In 2025, the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, under the Ministry of Culture, joined hands with the National Women’s Hall of Taiwan and the Awakening Foundation to present the program “Open Mic! Their Stories, We Continue to Tell — Film × Comics × Law: Writing the History of Gender Equality through Action.” Through three cross-disciplinary forums combining comics, law, and film, the public is invited to revisit Taiwan’s little-known history of gender equality. This series of events also echoes the spirit of The 10th Chung-Shan Youth Art Awards, using art as a medium of social dialogue to expand the impact of gender equality issues in society.
According to Secretary Lo Mei-chen of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, it is a great honor to invite everyone to participate in the book talk on the reprint of lawyer Lu Jung-hai’s Why Couldn’t They Marry?, and to revisit an important milestone in Taiwan’s gender equality movement together. The Memorial Hall has long been committed to promoting cultural equality and gender equality, and has maintained close attention to this issue. Looking back three years ago, at the Hall’s 50th anniversary, we presented the stage production No. 6 Ren’ai Road and the Hall’s 50th Anniversary Historical Exhibition, which highlighted the story of the Hall’s own staff members who fought for labor rights in 1985. These efforts were later recognized with the Executive Yuan’s “Gender Equality Innovation Award,” which gave us tremendous encouragement. Since 2023, the Hall has continued working with the National Women’s Hall of Taiwan and the Awakening Foundation to host a series of seminars and forums, in hopes of facilitating exchanges of experiences and further deepening and broadening Taiwan’s gender equality discourse.
This session featured Ms. Yang Li-chun, Section Chief of the Taipei Tenth Credit Cooperative in 1985, who personally shared her experience of being forced to resign upon marriage, with her employer breaking promises by withholding her severance pay. Courageously, she stood up to fight for her rights. At the time, she was even invited to appear on TTV’s program Late Night Talks, which stirred public debate. Although lawyer Lu Jung-hai did not know Ms. Yang personally, upon learning about her case, he became deeply concerned about the fragility of labor rights for Taiwan’s working women. In 1986, he wrote Why Couldn’t They Marry? — A Legal Analysis of the Tenth Credit Cooperative Marriage and Severance Pay Lawsuit, which re-examined the meaning of justice and labor rights from a legal perspective and triggered widespread discussion. Lawyer Lu has stated that for today’s younger generation, it may be difficult to imagine that such circumstances once prevailed in Taiwan’s workplaces, but this was the reality forty years ago. The reprint of the book, after so many years, aims to ensure that this significant chapter in Taiwan’s labor law and gender equality history continues to be discussed.
In addition, lawyer Pan Cheng-fen, who participated in drafting the “Act of Gender Equality in Employment” (the predecessor to the Gender Equality in Employment Act), also shared her experiences in advocating for women’s labor rights and joining the women’s movement. With lawyer Yuan Hsiu-hui, Chairperson of the Taipei Women’s Awakening Association, serving as moderator, the event facilitated dialogue across generations. The audience responded enthusiastically, with many deeply moved, expressing that it was difficult to imagine the harsh circumstances faced by working women in Taiwan forty years ago. Learning how the rights we now enjoy were fought for step by step made everyone more appreciative of today’s hard-won equality. In the warm and open atmosphere, cross-generational and cross-disciplinary exchanges not only connected life experiences from different eras but also fostered a deeper understanding of Taiwan’s path toward gender equality.
The third forum, held on August 29, *“Unwilling Memories of Silence: The Struggles of Women Workers” — Screening and Exchange on the Documentary Chin-he, will present the Awakening Foundation’s 2024 documentary Chin-he. The film pays tribute to Ms. Tsai Chin-he, a staff member of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, who in 1987 courageously fought for women’s labor rights. Her pursuit of justice became the starting point of the movement to legislate the Gender Equality in Employment Act.
After the completion of the three forums under “Open Mic! Their Stories, We Continue to Tell — Film × Comics × Law: Writing the History of Gender Equality through Action,” a short documentary is planned to be produced and shared on the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall’s official website. The aim is to carry forward their actions and voices, ensuring that this important memory of gender equality continues to serve as a force driving society forward.
Media Contact: Liang Pei-chun, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
Tel: 02-2758-8008 ext. 505 / Mobile: 0937-076981
Event Coordinator: Hsu Cheng-yu, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
Tel: 02-2758-8008 ext. 510