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Counseling requirement draws fire

"The measure is more like a political propaganda program aimed at manipulating people's thought."

Wu Wei-ting, secretary-general of the Women's Awareness Foundation

Seeking to boost family values, the legislature yesterday passed a set of rules that include requiring local governments to offer premarital counseling for people about to get married.

Under the Family Education Law (家庭教育法), schools on all levels are also obligated to provide courses underscoring the importance of family planning, gender equality, parenting and interpersonal communication.

But women's groups greeted the announcement with sarcasm, saying they doubted the new measures could effectively bring down the nation's divorce rate.

Without any debate on the floor, the lawmaking body adopted the family-education law designed to mend crumbling social values.

The law stipulates that local governments should provide at least four hours of premarital counseling for people intent on tying the knot.

The counseling should cover marriage, home economics, parenting and emotional management, according to the new law.

KMT Legislator Chiang Yi-wen (江綺雯), who sponsored the bill, urged authorities to provide incentives to encourage participation in the optional counseling program. Chiang added she will consider making participation mandatory if the measure is successful.

"The fact that one in three marriages ends in divorce shows the need to develop healthier concepts of marriage and family," she said.

Family-education centers in all local governments are to cooperate with schools and parents' associations in promoting family education.

"Hopefully, the new law will help enhance family harmony and parent-child relations," Chiang said. "Meanwhile, the central government must not fail in its duty to oversee its implementation."

Wu Wei-ting (伍維廷), secretary-general of the Women's Awareness Foundation, panned the family education law as an anti-democratic product and waste of resources.

"The government cannot expect to change anything by offering four hours of premarital counseling," Wu said. "The measure is more like a political propaganda program aimed at manipulating people's thought."

According to Wu, women do not need to be preached on how to hold their family together but do need to be informed of their legal rights when crises occur.

Wu doubted existing family-education centers, devoted to teaching flower-arrangement and cooking, could provide that service.

"It would be an utter waste of time if the counseling fails to address legal aspects of marriage," Wu said.

In addition, the family-education law demands schools offer various courses with a family theme. It stipulates mandatory family education courses for parents of children with behavioral problems.

"With juvenile delinquency on the rise, I found the measure desirable," Chiang said, attributing the problem partly to the increased number of single-parent family.
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