Attitudes toward gender equality have continued to improve, especially toward marriage equality, with more than 60 percent of people now agreeing that same-sex couples should have the right to marry, an Executive Yuan survey found ahead of today’s two-year anniversary of Taiwan’s marriage-equality legislation.
The Cabinet’s Gender Equality Committee yesterday announced the results of its annual telephone survey on attitudes toward gender issues.
A total of 5,871 couples have registered marriages from May 24, 2019 — when the Legislative Yuan legalized same-sex marriage — to April 30, the committee said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The survey showed that support for marriage rights has continued to rise, with 60.4 percent of respondents expressing support compared with 52.5 percent last year, it said.
The figure also represents a significant increase of 23 percentage points from before legalization in 2018, when 37.4 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, it added.
To the question of whether same-sex couples should be able to adopt children, 67.2 percent of respondents agreed, and 72.2 percent said that same-sex couples are just as capable of raising children as mixed-sex couples, up from 68.7 percent last year, the survey found.
These results show that the right for same-sex couples to start families is gradually gaining recognition and acceptance among the public, the committee said.
Attitudes toward transgender issues have also shown improvement, it said.
The committee said that 65.1 percent of respondents said that they were willing to share a public bathroom with trans people, up 3.1 percentage points from last year, it said.
Meanwhile, 76 percent agreed that trans people should be able to dress however they feel most comfortable while at school or in the workplace, while 88.9 percent said they were willing to work with transgender colleagues, the survey showed.
Gender stereotypes are also gradually loosening, including the beliefs that women are responsible for housework and are not suited for scientific jobs, the committee said.
Eighty percent of respondents disagreed with the statement that “a wife should spend more time on housework than her husband,” up 3.9 percentage points from last year, the survey showed, while 93.7 percent disagreed that women are not suited to studying science and technology.
Meanwhile, 89 percent said that women are just as capable of holding senior management positions, while only 35.7 percent agreed that men are more suited to working as bus drivers, down 5.9 percentage points from last year, it showed.
The survey reveals the progression in national attitudes toward gender each year, the committee said, vowing to continue promoting measures aimed at creating a more just society.
The survey, held from May 13 to 15, collected 1,080 valid responses and has a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
In related news, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights yesterday called on the government to write marriage equality into the Civil Code, as a 2018 referendum barring such an amendment is set to expire today.
Bound by a Council of Grand Justices decision that ordered the legalization of same-sex marriage and a referendum banning a Civil Code amendment to do so, the Legislative Yuan in 2019 passed a separate law to legalize same-sex marriage: the Act for Implementation of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第七 四 八號解釋施行法).
However, the act left a number of discrepancies in the rights enjoyed by same-sex and mixed-sex couples, failing to legalize certain transnational marriages, adoption of unrelated children and artificial reproduction for same-sex partners, among other rights.
Over the past two years, Taiwanese society has become enriched by the appearance of more diverse families, yet there have also been a number of lawsuits fighting for equal marriage rights, the alliance said.
The two-year validity period of the referendum is about to expire as stipulated in Article 30 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法), it said, adding that starting from now, the government has the chance to amend the Civil Code to fill in the gaps and make marriage truly equal.
Additional reporting by Lo Chi
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
COOLING OFF: Temperatures are expected to fall to lows of about 20°C on Sunday and possibly 18°C to 19°C next week, following a wave of northeasterly winds on Friday The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Sunday forecast more rain and cooler temperatures for northern Taiwan this week, with the mercury dropping to lows of 18°C, as another wave of northeasterly winds sweeps across the country. The current northeasterly winds would continue to affect Taiwan through today, with precipitation peaking today, bringing increased rainfall to windward areas, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. The weather system would weaken slightly tomorrow before another, stronger wave arrives on Friday, lasting into next week, Liu said. From yesterday to today, northern Taiwan can expect cool, wet weather, with lows of 22°C to 23°C in most areas,
DEFENDING FREEDOM: Taiwanese love peace and helping others, and hope to be a positive force in the world, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim told ‘Weltspiegel’ Taiwan is making every effort to prevent war in the face of China’s hybrid coercion tactics and military threats, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD’s program Weltspiegel that aired on Monday. Taiwan is not seeking provocation or intending to disrupt international order, but “must possess the capacity for self-defense,” a news release issued by the Presidential Office yesterday quoted her as saying. Taiwan is closely watching not only the increasing scope and frequency of Chinese military exercises around the nation, but also Beijing’s hybrid and cognitive warfare tactics, including manipulating public opinion, fostering
RSS