Taiwan Gender Equality Education Association panned the Ministry of Education (MOE) over its definition of “new good woman (新好女人)” in the ministry’s online dictionary, saying the definition was “neither new nor good.”
According to the ministry’s official online dictionary, a “new good woman” is a woman who “focuses her life on the family, admires her husband, takes good care of her children and tries her best to maintain happiness and harmony in marriage.”
“I don’t see anything ‘new’ or ‘good’ about the MOE’s definition,” association secretary-general Lai Yu-mei (賴友梅) told the Taipei Times by telephone. “Rather, it’s a very traditional, stereotypical, old and discriminatory definition of the role of women.”
The definition, she said, is discriminatory not only against married women, but also against those who are not married, lesbians or those without children.
The ministry definition triggered an uproar among Internet users when the association posted it on its Facebook page.
“I was so shocked that I almost spat out my coffee this morning when I saw it,” Facebook user HP Liang said on her Facebook page.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all,” Facebook member Naomie Huang said.
National Languages Committee executive secretary Chen Hsueh-yu (陳雪玉) said the ministry would make changes to its online dictionary.
“The definition of ‘new good woman’ has been on our page for nearly 20 years. When we look at it today, it is certainly no longer appropriate,” Chen Hsueh-yu said. “We will ask the editorial committee to look into it and make changes accordingly within one or two weeks.”
“Whether it’s a married woman, a single woman or a woman without children, everyone can be a ‘new good woman,’” she said.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
SHIFTING FIRE: While the tempo of purely military exercises around Taiwan has gone down somewhat, Beijing is working to isolate Lai diplomatically from support abroad Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is shifting tactics in his campaign to pressure Taiwan, ramping up diplomatic isolation of the nation while dialing down provocative displays of military aggression. Taiwan recorded a daily average of five Chinese military aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait’s buffer line with China through May this year — half the number logged in the same period last year. In March, Beijing did not send a single fighter jet near Taiwan for seven days, the longest absence on record outside of typhoon season. In comparison, China sent 153 planes near Taiwan during one day at its peak in
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
RSS