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Women's groups, lawmakers call for a `Daughter's Day'

Members of the Garden of Hope Foundation hold a press conference outside the Ximending MRT station to call for a new kind of Daughters' Day yesterday. PHOTO: LUO PEI-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES

Teenage girls should take over a special day to encourage them to break traditional gender boundaries, develop their abilities and to remind the government to create a friendlier environment for them, a women's group and legislators said yesterday.

Led by the Garden of Hope Foundation, a group of teenage girls between the ages of 12 and 16 yesterday participated in a "flash mob," making sudden appearances in Ximending, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Mall, then at the Legislative Yuan to drum up support for a day of their own by chanting "We want Daughter's Day!"

Foundation director Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) said the proposal is designed to call on the public to take girls seriously and stop treating them as the second-class sex.

"Traditionally, Daughter's Day celebrates a girl's transition to womanhood and wishes them luck in finding a good husband. But in fighting for gender equality, we want it to send a more aggressive message, empowering young girls to pursue their dreams," she said.

Although Daughter's Day already exists, the group called for the day to become officially recognized by the government and celebrated by members of the public. They also said the focus of the day should be on empowering girls and women.

In addition to calling for a new kind of Daughter's Day -- traditionally held on the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, symbolizing prosperity -- the foundation also urged the government to protect teenage girls' human rights, which is detailed in the Beijing Declaration And Platform For Action from the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.

Attending the event to accept the petition from the girls, PFP Legislator Li Yong-ping (李永萍), Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chih-hsiung (黃志雄), pledged to support the empowerment of Taiwanese daughters.

"The issue of gender equality needs to be discussed more thoroughly. Apart from a day for Taiwanese daughters, we will push for a gender equality committee in the Legislative Yuan to improve gender equality on every level," Li said.

Chen Yu-ling (陳俞綾), who won the foundation's Formosan Daughters Award for excellent performance in science and technology last year, said that one of the important messages in Daughter's Day is that young women can be successful in what are traditionally considered men's fields.

"I didn't develop an interest in science until high school, because my parents said I should be an accountant. I want to tell them that although I am a girl, I love science and I can excel in the field," said the high school graduate.

Chi said that the foundation looked forward to seeing young girls receive friendly treatment and face no discrimination in school, work and marriage simply because of their gender.

The foundation urged the public to sign their names in support of the Daughter's Day proposal on its Web site at www.goh.org.tw.
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