One-third of all local government offices in Taiwan refuse to provide subsidies to single mothers with newborns even as Taiwan’s plummeting birthrate reaches new lows, according to information released yesterday.
Local regulations adopted by 36 township and district offices mean that single mothers with newborns will be unable to receive the between NT$2,000 and NT$10,000 in cash subsidies even if they meet all other requirements.
Those local government offices say that any request for a subsidy, which can run as high as a NT$100,000 bonus for triplets in Hsinchu City, must be accompanied by information proving the parents are legally married, in addition to other residency conditions.
The information, released yesterday by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英), led women’s advocacy organizations to call the regulations an active form of discrimination, especially against a group that needs the subsidies most.
“The [Constitutional Court] has already made it clear that any discrimination based on gender or marital status is a violation of gender equality principles,” said Chen Chao-ju (陳昭如), a National Taiwan University professor who heads the Awakening Foundation, a women’s rights group.
The regulations, she said, suggest that children born out of wedlock are not, from a government perspective, “ideal citizens.”
This is a new type of marital discrimination, which penalizes single mothers, she said.
Government statistics show there were 7,492 births by single mothers in 2009, out of a total of 191,310 nationwide. That number has steadily increased in the past decade, from 3.3 percent in 2000, when the birthrate was 305,312, to 3.9 percent last year.
LOW BIRTHRATE
Although providing the subsidies is a means to reverse the nation’s rapidly declining birthrate — which fell below 180,000 for the first time last year — it would be a mistake to ignore a growing segment who choose not to get married, Huang said.
“Taiwan’s birthrate is at a historic low. Under these circumstances … central government agencies down to local district offices should actively encourage more births … not discriminate based on gender and marital status,” she said.
However, local government offices say the subsidies are aimed at financial relief to families and that single mothers can apply for other types of assistance from the central government.
Several offices have said they were nevertheless reviewing those regulations.
SNUBBED
In Taoyuan City, which provides a subsidy of NT$5,000 per child to legally married couples who have resided in the municipality for more than six months, officials said single mothers applying for the subsidy would be turned away and referred to other agencies.
Other districts that also reject such applicants outright include Keelung and Hsinchu City. The same regulations also exist in areas in Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Chiayi, Hualien and Penghu counties as well as parts of Greater Kaohsiung.
New Taipei City (新北市) officials said the regulations were under review.
‘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