Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Chung Kung-chao (鍾孔炤) yesterday criticized the government for imposing an age cap and other restrictions “that have amounted to discrimination” on matchmaking events organized by government agencies.
Following the directive of the National Development Council’s Population Policy White Paper, the ministries and departments under the Executive Yuan have been holding matchmaking events, sometimes publicly subsidized, for their single employees and other interested people, Chung said.
However, at least eight agencies have set thresholds for participants, listing restrictions based on age or education, or excluding divorcees, Chung added.
“An event held by the Ministry of Culture’s National Center for Traditional Arts, for example, restricted participation to those aged between 28 to 45; 39 percent of its own employees were not qualified. Only those aged between 23 and 45 could partake in the matchmaking events held by the Ministry of Finance’s Customs Administration,” Wu said.
“You cannot be too old or too young for these events. These restrictions are totally unnecessary,” she added.
The Customs Administration’s events, for example, welcomed only those with at least a college degree and who had not been previously married, Wu said.
“The fact that some agencies offered merit points to staff organizing the events is an encouragement for civil servants to hold discriminatory activities,” Wu said, calling for adjustments.
Chung said it should be up to participants to decide whom they would like to date, adding that age, education or being a divorcee might not be a concern to some people.
“Thresholds should not be in place for pursuing happiness. Activities intended for such purposes should be open to more people,” he said, demanding the government eliminate discriminatory limitations and adjust its outdated mentality.
Council official Fan Se-chen (范瑟珍) said the Population Policy White Paper would be reviewed along with the new government’s population policy in the second half of the year.
The council had no knowledge of the restrictions set by the government agencies and would make corrections to the inappropriate restrictions during an upcoming overhaul, Fan added.
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