As public awareness of gender equality has risen in Taiwan, the percentage of male victims of domestic violence has increased year by year, accounting for 23.4 percent of cases last year, the Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported recently.
A traditional patriarchal system dictates that men are strong and extroverted while women are passive and introverted. However, the gender framework of “strong men, weak women” is transforming.
Aside from the change in the domestic violence ratio, another major aspect of gender equality awareness deserves greater attention — the imbalance between paternal and maternal rights in cases of discretionary parental rights of minors.
When a couple files for a divorce but cannot reach an agreement on parental rights of their young children, the only way to settle the issue is for a court authority to make a decision. In those cases, a judge almost always orders a social organization to send a social worker to conduct home visits to gain a deeper understanding of the two parties’ backgrounds. The social worker’s report, based on the visits, often influences a judge’s ruling.
In practice, the vast majority of social workers are female. Home visit reports based on a female perspective are often biased in favor of mothers, not to mention the legal principle of granting mothers custody of infant children is an entrenched practice.
Fathers have fewer bargaining chips in a fight for custody of their young children, and enter a dispute with a disadvantage before a lawsuit even begins. Due to the excessive imbalance, minors are the ones most likely to suffer in the end.
When resources allow, home visits should consist of one male and one female social worker, conducting an investigation in collaboration. Changes in approach to gender equality should also involve discussion of discretionary parental rights of minor children, so fathers in Taiwan are no longer at a disadvantage when fighting for custody of their children.
Lee Yen-feng is a lawyer.
Translated by Eddy Chang
A nation has several pillars of national defense, among them are military strength, energy and food security, and national unity. Military strength is very much on the forefront of the debate, while several recent editorials have dealt with energy security. National unity and a sense of shared purpose — especially while a powerful, hostile state is becoming increasingly menacing — are problematic, and would continue to be until the nation’s schizophrenia is properly managed. The controversy over the past few days over former navy lieutenant commander Lu Li-shih’s (呂禮詩) usage of the term “our China” during an interview about his attendance
Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), the son of former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Politburo member and former Chongqing Municipal Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai (薄熙來), used his British passport to make a low-key entry into Taiwan on a flight originating in Canada. He is set to marry the granddaughter of former political heavyweight Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政), the founder of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital in Yilan County’s Luodong Township (羅東). Bo Xilai is a former high-ranking CCP official who was once a challenger to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the chairmanship of the CCP. That makes Bo Guagua a bona fide “third-generation red”
Would China attack Taiwan during the American lame duck period? For months, there have been worries that Beijing would seek to take advantage of an American president slowed by age and a potentially chaotic transition to make a move on Taiwan. In the wake of an American election that ended without drama, that far-fetched scenario will likely prove purely hypothetical. But there is a crisis brewing elsewhere in Asia — one with which US president-elect Donald Trump may have to deal during his first days in office. Tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea have been at
US president-elect Donald Trump earlier this year accused Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) of “stealing” the US chip business. He did so to have a favorable bargaining chip in negotiations with Taiwan. During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump demanded that European allies increase their military budgets — especially Germany, where US troops are stationed — and that Japan and South Korea share more of the costs for stationing US troops in their countries. He demanded that rich countries not simply enjoy the “protection” the US has provided since the end of World War II, while being stingy with
RSS