Awakening Foundation
| 婦女新知基金會 | |
Awakening Foundation on Taiwan Pride 2005
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| Founder | Lee Yuan-chen |
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| Affiliations | Awakening Association of Taiwan, Awakening Association of Kaohsiung |
| Website | www |
The Awakening Foundation (Chinese: 婦女新知基金會) is a Taiwanese feminist organization aiming to provide the women of Taiwanese society with the resources necessary to combat gender discrimination. Beginning as an offshoot of the gender equality magazine "Awakening Publishing House", the organization is representative of the autonomous women movement that began during the 1970s. Its achievements revolve around the mobilization of women within Taiwanese society as well as the promotion of policy and institutional reform.
Following the relocation of the Kuomingtang to Taiwan in 1947, the Taiwanese people of the 1970s were subject not only to the martial law of Kuomintang's authoritarian power, but also to its ideologies and policies that, though rooted in Confucianism, were highly misogynistic. However, it was also during this decade that the autonomous women's movement, pioneered by Taiwanese feminist Lu Hsiu-lien, appeared and began to rise in prominence within Taiwanese society. An associate of Lu's who would gain later prominence in the 1980s as a leader of the feminist movement was Lee Yuan-chen. Having lost the custody of her child to her former husband according to the rulings of the Taiwanese family laws, Lee had experienced the gender injustice rampant in Taiwan firsthand. This led to her involvement with the women's movement and the democracy movement, which eventually resulted her friendship with Lu. Thus, in 1982, when Lu faced imprisonment due to her activity in the concurrent democracy movement, Lee and other fellow feminists affirmed the strength of their coalition via establishment of the Awakening Publishing House, a magazine focused upon gender equality.
From its inception in the 1980s, the Awakening Publishing House magazine was a literary means through which feminists could publish their articles concerning the societal oppression of women. The objective of the magazine was to encourage women to develop their capacities "to take personal responsibility for their economic and emotional independence." Yet the role of this publication extended beyond its printed product: it also served as the driving force of feminist activitm within Taiwan during the 1980s. Members of the organization published articles, organized discussions, and promoted awareness of gender issues to the Taiwanese public. The success of the magazine throughout the 1980s garnered so much financial support, that in November 1987, only four months following the lifting of the martial law, Awakening Magazine Publishing House was converted into a foundation, that would from then on be known as the Awakening Foundation.
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Wikipedia