Framed by patriarchal thinking, an amendment to the Civil Law (民法) allowing individuals to change their surnames represents "one step forward and three steps back" on the issue of empowering people to identify themselves as they see fit, a women's rights group said yesterday.
Passed by the legislature last week, an amendment to article 1059 of the Civil Law allows individuals to legally switch their fathers' surnames for their mothers', provided that both parents agree to the switch, representatives of the Awakening Foundation said at a press conference yesterday.
The foundation is a non-profit organization based in Taipei that is dedicated to protecting women's rights.
"We're happy that the amendment finally passed after six years of lobbying," said foundation board member and lawyer Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), "but it's riddled with problems arising from a traditional mindset."
The first problem, foundation director Huang Chang-ling (
All it takes to torpedo the whole process is the father's refusal, Huang said.
"The direction that this bill is going in is promising, but there aren't any provisions to address what to do if the parents can't agree," Yu said.
"At that point, old patriarchal tendencies take over, leaving people little choice but to retain their fathers' surnames," Yu said.
The second roadblock in the bill is the requirement that an individual seeking a surname change must get his or her parents' permission even after becoming an adult, a foundation press release said.
A person seeking to change his or her name is also only allowed to switch from the father's surname to that of the mother's, or vice versa, and can't adopt a third surname.
In other words, the law treats those who want to change their names as minors regardless of their age, reflecting a backward cultural mindset, foundation members said.
"What's in a surname? The traditional thinking is associated with preserving one's lineage, a Chinese cultural mainstay. But sometimes that paradigm clashes with an individual's human rights," Yu said.
"This bill takes one step forward before taking three steps back," she said.
Those who typically want to change their surnames are children of single mothers or individuals who have suffered extreme abuse by their fathers, foundation members added.
Speaking to the Taipei Times yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Yun-sheng (林耘生), who serves on the legislative Judiciary Committee that passed the amendment, said that, no matter what, the amendment marks a step forward on the issue of surname changes.
"Compared with what the law was before, this is an improvement, satisfying the conditions of most people who need to rely on it [to change their names]," Lin said.
Surname changes, he added, create many "headaches" in the operations of household registration offices nationwide, and thus related laws and regulations can only be liberalized up to a point.
Legally changing one's surname was virtually impossible before last week's amendment.
"But we're willing to listen to the criticisms of the Awakening Foundation and work with them to make the law better," Lin added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and