Marriage customs that are discriminatory toward women should be laid to rest, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said yesterday.
“I am not saying that all traditions are superstitious, but society has changed in fundamental ways,” she told a news conference on the eve of International Women’s Day.
“I call on the public to be aware of social taboos that are no longer appropriate and let them fade away,” she said.
Traditionally, girls who were born in the year of the tiger cannot be flower girls at weddings, because “female tiger” is a derogatory term for an overbearing woman, she said.
Married women are also discouraged from visiting their parents’ homes during the Lunar New Year holiday, she added.
“In celebration of International Women’s Day, we should try to rid ourselves of customs and practices that are discriminatory toward women and create a more friendly social space,” she said.
The traditional marriage customs people feel most strongly about include making brides kneel and throw fans in farewell to their parents, Zhengyang Cultural Foundation chairwoman Yang Ya-ping (楊雅評) said, citing a study conducted by the foundation.
“The obligation to perform those traditional rituals fall on women and are suggestive of a feudal ideology,” Yang said.
Culture is the product of human interaction within a given environment and is composed of social norms, Taiwan Association for Sex Education president Kao Song-ching (高松景) said.
Far from idle indulgences, traditional customs are essential components of culture and symbolically reproduce their norms, rules and system of values, Kao said.
“The binding force of customs exceed laws in the level of control it imposes over everyday life,” Kao added.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS