and the enterprise facing long-standing issues around outsourcing. TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) once said: “Anything that goes against basic values and principles must be reformed regardless of the cost — on this, there can be no compromise.” The quote is a testament to a core belief of the company’s culture: Injustices must be faced head-on and set right. If TSMC can be clear on its convictions, then should the Ministry of Education
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) provided several reasons for military drills it conducted in five zones around Taiwan on Monday and yesterday. The first was as a warning to “Taiwanese independence forces” to cease and desist. This is a consistent line from the Chinese authorities. The second was that the drills were aimed at “deterrence” of outside military intervention. Monday’s announcement of the drills was the first time that Beijing has publicly used the second reason for conducting such drills. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership is clearly rattled by “external forces” apparently consolidating around an intention to intervene. The targets of
RSS