The new plan for compulsory military conscription announced by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday would only allow men the advantages of service. The gendered aspect of the regulations directly contravenes not only the Constitution, but also the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法) because it discriminates against women.
The first article of the Gender Equality Act states its objective of protecting gender equality through the right to work, while implementing the constitutional mandate to eliminate discrimination by promoting gender equality.
In addition, Article 2 of the Gender Equality Act applies to civil servants, educational personnel and military personnel. The new regulations would treat conscripts more like employees than soldiers. The monthly salary of conscripts would increase from NT$6,510 to NT$20,320.
Military service is to offer substantive work experience, training and education in diverse areas, including sophisticated technology.
Women have the same constitutional right to these benefits, but like the old compulsory military service system, the “new” male-only program would continue to discriminate against women by excluding them.
Imagine a system in which men are compelled to go to school, but women could only go to school voluntarily. Taiwan adheres to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and Article 159 of the Constitution guarantees all citizens equal opportunity to education, unless it is an education provided only to male military conscripts.
One incentive for increasing the length of mandatory military service to one year is that it would help strengthen Taiwanese national pride, but apparently only among male citizens. Whether intentionally or otherwise, these new regulations shame Taiwanese women with the suggestion that they are less patriotic and not worthy or capable of strengthening national pride.
Imagine a system where citizenship was required of men, but voluntary for women. How could that be healthy for national pride?
Taiwan in principle endorses the UDHR’s guarantee of the right of every citizen to their nationality, yet the government has not declared Taiwan to be a nation. Would it do so for the sake of national pride when its all-male military conscripts are called upon to bear arms in defense of Taiwan?
The Act of the Military Service System’s (兵役法) regulations regarding military conscription contravene the Enforcement Act of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (消除對婦女一切形式歧視公約施行法). Article 7 of that act makes it a priority to fund the implementation of rules to protect gender and human rights in every part of the government.
There might not be enough money to pay for every able-bodied citizen to participate in compulsory military service.
However, a government of creative and progressive minds can find a way to offer women an equal opportunity to participate in the military’s compulsory service system, rather than continuing to exclude them.
Women might at least be permitted the freedom to enroll in a selective service system that does not discriminate on the basis of gender.
The Enforcement Act of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women requires every division of the government, including the military, to review its rules and regulations to ensure they do not conflict with the goal of eliminating discrimination.
If a rule does contravene the act, the governmental unit involved must abolish the old rule and make revisions.
Therefore, the government’s proposed new rules indirectly contravene the act by not revising the old rules, which apply only to men and discriminate against women.
No unit or division of the Taiwanese government can contravene any of the fundamental articles of the Constitution. Article 171 protects Taiwanese from laws that conflict with their rights by making such laws void.
When in doubt about the constitutionality of a law, the Judicial Yuan, rather than a presidential committee, is responsible for interpreting its validity.
Article 7 guarantees every citizen equality before the law, irrespective of sex, religion, race, class or party affiliation. The new compulsory military service regulations are revisions of existing law.
More directly at issue is Article 20, which ensures that “the people” have the duty of performing military service in accordance with the law.
However, the new regulations continue to discount women as “people” by denying them the opportunity of upholding that duty.
By reserving compulsory military service for men, the new regulations force women into a subservient position more consistent with a traditional patriarchal society than with a modern egalitarian one.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said: “To fully realize gender equality in our society, we must break the grip of traditional norms and give every woman the right to choose her role in society, and the chance to pursue her aspirations.”
Making compulsory military service a male-only affair places men and women in Confucian roles of superior and inferior, protector and possession.
It represents a regressive step in the otherwise vibrantly evolving psychological dynamic between men and women in Taiwanese society.
Taiwan and the rest of the free world must find substantive ways to counteract the escalating military threats of a familial, yet corrupt, authoritarian adversary.
However, that should entail ensuring rather than denying the right of women to expect more from themselves.
To thrive in a dangerous world, free people need the confidence of equitable fellowship irrespective of gender, as well as the independent resolve to arm and defend themselves, their families and their national pride.
Xue Meng-ren is an adjunct associate professor at Chaoyang University of Technology.
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