the discriminatory treatment, or the specific sexual factor
necessary for the employees or the applicants to perform the job.”
This signifies that applicants only need to provide the objective
facts of “being treated adversely because of their gender or sexual
orientation,” and employers are responsible for proving the
justifiability of such adverse treatment because they possess an
informational advantage. Related reference can be found in the
Taipei High Administrative Court’s 2021 verdict Su-Zi No. 1063
released in 2021.
In this case, the complainants have already presented written
documents and interviews indicating the facts of differential
treatment, and the Taiwanese airlines were required to prove the
justifiability of their differential treatment in order to confirm that
the differential treatment falls under the exceptions category. A
defense of bona fide occupational qualifications must include
specific job requirements, “all or almost all” requirements, and
“justifiable and necessary” requirements.
The airlines contended the following in their interviews: “The
uniform represents our company’s business image, and due to cost
considerations, changes cannot be made immediately”; “the
design emphasizes the gentleness and grace of women, and there
is not any deliberate attempt to choose skirts or trousers”; “dress
codes are not included in the annual performance evaluations; they
are merely an observation item”; “the dress code is only one aspect
of self-management and has a negligible impact on performance,
rewards, and penalties”; “cabin crew’s duties include serving
passengers and do not include whether they wear trousers or
skirts”; and “no requests for trousers were made when our uniform
was designed.” Some of these statements indicate that company
image is a factor of concern when designing uniforms. The airlines
also specified that skirts were required because of cost
considerations and for their convenience at work rather than
because of gender discrimination. Some airlines also commented
that whether the female cabin crew wore skirts had no impact on
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