With more than 30 live and online forums and a digitally-created, eco-friendly fashion show, Taiwan’s presence was definitely felt at the UN’s 67th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67), despite being excluded from the main event.
After going virtual for the past three years due to COVID-19, the parallel NGO CSW67 forum retained its online component this year, allowing for continued participation for groups who lack the resources to spend over a week in New York.
Helen Lee (李立璿), supervisor at the organizing Foundation of Women’s Rights Promotion and Development (婦女權益促進委員會, FWRPD), says the number of participating groups have doubled, many of whom usually don’t join international forums. The foundation has been in charge of organizing and advising the Taiwanese delegation for over a decade.
Photo courtesy of Foundation of Women Rights Promotion and Development
Still, more than 60 representatives braved the frigid temperatures and surging flight costs to present their experiences to a live audience. Out of about 300 total in-person events, 17 of them were held by Taiwanese groups, which is quite impressive, Lee says.
“We were very surprised,” she says. “With the online component still available, we didn’t know that so many people still wanted to go. But people really miss the personal interaction. Many groups haven’t met each other in years, and you could feel the warmth on site.”
The theme this year is “innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age,” which is especially relevant to Taiwan’s recent efforts to combat digital sexual violence, Lee says.
Photo courtesy of Foundation of Women Rights Promotion and Development
“The whole world is facing this problem, so it’s important to see what other countries do and share what Taiwan is doing,” she says. “People need to make connections for further cooperation, and by being there physically, they can meet everyone they potentially want to work with in one go.”
LEARNING FROM OTHERS
While Taiwan is often considered a leader in gender equality in Asia, there is obviously still much to improve on, as evidenced by the exhibition at the lobby of FWRPD’s Taipei office with statistics showing the inequalities women still face.
Photo courtesy of Foundation of Women Rights Promotion and Development
“Of course there are still many problems and it’s important for us to learn from others,” Lee says. “But at the same time, when you hear many other countries share their experiences, you also feel that Taiwan has progressed quite far by comparison.”
Lee attended a few presentations that she thought would be beneficial to Taiwan’s handling of digital gender-based violence, which is one of the more pertinent topics in recent years. A study last year of 105 sexually-exploited children and teenagers who received help from the Garden of Hope Foundation (勵馨基金會) showed that 51.43 percent were victims of digital violence. Fortunately, tighter laws went into effect last month.
In addition to pushing for more prevention resources, Lee says that it’s also important to increase awareness and training for frontline personnel such as counselors and police. Since the victims are usually younger, they also need to know how to help the parents as well.
Photo courtesy of Foundation of Women Rights Promotion and Development
At the forum, Lee says she noticed how some countries involve NGOs in regulating harmful social media posts. One presenter talked about NGOs providing a continuously updated list of sensitive terms or images to social media platforms. Another discussed having NGOs act as guarantors for victims who have had intimate images disseminated on the Internet to have them removed.
“Some victims don’t want to come forward as the person in the photos,” Lee says. “Involving NGOs can speed up the process of removal and also protect the victim. These are very practical examples that are effective and not that difficult to implement.”
As far as female digital empowerment, Taiwan doesn’t face problems such as phone and Internet access, but more about how disadvantaged women can use these tools to improve their lives by, for example, setting up an online shopping platform.
Photo courtesy of Foundation of Women Rights Promotion and Development
Eileen Shen (沈紜萱), project manager for FWRPD, adds that another lingering problem is that girls are still not encouraged to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. According to foundation statistics, the percentage of women in such fields only grew from 23 percent in 2010 to 25.6 percent in 2020. Several groups spoke about this at the forum.
BOOSTING VISIBILITY
The impact of these forums may not be immediately seen, as they are largely about building relations and learning about how each country deals with their gender-related issues, Shen says.
Photo courtesy of Foundation of Women Rights Promotion and Development
This year, instead of the usual meet-and-greet dinner, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York held on March 7 a “Taiwan Night: Celebrating Women in Tech” event that was attended by over 100 representatives from diplomatic allies and both Taiwanese and foreign NGOs. UN representatives from Taiwan’s allies donned creations alongside models in a fashion show by Taiwanese designer Claudia Wang (王子欣), who uses a virtual reality-assisted design process that minimizes waste.
“We didn’t just discuss issues, but also displayed Taiwan’s technology and culture, and we all stayed after the event and chatted for a long time,” says Shen, who attended the event for the first time.
She also noted how after the “Promoting Gender Equality in the Digital Age” event on March 9, a Turkish reporter told her she was very impressed by Taiwan’s robust advocacy society and the many ways they promote the issues they focus on to the international stage.
Lee has been attending the event for many years now, but she was still surprised that after a three-year gap, people still remembered her and Taiwan’s presentations.
“We really left an impression,” she says.
While groups such as Garden of Hope Foundation directly addressed digital gender-based violence and education, others presented their issues of concern while connecting it to social media and other technologies.
“Although they weren’t core values of the forum, it didn’t really affect attendance because the discussion of women’s issues are always diverse,” Lee says. “Their events were still popular.”
Shen was especially impressed by With Red’s (小紅帽) event addressing period poverty, related laws and Taiwan’s new Red House Period Museum, whichopened last year.
“[Founder] Vivi Lin (林薇) had an incredible ability to speak and get the crowd involved,” she says. “Many were moved by how such a young team was able to accomplish this.”
With Red provided sanitary pads to Turkey after last month’s earthquake, and a Turkish representative expressed her desire to have such an organization in her country.
“While period poverty is an issue in Taiwan, it’s not often discussed. But it’s very serious and urgent in other countries,” Lee says. “Taiwanese experiences like these often make a strong impact, and provide a clear and comprehensive action plan for other countries to take back home.”
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