The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed proposed amendments to a gender equality law that aims to protect the rights and interests of victims of sexual harassment in educational settings.
The updated Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法) comes in the wake of the recent #MeToo movement in Taiwan that has been spurred by sexual misconduct allegations against figures in the political field, as well as in wider society.
The amended law stipulates that it is unlawful for educators to engage in a intimate relationship with students younger than 18.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Although such relations are not automatically against the law if the student is an adult, the intimacy must be consensual and not established through an abuse of power.
The amendment also applies to cadets in police and military academies, students in preparatory schools and juvenile reformatory schools, as well as those doing internships.
The Ministry of Education said it would formulate guidelines to help schools better understand the revised law, as some educational institutions have complained that the specifics regarding “student-teacher relationship” are not clear enough, especially in tertiary education.
The guidelines would hopefully help schools draw up their own ethical standards, and help ensure safe and gender-friendly campuses, the ministry said in a statement.
Based on the amended law, a school cannot use its position of authority to punish victims of sexual harassment who report what happened to them, or anyone who assists in reporting or requests an investigation on someone’s behalf.
When a complaint of sexual harassment is received, the school must set up a team to look into the case, but if the accused perpetrator is the principal or a teacher, the investigation would have to be completed by an outside party to guarantee impartiality.
School principals and educators who, without justified reasons, fail in their obligation to report an incident of sexual harassment within 24 hours, or deliberately conceal such acts, would be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000.
If the victim is not satisfied with the investigation results, he or she may apply to the school or other competent authorities for another investigation within 30 days after receiving the results of the initial probe.
School principals or teachers who abuse their power and sexually harass their students would not only face compensation lawsuits, but also a bill for punitive damages.
The updated act is to be promulgated on International Women’s Day on March 8 next year.
Meanwhile, cross-party negotiations on amendments to two other laws relating to gender equality — the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法) and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法) — are not yet complete, but would be put to a vote on Monday, the last day of the legislative extraordinary session.
The Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy in a news release yesterday affirmed the amendment’s demand that gender equality committees at all government levels include student representatives.
However, local governments might have difficulties locating student representatives or lack relevant regulations, it said, suggesting that the ministry draft enforcement rules or issue official guidelines.
Ministry of Education Department of Student Affairs and Special Education Director-General Wu Lin-hui (吳林輝) said that the passage of the amendment would require that the ministry amend at least seven ancillary laws, which the ministry hopes to complete and promulgate within six months.
Regarding student representatives, Wu said that the ministry would speak with local governments to gain an understanding about their plans for establishing gender equality committees.
Wu urged the public and other concerned parties not to worry and assured them that the ministry would thoroughly discuss how such committees would be formed and how they would function during subsequent meetings.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
RSS