「生理性別」與「社會性別」的國家討論 Discussions on the Definition of Sex and Gender at the National Level, 2018-2020 (Part 1)
The series of discussions on the definition and usage of "sex" and "gender" in national policies in Taiwan initiated by NGOs at the Review and Presentation of the ROC (Taiwan) CEDAW 3rd National Report in July, 2018 was conducted in the following order.
1. The Association of HIV/AIDS and Child Care and 3 other NGOs urged the government to use "sex" and "gender" according to CEDAW's definition and should not leave out women.
2. The CEDAW International Review Committee (IRC) suggested the government to review and correct the use of "sex" and "gender" in "all the legislative texts and policy documents and promote correct understanding of these terms in line with CEDAW".
(The IRC specifies that "The term “sex” refers to "biological differences between men and women" .See 2. in the following.)
3. The Executive Yuan issued commands to all government agencies to review and correct the use of "sex" and "gender", but the wording was too vague for people to understand. (I witnessed the cofusion at official meetings.)
4. I wrote to the Executive Yuan to point out that in the official Chinese translation of the IRC's Recommendations the critical word of "Taiwan" is missing ("the inappropriate conceptual and practical use of the terms 'sex' and 'gender' in Taiwan") and that instructions given by the Executive Yuan were unclear.
5. The Executive Yuan replied and promised to make corrections.
6. The Department of Gender Equality under the Executive Yuan called for a closed-door "expert" meeting (to which none of the initial NGOs was invited), in which it was decided that there was no inappropriate conceptual and practical use of the terms 'sex' and 'gender' in Taiwan. The IRC's misunderstanding was caused by translation.
7. The Executive Yuan issued a guidline of Chinese to English translation regarding "gender" to all government agencies, demanding that "all the legislative texts " should be revised accordingly. No definition was given, but a list of gender-related English and Chinese terms were placed side by side. The English word "sex" disappeared.
消歧公約第三次報告國際審查委員會有關"生理性別"及"社會性別"之討論過程
1. 民間團體發言，要求政府正確使用＂生理性別＂及＂社會性別＂，不應以定義不明的"多元性別"取代消歧公約中的男女
此外，更饒具政治意義的是，賀錦麗一改往常在公開場合穿著深色褲裝的習慣，演說當天穿全白褲裝和打著蝴蝶結的絲質白襯衫登上講台，不言而喻地宣示婦女運動的歷史傳承。回想曾經被民主黨提名為副總統候選人的費拉洛(Geraldine Ferraro)和總統候選人的柯林頓(Hillary
Clinton)，在接受提名的演講台上，也都選擇穿著類似的白色褲裝。今年初川普總統到國會發表國情諮文時，民主黨的女議員全數以白衣現身，慶祝美國通過憲法十九條修正案一百週年，婦女得到與男性相同的投票權。在重大場合，民主黨的女性從政者毫不迴避展現女性的性別認同，延續婦運精神，也汲取其歷史能量。與稍早衝破玻璃天花板的幾位其他國家女首相—英國柴契爾、印度甘地和以色列梅爾夫人—選擇與婦運和性別議題保持距離的作法大相逕庭。
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