Survey results show wide disparities in how colleges and universities have implemented the Gender Equality Education Law (
The law, which passed last June, was designed to help the next generation of Taiwanese grow up with a more open view of gender roles. Now, as the one-year anniversary of the law's implementation approaches, the Ministry of Education (MOE) and gender education experts have released the results of surveys of universities designed to examine the law's effectiveness.
According to a survey conducted by the Taiwanese Feminist Scholars Association between January and this month, more than half of the colleges and universities polled have a long way to go in creating campus environments marked by gender equality and free of sexual harrassment and abuse.
"The passage of the law in Taiwan is considered more progressive than similar measures in western countries," said Chen Hui-shing (
The association sent out a survey to professors with gender studies backgrounds or teaching experience throughout all of Taiwan's 157 colleges and universities. Then results were drawn from answers of 81 professors from 31 universities who returned the questionnaires.
While almost all universities have already established a gender equality committee to review existing policies, 73 percent of the interviewees said that their schools failed to encourage female professors to enter the committee. More than 80 percent of the professors said their institutions failed to recruit more female professors, and that female voices are often ignored in meetings.
In addition to ongoing sexual discrimination at the administrative level, more than 50 percent said that their schools do not handle sexual abuse or harassment cases properly. About 70 percent agreed that the schools still have dangerous areas, such as restrooms without emergency alarms. More than 60 percent said that pregnant students do not enjoy the right of pregnancy leave.
"Female faculty members experienced far more difficulty than their male counterparts when it comes to being granted tenure," said Su Chien-ling (蘇芊玲), director of the Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association. "If women continue to be shut out in the decision-making process, we doubt that colleges and universities can create a gender-friendly campus and promote better sex education."
The law requires schools to dedicate at least eight hours per semester to sex-education courses. Teachers need to incorporate gender equality issues in their curriculum. Further, institutions cannot allow gender or sexual-identity issues to influence students' or employees' evaluations or awards, nor can they allow those issues to affect the availability of educational and other opportunities.
Each government department and school must establish a gender equality committee to review existing policies. And Article 16 of the law stipulates that the number of female members must account for more than one third of the total members. Chen said that currently only 60 universities are in compliance with that article.
"We understand that many colleges and universities have difficulty carrying out the requirement because they do not have enough female faculty members. What they need to do is recruit more women at their schools, instead of asking the Ministry of Education to amend the law," she said.
Despite complaints from feminist groups, the ministry said that although more progress needs to be made, it was satisfied with the implementation of the law in its first year. The ministry issued its own official statistics this week, which showed that more than 50 percent of colleges and universities have carried out the requirements of the law under the ministry's supervision.
According to the statistics, more than 90 percent of the nation's schools have established gender equality committees, and about 70 percent have implemented the law's basic regulations.
The ministry admitted that less than 50 percent of the schools were able to include more than one third of female members in their gender equality committees.
The ministry said that it will supervise schools which haven't met all the law's requirements.
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