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.
But the wording was too vague for people to understand. (I witnessed the cofusion at official meetings.)
CEDAW 第4次國家報告座談會會議紀錄(第2輪第2場) (含民間團體會後書面意見摘要)
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
CEDAW 第4次國家報告座談會會議紀錄(第2輪第2場) (含民間團體會後書面意見摘要)
場次：■7/16下午 □7/17上午 □ 7/17下午 2018
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CEDAW: Article 3
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Issue: Definitions of
Sex/ Gender (and Equality)
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一、英文
Dear
committees,
In
represent of my own and other three Associations, I would like to talk about
the issue of definitions.
There
are no clear definitions of sex/gender in our laws (the Enforcement Act of
CEDAW and the Gender Equity Education Act), and they are confusing in the
policies. Partly because both sex and gender are translated as the same
Chinese term "性別"。Without clear definitions, it initiates a
misdirecting progress.
At
first, the terms in our legal documents are in accordance with the UN
definition-(Sex means women/men, gender means female/male). However, the
definition was latter expanded and shifted to multi-sexes and multi-gender (多元性別），and in the
end, it becomes the synonym of LGBT.
"Women"
simply disappeared! It ends up with ignoring women in the
policies.
For
example:
1.The theme of
photo competition on "Seeing gender diversity" were restricted to
LGBT. Women are not included.
2.In the
Government supported radio program Gender Equality Eazy Go, LGBT topics are
about doubled than the Women topics.
3.In the
universities, all Women study were renamed as Multi-gender study.
Women are no
longer the focus of gender equality policy or education, it's replaced by
LGBT. Many women's issues are now ignored.
Therefore, we
suggest that:
1.There should
be clear definitions of sex/gender in the laws, and they should be consistent
with UN CEDAW.
2.All the laws
should include clear definitions of gender as female and male (woman &
men), and distinguishing them from sexual orientation or gender
identity.
3.Sex should be
translated as 「性別」- as it is
showed on our ID and Passport. And, gender should be translated in a
different term, as「社會性別」.
4.Stop using the
confusing term-多元性別 (multi-gender) in all legal documents.
Delete Article 2 in the Gender Equity Education Act.
5.Follow UN's
suggestion, the Gender Equity Education Act should be corrected as Gender
"Equality" education Act.
6.The factors
for intersectional discrimination, including religion or belief, race,
ethnicity, health, age, status, class, should also be included in the law to
ensure that all women are equally treated.
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場次：■7/16下午 □7/17上午 □ 7/17下午 2018
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關切議題（Issue): CEDAW第三條：關於性別定義
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二、中文
委員好：
我代表中華兒少愛滋關懷防治協會發言，我們有三個協會都關注到性別定義的議題。
在CEDAW國內施行法以及性別平等教育法當中，性別定義是令人混淆的。因為英文文件當中的Gender以及Sex都使用同一個中文詞“性別”做翻譯，因此產生混淆。缺乏明確的定義，將導致錯誤的性別觀念與錯誤的政策方向。
原本我國法律中的性別定義跟聯合國CEDAW的定義是相同的，但是後來性別的定義被擴張成為「多元性別」，甚至多元性別成了LGBTQ的同義詞。
舉例來說：
1. 行政院所舉辦的多元的性別攝影比賽，比賽主題與方向限定為LGBTQ。女人根本被排除在外。
2. 政府經費支持的電台節目性別平等Easy go節目中，與LGBTQ相關的話題是女性的兩倍。
3.大專院校原本名為婦女研究的計畫或是課程，被迫更名為性別研究課程。
女性不見了，而女性的權益因為定義寬鬆而無法被完全的保障。
所以，我們建議：
1. 在法律條文中明確定義Sex與Gender的不同，並且符合聯合國CEDAW以生理性別（男女）為基礎。
2. CEDAW國內施行法以及性別平等教育法及所有法令應該清楚的定義Sex 以及Gender，並與性傾向及性別認同加以區別。
3. Sex應該翻譯成「性別」─與我國身份證及護照上的翻譯一致。而Gender翻譯成「社會性別」。
4. 不要再使用多元性別一詞，刪除性平法第二條。避免繼續造成混淆
5. 性別平等教育的英文名（Gender Equity
Education Act）應該更名為 Gender
Equality Education Act，以符合聯合國委員對於法律達到實質平等的要求。
6. 將其他會造成交叉歧視的要素，例如種族、部落、宗教或是信仰、健康、社經地位以及年紀等條件都納入性別平等教育法案中。
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(2)
Recommendations of the CEDAW International Review Committee to the government 2018/07/20
Meaning and use of the terms “sex” and “gender”10. The IRC is concerned with the inappropriate conceptual and practical use of the terms “sex” and “gender” in Taiwan. In the CEDAW jurisprudence the Convention refers to sexbased discrimination, but also covers gender-based discrimination against women. The term “sex” refers to biological differences between men and women. The term “gender” refers to socially constructed identities, attributes and roles for women and men and society’s social and cultural meaning for these biological differences resulting in hierarchical relationships between women and men and in the distribution of power and rights favoring men and disadvantaging women.
11. The IRC recommends the Government to align all the legislative texts and policy documents and promote the correct and consistent understanding of the terms “sex” and “gender” in line with CEDAW Convention and the Committee’s General Recommendation No. 28.
消歧公約國際審查委員會對政府的建議2018/07/20 (官方中譯)
「性」與「性別」的意義與運用
10. 審查委員會關切「性」（sex）與「性別」（gender）二詞在概念上與實際上的不 當運用。在 CEDAW 法理中，公約提及基於性的歧視，但亦涵蓋對女性基於性別 的歧視。「性」意指男女生理上的差異；「性別」意指社會建構的男女身分、歸屬 和角色，以及社會賦予這些生理差異的社會文化意義，導致男女之間的階層關係以 及權力和權利的分配有利於男性而不利於女性。
11. 審查委員會建議臺灣政府 審查委員會建議臺灣政府依照 CEDAW 和 CEDAW委員會第28號一般性建議統 號一般性建議統 一所有法律和政策文件用詞， 一所有法律和政策文件用詞，並促進對「性」與「性別」正確、一致之認知。
The major points made in this meeting:
以下為性平會發給各政府單位的檢視原則:
中文 | 英文 |
性別 | Gender |
性傾向 | Sexual orientation |
性侵害 | Sexual assault |
性騷擾 | Sexual harassment |
性霸凌 | Sexual bullying |
性別認同 | Gender identity |
性別特質 | Gender traits |
性別歧視 | Gender discrimination |
Neither gender should occupy less than one-third of the seats of the committee/commission |
(4) My letter to the Executive Yuan
yenlin ku 2019/07/20
A. I point out that the Chinese translation of the recommendations left out the very important words "in Taiwan". "The inappropriate conceptual and practical use of the terms 'sex' and 'gender' "actually takes place here in Taiwan and needs to be addressed.
B.The instructions sent out by the Executive Yuan were so vague that most officials failed to understand its meanings.
收件人：羅政務委員秉成、性平處吳處長秀貞、勞動部林常務次長三貴
送件人：顧燕翎
主旨：有關 第3 次國家報告（審查委員會結論性意見與建議第）1011-00-02、序號2、點次10及11）國際委員指出之重要名詞誤用
說明：
審查委員會建議台灣政府根據消歧公約的條文以及委員會第28號一般性建議，校正所有法律和政策文件用詞，提升對「生理性別」(sex)與「社會性別」(gender)這兩個名詞正確、一致之理解。
附原文：
(5) Reply from the Executive Yuan 2019/07/29
They will convene a meeting to discuss this issue.(5) 行政院性平處的回覆
| Mon, 29 Jul 2019 09:56:00 |
編號 | 中文 | 英文 | 審議結論 |
1 | 性別 | Gender | gender (心理性別/社會性別) sex (生理性別) |
2 | 性傾向 | Sexual orientation | sexual orientation |
3 | 性侵害 | Sexual assault | sexual assault |
4 | 性騷擾 | Sexual harassment | sexual harassment |
5 | 性霸凌 | Sexual bullying | sexual bullying |
6 | 性別認同 | Gender identity | gender identity |
7 | 性別特質 | Gender traits | sex trait(s)/characteristic(s) (生理) gender trait(s) /characteristic(s) (心理) |
8 | 性別歧視 | Gender discrimination | sex-based discrimination; sex discrimination (對生理性別的歧視) gender-based discrimination; gender discrimination (對心理/社會性別的歧視) |
9 | 任一性別[1]人數(代表)不得少於三分之一 | Neither gender should occupy less than one-third of the seats of the committee/commission | Members of each sex shall constitute no less than one-third of the membership of the committee/commission. |
2021/01/16
Dear All,
As the fruit of several hours of research, here are my preliminary comments re the ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ discussion:
First, it is notable that the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) does not use the term ‘gender’ at all. In Article 1, it defines ‘discrimination’ as “any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex …” In Article 5, it calls for the elimination of prejudices and practices “which are based on the idea of the superiority or inferiority of either of the sexes …” All of its other provisions refer to ‘men’ and ‘women’, avoiding the use of ‘sex’, ‘sexes’ and ‘gender’.
General Recommendation No. 28 of CEDAW’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Woman repeatedly refers to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women “on the basis of sex and gender” – thus stressing the distinction between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ in this context. This distinction is highlighted by the call on states to take steps to achieve “sex non-discrimination and gender equality in practice” – i.e., no discrimination on the basis of biological sex, and equality in respect of gender identity. To clarify this distinction, the report states as follows:
Although the Convention only refers to sex-based discrimination, interpreting article 1 together with articles 2 (f) and 5 (a) indicates that the Convention covers gender-based discrimination against women. The term ‘sex’ here refers to biological differences between men and women. The term ‘gender’ refers to socially constructed identities, attributes and roles for women and men and society’s social and cultural meaning for these biological differences resulting in hierarchical relationships between women and men and in the distribution of power and rights favouring men and disadvantaging women.
This subject was helpfully examined by the European Network of Legal Experts in Gender Equality and Non-discrimination, whose report titled Gender Equality Law in Europe was published by the European Commission in January 2019. On page 10 of this report, under the subheading of “Sex/gender/transgender”, it states:
EU law does not provide definitions of the concepts of ‘sex’, ‘gender’ and ‘transgender’, and does not distinguish clearly between sex and gender. Similarly, very few countries define the concepts of ‘sex’, ‘gender’ and/or ‘transgender’ in their legislation. Finland, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Sweden are exceptions. In the Finnish Act on Equality Between Men and Women, a new subsection defines what is meant by gender identity and expression of gender. Article 10 of the Serbian Gender Equality Act defines both sex and gender: ‘sex’ relates to biological features of a person, while ‘gender’ means socially established roles, position and status of women and men in public and private lives from which, due to social, cultural and historic differences, discrimination ensues on the basis of biologically belonging to a sex. Romania recently (2015) introduced definitions of sex and gender, as well as ‘gender stereotypes’ in its Gender Equality Law, whereby gender is understood to mean the combination of roles, behaviours, features and activities that society considers to be appropriate for women and men. In Sweden, the Discrimination Act defines sex as the fact “that someone is a woman or a man.” Maltese law includes definitions of ‘gender expression’ and ‘gender identity’.
In light of these authorities, I would suggest:
1. Strictly speaking, 性別 should be translated as ‘sex’ rather than ‘gender’, even though both terms are commonly used interchangeably in English-speaking countries, with ‘gender’ having perhaps already become more commonly used than ‘sex’ for indicating whether one is male or female. [Note: According to Wikipedia, the use of ‘gender’ in place of ‘sex’ as a biological classification can be traced to the 1980s, officially adopted in 1993 when the US Food and Drug Administration started to use ‘gender’ instead of ‘sex’; however, in 2011, the FDA reversed its position and began using ‘sex’ as the biological classification and ‘gender’ as “a person’s self representation as male or female, or how that person is responded to by social institutions based on the individual’s gender presentation.”]
2. To cover the situation of those whose biological sex is not definitively male or female, or who do not identify with their birth sex, or who are undergoing or have undergone transition, 性別認同 should be translated as ‘gender identity’, since the identification is more with the construct of gender than with the biological fact of sex. This also allows for identification as gender neutral.
3. I’d say that 性別特質 might be translated as either ‘sex trait(s)’ or ‘gender trait(s)’ since it could refer to trait(s) of either biological sex or gender construct.
4. 性別歧視 might be translated as both ‘sex discrimination’ and ‘gender discrimination’ (or ‘sex-based discrimination’ and ‘gender-based discrimination’, as used in the above-cited General Recommendation No. 28).
5. 性傾向， 性侵害， 性騷擾 and 性霸凌 are appropriately translated, respectively, as ‘sexual orientation’, ‘sexual assault’, ‘sexual harassment’ and ‘sexual bullying’, since they refer to sexual behavior rather than maleness versus femaleness.
6. 任一性別人數（代表）不得少雨三分之一 should be translated as “Members of each sex shall occupy no less than one third of the seats of the committee/commission” or “Members of each sex shall constitute no less than one-third of the membership of the committee/commission.” (Note: In laws and regulations, 應 and 不得 should be translated respectively as ‘shall’ and ‘shall not’ rather than ‘should’ or ‘should not’, since they are prescriptive rather than suggestive.)
Peter
(6)「性」與「性別」英文用詞專家學者諮詢小組會議紀錄 Minutes of the Second Expert Meeting on the Usage of Sex and Gender Called by the Executive Yuan
壹、 時間：110年1月22日（星期五）下午2時
貳、 地點：本院第七會議室
參、 主持人：吳處長秀貞 紀錄：蔡宏富
肆、 出(列)席人員：詳如簽到表
伍、 主席致詞：略。
陸、 報告事項：略。
柒、 討論案：
第1案：我國法律和政策文件用詞有關「性」與「性別」之英文用詞檢視結果之其他疑義，請討論案。
決議：
一、 有關中文「性別」之英譯無法統一翻譯為sex或gender，應視法律內容脈絡判斷。至有關委員所提總統副總統選舉罷免法等疑義，併於討論案第2案就各相關法規內容討論。
二、 有關任一性別人數(代表)不得少於三分之一之英譯，維持現行性平處提供之CEDAW第3次國家報告結論性意見與建議第10點及第11點有關「性」與「性別」英文檢視原則內容版本，未來因應性別內涵之進程再作不同英譯處理考量。另刪除該檢視原則之註釋2文字。
[[1] 包含性別比例、任一性別、單一性別比例、任一性別比例、任一性別人數等文字。
第2案：有關各部會依本處提供英文(譯)之檢視原則辦理法規檢視作業之結果，請討論案。
決議：
一、 法規涉及須提供個人資料記載「性別」者，基於不同國家證件之性別英譯可能為sex或gender，爰該類法規之「性別」英譯為sex/gender，以利實務運作順暢。
二、 專家學者其他修正建議彙整如附件，並由性平處另函請相關部會依本次會議決議再行修正。
捌、 散會。（下午5時15分）
法規之性與性別英譯檢視結果之專家學者檢視意見
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