Women's groups gathered yesterday to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the murder of feminist Peng Wan-ru (
Peng, chief of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Women's Affairs Department, was raped and killed while in Kaohsiung for a party meeting. She was last seen getting into a taxi the night before the DPP convention; her body was found three days later outside an abandoned Kaohsiung County warehouse, with more than 30 stab wounds.
Her killer was never caught.
Peng's murder underscored the threat to women's safety in this country. At the time of her murder, the focus was on crime prevention and public safety, the groups said yesterday, while the gender issue was largely ignored.
However, in memory of Peng, many women's groups were formed and these groups worked together to pressure the government into establishing new laws and regulations to protect the rights of women, said Chen Man-li (陳曼麗), director of the National Union of Taiwan Women Association.
These organizations have also provided women with employment counseling and legal aid over the years, including services for foreign spouses, whose numbers have skyrocketed in the recent years, Chen said.
The groups used yesterday's gathering to review the government's efforts in the past nine years to protect women's rights.
Attorney Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) recalled that at a conference held after Peng's murder, the Executive Yuan established the Committee for the Promotion of Women's Rights in 1997, while the Ministry of Education set up the Committee for Gender Equality Education. In 1999, the Ministry of the Interior established the Committee Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse, she said.
Yu said that Peng's death highlighted the plight of women both for the general public and the government and also helped encourage inter-governmental cooperation to protect women's rights.
In recent years, several laws have also been passed to ensure women's rights, Yu said, such as the Domestic Violence Law (家暴法) in 1998 and the Sexual Assault Protection Law (性騷擾防治法), which was passed earlier this year.
In addition, more women have taken an active role in politics and are no longer mere observers anymore, said Huang Tsang-ling (黃長玲), chairwoman of the Awakening Foundation.
Huang said a major breakthrough was made in 1997, when the DPP passed a measure to reserve for "either sex" one-quarter of all seats of elected party committees and candidates for elected public offices.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) followed suit, stipulating that at least one-fourth of its committee members and candidate slots would be for women, Huang said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
RSS