The Hakka Affairs Council is promoting gender discrimination with its Hakka-language learning materials, Democratic Progressive Party legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) said yesterday.
“We are living in a time where gender equality is protected by the Constitution and has become a mainstream value in society, therefore I am quite confused and upset to see Hakka-language learning materials published by the council still containing phrases that obviously discriminate against gender,” Wu told council Minister Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振) during a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
“For example, when speaking of men, we see phrases like ‘his father was a minister in the past, and has been retired for many years’ listed as an example for the word ‘minister,’” Wu said, reading out loud phrases from a Hakka-learning book. “But, for the word ‘tofu,’ the example written is ‘Mrs A-chiang has been selling tofu for decades and is called ‘Auntie Tofu’ by her neighbors.’”
Wu went on to read several other phrases in which men are given more socially prestigious titles or positions, while women are associated with lower-ranked jobs.
Wu said that the nation’s GDP reached US$130,000 as of last year, “but in the Hakka-learning material, it’s still US$23,000.”
“The Hakka Affairs Council asks for a budget every year to update these materials, but you are not doing a good job of updating it,” Wu added.
Last month the same educational materials also triggered controversy when former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫) discovered — amid debates on a no-confidence vote against Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) — that the example cited for the phrase “vote of no-confidence” is “to ensure political stability, we should not call for a ‘no-confidence’ vote.”
Huang promised that the council would review the materials and make changes, especially those that concern gender equality.
Lawmakers across party lines asked the council to turn down a Greater Taichung Government plan to build a tulou (土樓) to represent the Hakka population in the city.
Tulou are circular or square fortress-like residential buildings built by people, mainly Hakka, in the mountainous regions in China’s Fujian Province to protect residents against attacks by bandits. However, such buildings do not exist in Taiwan.
Huang said the council would turn down the city government’s budget request if it proceeds with its plan to build tulou.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS