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We Analyse Our Situations

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Taiwanese Women in Church and Society

Ingrid Pi-Ying Liao

I am very delighted and greatly honoured to have the opportunity to share with you my experience and reflections. As a lay person and a woman as well, I have been involved in social activities against violations of the rights of the aborigines and young prostituted girls for more than five years. I would also like to examine the role of the church in this rapidly changing society, and how we break through the difficult situation even with limited resources.

General Situation of Taiwanese Women

Historically, oriental women have been bearing a great burden of discrimination under the patriarchal system which was fully developed and fortified by Confucianism. Male dominance can be observed in every aspect of our daily life. Although educational opportunities tend to be equal for both women and men, the stereotype that "women are supposed to be in charge of domestic work" still prevails. Thus, women always have to face the dilemma of choosing between "job" and "family." When men take care of the children, praise will be given by our society; but when conflicts arise related to job and family, women who choose jobs will be blamed by the public. Women face a great deal of pressure. They are limited from fully developing in their careers which then reinforces the employers' stereotyped concepts. They also feel guilty when they cannot take care of their own families.

At present, women in the labour force suffer the following: lower pay, inferior position, confined to certain job types, little chance at promotion and training opportunity, among others. The

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homemakers do not get any financial reward nor credit, but only the tedious work. Through sex industry, serious commodification of women exists in cities and countrysides. Even the dirty words that people use when they swear or curse are often insulting to women.

Church Women

The situation is no different for church women. They face the same situation of inferiority. The tasks of women in the church have mostly been: flower arranging, visiting church members, preparing and providing food when certain occasions arise, reception and baby sitting, etc. There is a low percentage of women in the decision-making bodies. This is usually the result of the belief that women cannot compete with men in the economic field, and are less able to gather information, make right decisions and express themselves properly. Consequently, the predisposition of the voters in the congregation, including male and female, is to take less account of women as deacons and elders.

I would like to mention the role of the pastors' wives. There is a wrong consensus in the church that "the pastor and his wife are a package" contributed to the church. Thus, many Christians take for granted that the pastor and wife are working partners. It is rare to see a pastor's wife having her own independent and paying job. But it is so easy to neglect the fact that a pastor's wife, though she gets no pay, is working too.

Women at the Bottom Layer of Society

The women I work with are the aboriginal girls. This group of people are the victims of the flesh trade. There are ten tribes comprising 340,000 mountain people in Taiwan. My research on Hwa-Hsi Street, a famous prostitution area, indicated that some 40% of the prostitutes there are aboriginal girls. But mountain people make up less than 1.8% of the total population of Taiwan. Over

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60% of me mountain girls in the hell of Hwa-Hsi Street are below age 18.

Having been aware of the reality of these unfortunate girls, we initiated a series of activities during the last five years. These include: demonstrations, sit-in protests, petitions for revision of the criminal law, etc. We came up with plans of pushing for a Juvenile Welfare Law and setting up a half-way house for shelter together with other church organizations. Slowly we tried to minimize the continuing humiliation and destruction inflicted on the girls from the aboriginal community.

The more contact we had with the girls, the more we understood the relationships between many structural factors and their unjust and unreasonable conditions, such as: (a) an unjust legal system; (b) unsound articles and provisions of the law; (c) gangsters take advantage of human weakness, hide beneath the loopholes of the law and so escape punishment; (d) police, especially at the local level, generally have connections with brothels; (e) people are ignorant about this issue; (f) the aboriginal communities are unable to equip themselves to resist the recruitment work of the flesh traders.

The Struggle Against Flesh Trade

The following passage provides mandate for our struggle against flesh trade: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. He has sent me to announce good news to the poor; to proclaim release for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind; to let the broken victims go free; to proclaim the year of the Lord's.favour." (Luke IV. 18-19.)

Let us keep the real meaning of this passage in our minds, as we now reflect together on our struggle against flesh trade. Our struggle has to do with the activities we engage in and the church

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authorities we have to deal with. I will use questions to reveal the problems:

a) There is a desperate need for expertise and finance to help find solutions and lead the way to fight or to change the situation. Does the church open all its channels to support this?

b) Is our church satisfied with itself and with the status quo? Does it exist only for self-preservation and remain ignorant about the needs of the surrounding community?

c) Is our church male-dominated? Is it elderly-centered and charity-oriented? If so, does this not hinder the church's development and growth?

d) Is clericalism stifling congregations and the committees of our social service agencies?

e) When church utilizes different resources, is it just to keep the grassroot organization as a sample showcase, and yet not allow it to develop?