There's no such thing as "an unworthy belly," said gynecologists in response to the case of a Taichung-area couple who broke the law in their desperation to have a son.
After giving birth to eight daughters, a Taichung-area woman named Hsieh Pai-hui (
Hsieh told her tale to the police after the Cambodian woman duly gave birth to a boy, but then refused to go back to Cambodia as planned, the paper reported.
The case is an unfortunate reminder that chauvinism is not dead, said Tsai Feng-po (蔡鋒博), superintendent of the Dr. Tsai & Dr. Chen's Women Hospital, yesterday.
"The sex of the baby is determined not by the mother but by chance, depending on whether the sperm fertilizing the egg carries an X or Y chromosome. Yet women are almost always the ones who are blamed for not producing a son," Tsai said.
"The only way [a couple can control the sex of their child] is through sperm screening, which is illegal in this country," he said.
Whether or not a woman gives birth to a son can affect her status in some families, Tsai added.
"Sometimes [the discrimination] is subtle, such as being offered more meat at the table. Other times the woman might be told outright by her mother in law that she has an `unworthy belly,'" he said.
One female patient was so upset by the news that she was giving birth to a daughter that she began to cry, Tsai said.
When asked why she wasn't happy that she had managed to conceive via In-vitro fertilization, the woman told Tsai that "having a daughter is a losing proposition."
Although attitudes towards women are changing, Tsai said, many still believe that it is essential to have a son to continue the family line.
"The attitude is likely to be stronger in less-educated households," Tsai said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS