Taiwan to strengthen equality laws amid political harassment scandals

Beijing, June 7 (EFE).- Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen asked her cabinet Wednesday to outline a series of reforms to promote gender equality amid recent scandals involving politicians from the two main parties in alleged cases of sexual harassment.

In a post on her Facebook account, the president said she had tasked Prime Minister Chen Chien-jen to lead a government review on the matter to propose reforms in three areas.

Tsai said she first requested draft rules based on international law and expert consultation to clearly define what constitutes “sexual harassment” so that the information can be used as a reference in education and employment settings.

The commission led by Chen should also review the mechanisms for reporting sexual harassment now in force in Taiwan and “strengthen or institute official mechanisms to intervene” in cases in which these types of accusations are not handled correctly by companies.

Lastly, the government will propose amendments to strengthen the Gender Equality Education Law.

The Taiwanese president also called on parliament to give priority to this issue at its next session and said she apologized for its mishandling of sexual harassment allegations that occurred within her party, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

This week a national policy adviser to Tsai, Yan Chih-fa, resigned from his post after being accused of harassing an employee of a Tsai voter club in 2018, though he denied the allegations.

Additionally, Kuomintang opposition party parliamentarian Chen Hsueh-sheng was sentenced by a Taiwanese court to compensate another legislator with the equivalent of $2,600 for sexually harassing her in 2020 in the Legislative Chamber. EFE

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