Gender Equity Education Act () of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

was enacted on June 23, 2004. The General Provisions states the purposes of the act: "to promote substantive

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

, eliminate

gender discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

, uphold human dignity, and improve and establish education resources and environment of gender equality." In recent years, this act has become controversial because it has implemented

anti-discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

and

LGBT sex education LGBT sex education is a sex education program within a school, university, or community center that addresses prominent sexual health topics among LGBT groups. Within schools, topics on LGBT sexual health are usually integrated into the general s ...

Content

(Note: this is not an exact quotation)

General Provisions

The chapter states that the central competent authority is Ministry of Education, and local competent authorities are city government, etc. All competent authorities and schools shall have a "gender equity education committee", whose tasks include promoting curricula, teaching, and assessments on gender equity education. At least half of the members of such a committee shall be women, and at least two thirds of the members shall be experts in the area. This chapter specifically defines "sexual assault or sexual harassment on campus" as "sexual assault or sexual harassment that involves the school principal, faculty, staff or student as one party and student as the other party", separate these events from others.

Learning environment and resources

The chapter states * The school shall not discriminate in its teaching, assessments, etc. against students on the basis of their

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

. But shall affirmatively provide assistance to students who are disadvantaged due to those (such as

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

, and

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestation, gestates) inside a woman, woman's uterus (womb). A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occur ...

students) in order to improve their situation. * The admission acceptance shall be gender neutral, except schools with historical tradition or other reasons. (Many famous schools in Taiwan are single-sex) * Faculty shall be given gender equity courses before and during career. * The school shall build safe campus, such as safer

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popu ...

s. * The chapter specifically states the school shall affirmatively protect pregnant students' right to education. * At least one-third of members shall consist of either sex, in Staff Appraisal Committee and similar organization of schools, unless members either sex are too few.

Curriculum, teaching materials and instruction

Curricula In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

shall cover gender equity education. The school shall develop relevant plan and assessments. All curricula shall comply with principle of gender equity. All teachers shall maintain gender equity consciousness, and "shall encourage students to take courses in fields that are not traditionally affiliated with their gender". The Enforcement Rules for the act further states that gender equity education curricula shall cover "affective education,

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

, and gay and lesbian education".

Prevention and handling of sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus

* When handling such a case, the school shall report according to relevant laws, and turn the case to its gender equity education committee. * The party's and offense-reporter's identities shall be kept confidential. * The victim shall be informed with rights, and provided with protection measures if necessary.

Application for investigation and relief

If the school violates the act, victim can apply for investigation to the supervising authority.

History

The act originated from Taiwanese local feminism movement in 1980s, began to be drawn in 2000, and was announced in 2004.

Origin

The act originated from earlier demands of "sex equality" (, literally translated as "Equality of two sex") education. 1988,

Awakening Foundation The Awakening Foundation () is a Taiwanese feminist organization aiming to provide the women of Taiwanese society with the resources necessary to combat gender discrimination. Beginning as an offshoot of the gender equality magazine "Awakening Ma ...

published a handbook, which examined the official edition of

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

s of primary and high schools on language and social science, and concluded them full of gender stereotypes. 1996, following then policy of educational reforms, Awakening Foundation presented the Education Reform Council of

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan. ...

with five demands: # Improve textbooks # Train faculty # Establish gender equality committee # Increase women's participation in decision making # Set up

women studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

curricula The first four demands became the content of Gender Equity Education Act. In the end of the same year, Sexual Assault Prevention Act was passed quickly because of the shock of the rape-murder case of a feminist

Peng Wan-ru Peng Wan-ru (; 13 July 1949 – 30 November 1996), also spelled Peng Wan-ju, was a feminist Taiwanese politician. The director of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Women's Affairs Department, Peng advocated for the safety and development ...

. The act states that primary and high schools shall have "gender equality education". This is the legal basis of Gender Equity Education Act. In March 1997, the Ministry of Education established the "Gender Equality Education Committee", which later gave rise to the act. In 1999, the Ministry of Education passed the executive order of "Principles of Handling Sexual Assault or Sexual Harassment on College Campus, Primary and Secondary Schools". Schools followed order to establish rules and taskforces.

Design and legislation

In 2000, "Gender Equality Education Committee" commended Chen Hwei-shin, Shen Mei-chen, Su Chien-ling and Hsieh Hsiao-chin to draw the draft of "Gender Equality Education Act". The draft was completed in 2001. The draft contained all five chapters of the Gender Equity Education Act. In this version, there is work protection of pregnant faculty and staff in the chapter about learning environment, but not in that chapter of Gender Equity Education Act, because such protection has been given by "Gender Equality In Employment Law". During the draft the committee was shocked by the death of student Yeh Yung-chih, who was later considered as having

Gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The diagnostic label gender identity disorder (GID) was used until ...

. Thus the committee concerned more on

, and

sexual identity Sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically and/or sexually attracted.
''Sex ...

, and in 2002 changed the name of the act from "Gender Equality" (, literally translated as "Equality of two sex") to "Gender Equity" () . The draft of Gender Equity Education Act was completed in May 2003, passed Executive Yuan meeting on March 31, 2004, and then entered stage of legislation. The "NGO League of Promoting Gender Equity Education Act" (性別平等敎育法民間推動聯盟) was then formed. It included

, and

Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association (TTHA; ) is an organization that provides the LGBT community with peer counseling, support networks, and a community resource center. It is the first LGBT non-governmental organization (NGO) registered in Tai ...

. June 4, The act was passed in Legislative Yuan, and on June 23, it was announced by the president.

Implementation

Before the act was announced, there were already many training and curriculum studies. After the announcement, all training and studies were based on the act. Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association has been hosting "Understanding LGBT" workshop for teachers since 2000. There are also some schools combined previous sex education and

abstinence education Abstinence-only sex education is a form of sex education that teaches not having sex outside of marriage. It often excludes other types of sexual and reproductive health education, such as birth control and safe sex. Comprehensive sex education, ...

(run by religious groups in public schools) such as showcasing a documentary of

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

as their version of gender equity education. The official course contents regulation "Index of Capabilities" is still under studies in March 2006. All public schools had established committees according to the act, religious private schools may get exemptions. Although the "violence from ex-lovers" was not addressed in the draft of the act, major criminal cases of such violence are still occurring. And there are people who wish the act would result more affective education to reduce such violence.
) On March 30, 2006, Ministry of Education ruled that any campus-wide competition or selection campaign (such as

beauty contest A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

) must summit project to the gender equity commission of the school. And if the campaign violate the regulation of gender discrimination of the act, the campaign would be corrected.

References

Gender Equity Education Act

Enforcement Rules for the Gender Equity Education Act
In Chinese : *

* 蘇芊玲，台灣推動兩性平等教育的回顧與前瞻，「兩性平等教育季刊」，第十四期，2001年2月，頁13-18。�
網路上的檔案
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格式） * 性別平等教育法民間推動聯盟�
「性別平等新校園　亟待立法來成全」性別平等教育法推法座談會
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��2006年3月30日，中央社。

External links

Key Figures for Calculating Composite Gender Equality Index

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教育部性別平等教育全球資訊網
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Content

General Provisions

Learning environment and resources

Curriculum, teaching materials and instruction

Prevention and handling of sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus

Application for investigation and relief

History

Origin

Design and legislation

Implementation

See also

References

External links