Girard Mariano Lopezby Girard Mariano Lopez
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Photo Credit: Naomi Goddard
ON SUNDAY, dozens of migrant workers in Taipei gathered at the city’s central train station to protest gender violence against migrant women as well as raise awareness about the plight of Palestinian women and children through a flash mob performance. This was in celebration of “One Billion Rising”, an annual campaign against rape and gender violence held in 60 countries worldwide. The name comes from a statistic that within their lifetime, at least one in three women across the world will have encountered gender violence, which totals to around one billion people.
Photo credit: Naomi Goddard
The event was organized by Migrante Taiwan, along with other migrant and civic organizations. In their press release, One Billion Rising Taiwan highlighted the theme of “Unite for a World Free From War, Exploitation, and Displacement!”. This year’s event pays special focus not only on unjust working conditions and gender violence that migrant women face, but also voice grave opposition to violence against women in Palestine.
“It’s a very dignifying experience…that this problem that I’m sure many of them have faced,” Migrante secretary-general Julia Mariano said. “One Billion has been this creative way to protest and talk about this issue that is usually hard to talk about for women.”
Photo credit: Naomi Goddard
In a recent study by the Serve the People Association surveying 600 migrant workers, it was found that one in six migrant women have been subjected to gender violence. Of these, around 90% are domestic workers. Meanwhile, in the manufacturing sector, around 80% of all migrant workers who became pregnant had their contracts terminated and were forced to return home.
“They don’t have any protection for their reproductive rights. So when they are pregnant, they will always face this harassment from the employers or the brokers. That’s one,” Lennon Wang, director of labor organization Serve The People Association Taoyuan said. “Another is they are also vulnerable from sexual violence, gender-based violence, especially domestic workers, because they usually they have to stay in the same room with the patients and they are vulnerable and they are exposed to everyone in the house.”
Photo credit: Naomi Goddard
Beyond Taiwan, attendees also talked about the ongoing genocide in Palestine. A recent statistic by Al Jazeera revealed that two-thirds of those killed in recent Israeli air strikes were women and children. Furthermore, a recent report by the UN Human Rights Council revealed that Israel uses sexual and gender based violence to “destabilize, dominate, oppress, and destroy the Palestinian people.” The event’s organizers say that both Palestinian women and migrant women in Taiwan are both victims of forced migration, the former driven by war and the latter driven by economic hardship.
“We cannot speak of women’s rights without speaking of liberation. We cannot celebrate empowerment while ignoring the systems that keep women oppressed,” Dr. Amel Eid, a Palestinian woman in Taiwan, said during the event.
Photo credit: Naomi Goddard
A brief argument between the event organizers and the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) broke out. The TRA officials tried to stop the event from proceeding, citing the lack of a permit despite the organizers reportedly coordinating with local police authorities prior to the protest. Serve the People Association Taoyuan director Lennon Wang argued against authorities, insisting that Taipei Main Station is a public space and that they had the right to hold their event despite not having secured a permit with the TRA officials.
Despite initial threats from the TRA to kick out the participants through the public announcement system, the event pushed through, with attendees dancing to One Billion Rising songs “Bangon, Babae, Bangon” (Rise, Women, Rise) and “Break the Chain”. A singing of “Mabuhay, Palestina” (Long live, Palestine) was also spearheaded by Julia Mariano of Migrante Taiwan. Kenyan participants also added flare to the flash mob as they performed acrobatic tricks, dazzling passersby.
Photo credit: Naomi Goddard
Taiwan is home to around 825,000 migrant workers, primarily from Southeast Asia. While the government has taken steps to address certain issues such as freedom to change employers and promote direct hiring from the migrant workers’ home country, activists present in the event say much has yet to be done to support migrant women, especially those who face gender violence.