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Women’s groups outraged by ruling
WAIST NOT, WANT NOT: The High Court on Tuesday acquitted a man of sexual
harassment because a woman’s waist could not be considered a ‘private body part’
By Flora Wang and Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTERS
Thursday, Jun 17, 2010, Page 1
A women’s group and lawmakers yesterday were enraged by a
Taiwan High Court ruling the previous day that acquitted a man of sexual
harassment for holding a female subordinate at the shoulder and waist.
The court failed to take into consideration the female victim’s feelings, Modern
Women’s Foundation executive director Yao Shu-wen (姚淑文) said.
On Tuesday, the court ruled in favor of a man surnamed Chang (張) in the second
trial of a sexual harassment case.
Chang, 36 and married, was accused by a subordinate surnamed Hu (胡) of twice
placing his hand on her shoulders and then putting hands around her waist for 10
seconds during an employees’ gathering at a pub in February 2008.
Feeling violated, Hu later filed a complaint with her company and filed a
lawsuit against Chang at the Hsinchu District Court.
The district court found Chang guilty of sexual harassment and sentenced him to
40 days’ detention on the grounds that his actions constituted “touching
another’s hips, breasts or other private body parts before one can resist,” as
stipulated in the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法).
The High Court, however, overturned the lower court’s ruling in the second
trial, saying that as women often expose their shoulders or waist in summertime,
shoulders and waists should not be considered private body parts like breasts,
hips and genitalia. As the defendant did not touch those private parts, his
actions did not constitute sexual harassment, the High Court said. Tuesday’s
verdict was final.
Yao Shu-wen (姚淑文), executive director of the Modern Women’s Foundation, which
promoted the enactment of the act four years ago, said the waist was a sensitive
body part for women.
Women do not allow men to touch their waists unless they are in a relationship,
she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chao Li-yun (趙麗雲) accused the High
Court judges of having an “outdated mindset,” adding that the justice system
must be more flexible and evolve over time.
She said she was concerned the verdict might have a negative impact on the
public’s definition of sexual harassment.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英), a member of
the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, said
judges must take a defendant’s intent and a victim’s feelings into account when
determining whether a move constitutes sexual harassment.
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