Gender Equality and anti-discrimination in Chinese and Taiwanese Law: Using Law to Achieve Social Change

Gender Equality and anti-discrimination in Chinese and Taiwanese Law: Using Law to Achieve Social Change

本篇文章研究了有關聯合國所建立並由多數國所採用之性別平等與反歧視原則。這些國際上所建置之平等原則卻跟不上中國之政治與法律變化。這篇文章討論範圍排除香港與新加坡，因為這個地區與國家過去深受英國法與長期殖民影響。本篇文章認為中國的傳統法律習慣在今日仍影響著平等原則之實行。本文首先梳理中國與台灣關於性別平等法律的法制架構，並觀察中國與台灣不同的性平相關管制與政策，社會實情反映了許多相似之處，且法院判決並非一直支持法律見解，並難以在自治地區執法。在中國與台灣，女性被物化的情況為女性受到暴力與弱勢的對待之理由，無論是在家庭內外。結論而言，雖然台灣努力嘗試透過法律以防制中國與東南亞新娘此種商業性的婚姻買賣行為，這些行為可能僅是因為台灣在2006年美國人口買賣報告中評價下降以及其他國際壓力，而並非為自身認知到女性的人口買賣是從人權保障之角度具有道德上錯誤與無法接受。本篇文章指出這些問題有值得討論之價值，無論係從女性主義的角度，並從許多其他女性相關之爭議觀察，法律在傳統中國社會的變遷中能扮演何種角色。

This paper investigates the principles of (gender) equality and antidiscrimination as established by the United Nations and adopted on most national levels. While the equality principles were established internationally, the political and legal background of China changed. This paper does not discuss the Chinese city states of Hong Kong and Singapore, both deeply influenced by British law and centuries of colonial rule. The paper argues that such traditional legal customs influence equality practices in China today. This paper studies the legal scheme of both Chinese and Taiwanese law concerning gender equality, and observes that though China and Taiwan differ in their gender-related legislation and policies, social reality shows numerous similarities, and court rulings do not always support the law; and are difficult to implement in self-governing villages. This status of women as merchandise may be responsible for the acts of violence against women that are prevalent both in China and Taiwan, both within and outside the family. In conclusion, though Taiwan has tried very hard to abolish by law the commercial recruitment of brides both in China and throughout SoutheastAsia, one may still wonder if this effort has been due to the worsening ranking of Taiwan in the U.S. Trafficking in Persons report after 2006 (U.S. Department of State 2012), and is due to international pressure rather than resulting from the awareness and acknowledgment that trafficking of women is morally wrong and inacceptable in a human rights perspective. The paper points out the need to discuss generally, from a feminist perspective, and in detail dealing with the variety of women' issues, the role that law can play for social change in traditionally Chinese societies.