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韓国：与党議員が「家族支援法」発議 家族概念を大幅拡大へ (朝鮮日報・日本語版 2005/06/27)

韓国：与党議員が「家族支援法」発議　家族概念を大幅拡大へ (朝鮮日報・日本語版 2005/06/27)

　従来、結婚・血縁・養子縁組などを想定していた家族概念の範囲を、大幅に拡大させる法案が27日国会に提出された。

　ヨルリン・ウリ党の張香淑（チャン・ヒャンスク）議員ら与野党の議員29人は、同日、同棲、シングルマザー、委託児童共同体なども家族として認め、政府がこれらの家族の解体を防ぐための各種の支援を行なうべきという「家族支援基本法（家族支援法）」を発議することを明らかにした。

　家族支援法が国会で成立すれば、従来の「健康家庭基本法（健康家庭法）」は廃止され、家族支援法が取って代わることになる。

　今年から施行された「健康家庭法」は、政府が家族の解体を防ぐため、離婚などの家庭問題を予防しプログラムを開発するための健康家庭センターなどを運営するよう規定している。

　しかし、一部の女性団体は昨年10月、「健康家族法は結婚による家族だけを『健康な家族』と位置づけ、結婚をしていない家族、同性愛者の家族などに対する平等権を侵害する」とし、国家人権委員会に陳情を行なった。

　同日提出された法案は、各女性団体のこうした認識が大幅に反映されたものだ。このため、戸主制の廃止に次ぎ、再び国会審議過程で家族概念をめぐって論争が起こることが予想される。

　従来の「健康家族法」や今回に提出された「家族支援法」の共通の問題意識は、家族の解体を防ぐために政府が制度的・財政的支援を行なうべきという点だ。

　しかし、張議員の法案は結婚、血縁、養子縁組などで構成される家族以外に、事実婚に基づいた共同体、委託を受け子どもを育児する共同体、民法上の後見がある共同体、未婚の父母と子どもからなる共同体、このほか、大統領令で定める共同体すべてを家族と規定した。

　この場合、「姦通罪」で法的権利を保障されなかった一夫多妻の家庭も保護の対象になるうえ、大統領令の改正によっては、同性愛者のカップルも家族として認められる。

インド洋大津波から半年 女性減少 結婚強要や暴力次々 (産経 2005/06/27)

インド洋大津波から半年　女性減少　結婚強要や暴力次々 (産経 2005/06/27)

　【シンガポール＝藤本欣也】インド洋一帯を大津波が襲ってから二十六日で半年たった。大津波の特徴の一つは、成人男性より体力的に弱い女性や子供たちに犠牲が集中した点だ。犠牲者の八割が女性で占められた村もあり、後に残ったのは、男女間バランスが大きく崩れ住民のほとんどが成人男性といういびつな地域社会構造だった。数少ない女性に対するセクハラ、結婚の強要などの被害も報告されている。

　津波の直撃を受けたインドネシア・アチェ州北部のムナサ村では、住民約千百人のうち生存者は１４％の百六十一人にとどまり、しかも女性は四十五人しかいなくなった。

　住民は今なおテント生活を強いられているが、国際援助団体、オックスファムなどの報告によると、被災から時間がたつにつれて女性をめぐるトラブルが増えている。男性による結婚強要やセクハラ、暴力が主なもので、幼女もこうした被害を受けているという。

　もちろん、夫や妻を失った被災者の中には再婚の道を選び、将来に向けて新たな家庭を築き始めた住民も少なくない。

　ただ、配偶者や婚約者の遺体が見つからず死亡を完全に確認できない場合、どう踏ん切りをつけるのか、厳しい選択を迫られているのが現状だ。

　今月二十二日には、津波で離れ離れになっていた親子が半年ぶりに再会を果たした事例も報告されている。アチェ州・バンダアチェの政府事務所で、ムハマド・アリさん（４５）は十五歳の娘を抱きしめ、
「もうだめだと思っていたのに…」と言って大粒の涙をこぼした。

　残された被災者の心の負担は時間の経過とともに大きくなるばかりだ。

Sex is China's latest boom industry - Guardian

Sex is China's latest boom industry
From vibrators to plastic vaginas, the country supplies 70% of all 'adult toys'
Jonathan Watts in Shenzhen
Saturday June 25, 2005
Guardian

With a glazed look in her eyes, the bored production line worker dips her hand into a bag full of short and curlies, peels off a strip of double-sided transparent tape and applies the furry finishing touch to a plastic vagina.

On the table behind, three young migrant workers from Hubei province are a picture of tedium as they fix studs and chains on a red rubber bondage outfit. Nearby, a more experienced worker inserts small electric motors into giant pink vibrators and then buzzes them briefly into action to make sure the connections work.

The Shaki adult toy factory in Shenzhen is an orgy of production. And though nothing could seem less erotic to the workers, their output is testimony to the growing passion of consumers for China's latest boom industry: sex.

The country now provides 70% of the world's sex toys.

While the bulk of the equipment is destined for export, a growing share is now being sold domestically, to a population that has never had as much money and freedom to experiment.

Thanks to a sharply expanding economy and the liberalisation of many aspects of private life, attitudes towards sex have undergone a sea change.

During the cultural revolution men and woman were often segregated, overt sexuality in dress or behaviour was frowned on, and kissing in public could bring condemnation.

Today, conservative values remain strong in the countryside, but in the cities young people canoodle openly on park benches and try out the alternative sexual behaviour they see on the internet and on pirated western DVDs.

A survey by the Family Planning Agency found that almost 70% of Chinese were not virgins when they married, compared with 16% at the end of the 1980s.

Prostitution, the target of a fierce and successful crackdown during the Mao Zedong era, is once again a huge business. In places like Shenzhen, brothels are so tolerated by the authorities that street upon street of massage parlours and karaoke bars display a selection of girls in their shop windows.

On weekends, gay and lesbian bars, once unimaginable, draw packed crowds in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other large cities throughout China.

The sex toy industry is also going from strength to strength. In Beijing, it was not until 1993 that the first adult health retailer, as such outlets are euphemistically named, opened. Now the capital is estimated to have 2,000 such shops.

Most of the early establishments were dowdy and staffed by matrons in white laboratory coats, offering potency pills to a largely male clientele. But increasing competition is pushing retailers to be more imaginative in their presentation. Public advertising is forbidden, but managers are displaying a more colourful array of products on their shelves and expressing a wider range of ideas about their role.

"I feel my business is standing on the front lines of a sexual revolution," Meng Yu, who runs the G-Spot, told the domestic media. "I believe all adults have the same right to enjoy sexual pleasure. There should be no difference between the orient and the west on this point."

But achieving recognition has been a hard slog. Before he was able to open Shaki in 1995, the owner, Fang Hong, said it took him years to acquire the necessary permits from 36 different government agencies. His business, which has since grown at the rate of more than 20% per year, now employs 300 people during the peak season before Christmas.

At the company's factory in the People Love Technology Park in Shenzhen, products are tailored to meet the different demands of major buyers in Japan and the US.

Casting an expert eye over a range of blow-up dolls, he said westerners preferred large realistic figures with lipstick and wigs, while his Asian customers tended towards petite inflatables with cartoon faces. "I think Asians emphasise the fantasy element of play, while westerners think more in terms of realism and utilisation," he said.

Given China's 1.3 billion population, he said domestic sales were relatively small, but were growing fast.

At a sex toy fair last year in Shanghai, the organisers estimated that the business was already worth 100 bn renminbi (£6.6bn) and expanding at the rate of 30% per year.

"It takes time for people to accept such toys," said Mr Fang. "But Chinese people are like any other human beings. When consumption levels rise, so does the interest in things like this. I think Chinese people are having more fun."

(snip)

· Additional reporting by Huang Lisha

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1514392,00.html

NYT Editorial: Educating Girls

The New York Times Editorial
June 25, 2005
Educating Girls

The wish list of the world's poorest families is long. They need to grow more crops and start more businesses. They need to have smaller families, healthier and better educated children and safer pregnancies and births. They need to fight AIDS and protect women and children from domestic violence. There is one program that will help achieve these goals and more: educating girls. When officials of the richest countries meet next month at the Group of 8 summit, they should strongly consider a large investment in schooling for girls.

Worldwide, 58 million school-age girls are deprived of education. In rural Africa, about 70 percent of girls do not finish primary school. In some countries, a girl is 20 percent less likely to start school than her brother is.

Girls benefit tremendously from education, and so do the societies around them. But, especially in rural or traditional societies, parents need daughters to help in the house. They are often afraid to send girls on unsafe walks to faraway schools.

Perhaps most important, in many places girls become part of their husband's family when they marry, so parents of an educated girl do not reap the benefits of her higher income and skills. These cultures have a saying: educating your daughter is like watering your neighbor's garden. Since parents in many places must pay for school fees, books and uniforms, they often send only their boys.

But countries have begun to notice that educating women provides amazing social benefits, from better health to a better economy. They have begun programs to encourage girls to start and stay in school. The most direct way is to make education cheaper - nations that have eliminated school fees have had their schools flooded with girls. In Uganda, attendance soared from 2.5 million to 6.5 million children, most of them girls, after fees were abolished in 1997. Other nations give cash payments or bags of wheat to families for attending school. In other places, building schools in each community so students can travel less is the solution.

The Save the Children charity recently ranked Bolivia as the country that has made the most improvement in girls' education. In 1995, Bolivia instituted sweeping reforms, with special attention to rural girls. Families received cash incentives. Schools got more teachers who speak indigenous languages, and revamped schedules to provide vacations during harvests. Bolivia has since closed the gender gap and the number of students completing primary school rose to 78 percent from 10 percent.

Three years ago, rich countries and organizations promised countries with similarly thoughtful and transparent plans that money would be no obstacle. Nearly 40 countries have such plans, but sadly, the money hasn't materialized. Since attracting girls means hiring more teachers, poor governments are unwilling to get started until they know they can rely on the money to pay salaries.

Next month's meeting of the G-8 can fix this. Some $5 billion in new money a year is needed to help meet the goal of universal education. So far, the Bush administration has been resisting calls to commit more money to Africa. But Laura Bush is a passionate advocate of girls' education. She should convince her husband that there are few better bargains.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/opinion/25sat2.html

NYT Editorial: A Victory for Women

The New York Times Editorial
June 24, 2005
A Victory for Women

In a heartening advance with national reverberations, the Republican-led New York State Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that will permit local pharmacists to dispense emergency contraceptives to women who do not have a prescription. The surprising 34-to-27 vote, which followed easy approval by the Democratic-led Assembly, catapults the issue to a noncommittal Gov. George Pataki. Mr. Pataki has no principled course but to sign it.

The measure is a necessary response to the ideological gridlock at the Food and Drug Administration. The F.D.A. is still stalling over granting all American women over-the-counter access to the morning-after contraceptive known as Plan B, a step overwhelmingly supported by the agency's advisory panels in 2003 and by the existing scientific evidence. Under the bill, participating New York pharmacists and registered nurses would be able to obtain blanket prescriptions from doctors that name no individual patient, and dispense the pills to women and girls of any age.

This was no small victory. The pills have been shown effective at preventing pregnancy if taken within 72 hours, and the time and expense of a medical visit, as well as the small number of private physicians who see patients on weekends, are major obstacles to their use.

Joseph Bruno, the Senate majority leader, deserves ample credit for breaking with his party to support the measure. So does Senator Nicholas Spano, a Westchester Republican who showed the virtue of competitive elections by actively championing the measure after winning re-election last November by just 18 votes.

In the throes of deciding whether to seek a fourth term or explore a run for the presidency, Mr. Pataki declines to say whether he intends to sign the bill. Such a tepid response from an ostensibly pro-choice moderate Republican is worrisome. Vetoing the bill might score points with his party's far right. But it would be an indefensible betrayal of his duty to the public and to New York women in particular.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/24fri2.html

June 23, 2005
Albany Legislators Back Giving Morning-After Pill Without Prescriptions
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARC SANTORA - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/nyregion/23albany.html