Last week, local media reported that National Taiwan Normal University was considering a policy that would allow male and female students to share a dorm floor. If approved, the policy — which would only entail one floor of a building in which male and female students occupy different floors — would be the first of its kind in Taiwan.
Most colleges in Taiwan house male and female students in separate dormitories, while some have buildings in which men and women live on different floors and are not allowed to enter each other’s floors. “Coed” floors are nothing out of the ordinary in the West, emerging in the US in the 1970s, with some schools today even offering mixed-sex dorm rooms. For those who prefer not to live alongside members of the opposite sex, most schools still have single-sex options.
This is no longer revolutionary and it is about time that Taiwan takes steps toward providing student housing options where people of different sexes have more opportunities to interact with each other freely. The university’s plan is still relatively conservative, as it aims to try it on only one floor, with male and female students required to use different elevators.
Much of the discussion has revolved around LGBT+ students, especially transgender ones, who might not feel comfortable or have been harassed by being forced to only live among people of a certain sex. Will discrimination against a transgender person disappear just because that person gets to live in a mixed-sex dorm? Probably not, but having options shows respect toward differences.
Taiwan should not just stop at being the first nation in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, it should continue to smash stereotypes and acknowledge that there are different people with different needs, and continue to be a beacon of progress and freedom in a world where many countries are becoming increasingly oppressive.
That is the direction society is heading toward, like it or not, as evidenced by the support and positive reactions to Banqiao Senior High School’s “manskirt week” earlier this year. In the end, the school’s male students were allowed to wear skirts to school starting last month. Again, it does not matter whether anyone actually would do so — it is having the option that matters.
Moreover, having mixed-sex dorms is about much more than just that. Critics will likely pull out the tired cards that having male and female students living on the same floor will lead to promiscuity and inappropriate behavior, but it is the opposite. Students who want to do it will do it anyway, mixed-sex dorm or not.
However, the Taiwanese stereotype of the “male engineer” — in which they can go through school barely interacting with women and have no idea how to interact with them once they enter the workforce — is often true. The same goes for women in certain fields in which male students are far and few between. It also does not help that many come from all-boys or all-girls high schools.
No type of segregation has ever solved any problems — it only increases difficulties. If handled properly with ground rules and education on how to behave, young men and women could learn how to interact with each other naturally and respectfully through this experience. Those who do not behave or sexually harass others can be reported and removed. It is a lesson on boundaries and how to deal with problems arising from gender differences, as it is not likely that these issues will disappear in the “real world.”
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