Legislator proposes amending marriage age to 18 / 法定婚齡 立委建議男女一律改為18歲　　　　　　　　　　

Under Taiwan's Civil Code, the minimum age for marriage is 18 for men and 16 for women. According to Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Ching-yi, this provision is behind the times as it is unfair to differentiate age according to gender. As such, she has proposed amending the code to make the minimum marriage age 18 for both genders. In former legislator Yen Ching-piao's family, men marry young. Both Yen and his elder son took a wife when they were 18. His younger son even entered into marriage at an earlier age of 16. However, generally speaking, early marriage is uncommon in present-day Taiwan. On September 20, DPP legislator Lin Ching-yi suggested that the minimum age for both sexes be amended to 18. She believed that the established minimum age for marriage is behind the times since the provision was made in the 1930s. ==LIN CHING-YI, DPP legislator== All over the world, it is widely recognized that women who marry young are often forced to drop out of school, making them unable to complete their life plans. They may fall into poverty as well. ==CHI HUI-JUNG, Director of the Garden of Hope Foundation== Considering that women mature faster than men, lawmakers in the past set the minimum age for marriage for men 2 years older than women. However, in women organizations' views, it is unfair to differentiate in age according to gender. We regard it as a form of discrimination. Under the current Civil Code, the minimum age for engagement is 17 for men and 15 for women. A valid marriage for those under 20 requires a consent of their legal guardians, and the minimum age for marriage is 18 for men and 16 for women. Since the International Bill of Human Rights defines those under 18 as children, and the United Nations says that the minimum age for marriage is 18, Lin believes that there is a need for the code to be amended. Five years ago, the Ministry of Justice attempted numerous times to amend the code, but was not successful ==CHIU TAI-SAN, Minister of Justice== During the last legislative session, Legislators and scholars had different opinions regarding the minimum age for marriage. Therefore, we hope that that there will be more discussions on the issue. Premier Lin Chuan said that there is still room for discussion. The Ministry of Justice said that the minimum marriage age for women was set at 16 in consideration of societal, economic and cultural factors. TRANSLATED BY：ARIEL HSIEH 一家人都早婚，已經成為顏家傳統，前立委顏清標在18歲時結婚生子，大兒子顏寬恒也在18歲完成人生大事，小兒子顏嘉儀更早，16歲就娶妻生子，但這樣早婚的畢竟不多，民進黨立委林靜儀20號在立法院施政總質詢指出，民法所規定男18、女16歲可結婚，是1930年代沿用迄今的規定，早已不合時宜，建議政府應該修訂民法，朝男女都要滿18歲才能結婚方向修法，但民眾看法不一。 ==民進黨立委 林靜儀== 全世界的認定裡面 就是兒童結婚她大約會出現到 學業被迫中斷 她的人生規劃被迫中斷 也比較可能會落入貧窮 ==勵馨基金會執行長 紀惠容== 在過去的背景其實他們就是考量 女人比較早熟或是考量 男一定要大於女 所以就會考量這個差兩歲 可是在我們現代的婦女團體來看 (差兩歲)這其實是不公平的 而且裡面是有一些歧視的 依據我國民法規定，男生未滿17歲，女未滿15歲者，不得訂定婚約，在未滿20歲之前，男方需滿18歲，女方需滿16歲，並得到法定代理人同意，婚姻才算有效，但立委林靜儀認為，國際人權公約規範18歲以下，稱為兒童，聯合國及相關國際組織也都說要18歲以上才能結婚，對此行政院長林全也認為，這部分確有檢討空間，事實上早在5年前，法務部就曾多次提案修正但都無疾而終。 ==法務部長 邱太三 (105.9.20)== 大院可能當時委員的意見 跟學者專家有不同的意見 所以(我們)希望說再做一些溝通 法務部表示，以往單純以社會與經濟文化考量，才以16歲作為女性最低結婚年齡，法務部上會期有提案修法，但當時委員意見與學者專家立場不同，所以才未通過審查。 記者 吳雅瑜 林國煌 台北報導