Filming for a documentary to commemorate the legacy of women’s rights activist Peng Wan-ru (彭婉如), called A Journey in Search of Wan-ru’s Footsteps (尋找婉如足跡之旅), is under way, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said in a statement.
Yesterday was Taiwan’s Women’s Rights Day, established in remembrance of Peng, a political activist who was assaulted and murdered after leaving a DPP meeting in Kaohsiung on Nov. 30, 1996.
Three days after disappearing, Peng’s body was discovered in a warehouse outside Kaohsiung. The autopsy found Peng had been sexually assaulted and stabbed more than 30 times.
Photo: CNA
A suspect in the killing was never identified, and her death sparked a public outcry and galvanized the women’s rights movement.
“On this day 29 years ago, Peng Wan-ru, then head of the party’s inaugural Department of Women’s Affairs, was killed. She had been active in politics and advocating for gender equality, at a time when women’s issues were not part of mainstream politics, and she was the one who pushed for women’s rights to be included in the party policy platform,” a release from the DPP’s Gender Equality Department said.
Before joining the DPP, Peng served as general secretary for the Taipei-based Awakening Foundation, organizing debate sessions on women’s viewpoints of two major political parties, the statement said.
Peng founded a journal for women in democracy movements and assisted organizing grassroots women’s groups, as well as gender equality issues at organized events.
“Peng did not live to see the strides made for her ‘one-quarter women quota’ proposal, but her spirit has not stopped,” it said.
Last week, legislators passed an amendment promoting a one-third quota for women for elected councilor positions and representative seats in local elections, which would encourage more women to participate in politics, and reduce the urban-rural gap for women in local governance.
“We shall go in search of Peng’s footsteps, by compiling news reports, articles and videotapes from that period, to reconstruct those past times and to produce a documentary film on her life story,” the statement said.
“The public can get to know Peng and her partners in the women’s movement from that era through recollected stories about them from her contemporaries in politics and her associates in advocating for gender equality,” it added.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS