Gender equality advocacy groups yesterday welcomed an official letter issued to schools and universities by the Greater Kaohsiung Education Bureau that it does not recommend adopting conservative perspectives with religious origins in gender equality programs.
“Curricula provided by religious groups on chastity that oppose premarital sex are not suitable for gender equality education programs in the city,” the letter said. “Please use caution when selecting social or civic groups to make presentations on the subject.”
The Greater Kaohsiung City Government is the first government institution to issue a clear statement providing guidelines for gender equality education. The letter follows controversies involving conservative Christian groups, who formed an “Alliance for True Love” that opposed teaching about homosexuality in schools and advocated teaching chastity and abstinence.
The campaign triggered criticism from human rights, gay rights and gender equality advocacy groups.
Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan secretary-general Wang Ping (王蘋) welcomed the decision.
“I agree with the city government’s handling of the issue,” Wang said. “It’s meant to keep traditional conservative perspectives on sex out of campus, and could help maintain a more diverse environment in education.”
A more open-minded education curriculum in gender quality could help protect the rights of women and men, Wang added.
Taiwan Gender Equality Education Association chairman Cho Keng-yu (卓耕宇) — a teacher at Kaohsiung Municipal Chung-cheng Industrial High School — also welcomed the decision, albeit with some reservations.
“It is symbolic, since [the city government] is one of the few government authorities that has expressed its view on the issue,” Cho said. “The notice serves as a reminder for school administrations.”
However, Cho said he would wait to see how educational institutions will respond to the guidelines.
“Getting a letter from the Education Bureau is one thing, putting it into practice is another,” Cho said. “The school could just choose not do anything because it’s not legally binding.”
Based on his own experience, school officials could be pressured by certain groups, especially because a lot of schools are facing budget shortages, he said.
“Life education and gender equality education programs are required by the Ministry of Education. However, many schools don’t have the budget to hire extra teachers for such programs,” Cho said. “Many conservative groups, sponsored by religious organizations, can provide free teachers and a free curriculum — which school administrations are happy to accept,” he said.
Cho said that he is supportive of the new measure, but would wait to see if it is really put into practice before celebrating it as an achievement.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard