Taiwan Today

Efforts to foster gender equality are resulting in significant gains both at home and abroad.

In Taipei City last November, Taiwan for the first time hosted the Executive Committee Meeting of the International Council of Women (ICW), a Paris-headquartered women’s rights organization established in 1888 that enjoys consultative status with the U.N. Among those in attendance at the gathering was ICW President Kim Jung-sook from South Korea. In her opening remarks, she praised gender-related legislation in Taiwan and the election of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in January last year as the nation’s first female head of state, a fact that “speaks loudly of the progress taking place in [Taiwan] and bodes very well for continued movement toward gender equality.”

In her address at the ICW meeting, Tsai echoed Kim’s comments, presenting her election to the nation’s highest office as evidence of women’s growing participation in Taiwan’s public affairs. This trend, she added, can also be seen in the number of female legislators who took office in February last year.

Women belonging to five political parties currently hold 43 of the nation’s 113 legislative seats, an increase from the previous total of 38. According to Yang Fang-wan (楊芳婉‬), president of the National Alliance of Taiwan Women’s Associations (NATWA), the people of Taiwan should take pride in the high proportion of female legislators. “In the past, women were a true minority in politics,” she said. “Their significantly increased presence in the public sphere is itself an indicator of progress toward equality.”

Institutionalizing Equality

The NATWA, established in 2001, comprises more than 50 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) devoted to gender issues. In addition to coordinating information and resources among these groups, the alliance seeks to help empower women’s advocacy associations and activists at home and overseas.

Yang and two other NATWA members are among the 18 nongovernmental representatives to the Executive Yuan’s Gender Equality Committee (GEC), which is led by Premier Lin Chuan (林全) and includes 16 other Cabinet members. Formed in 1997 as the Committee of Women’s Rights Promotion, the organization helps integrate gender equality policies across various government bodies. It expanded and adopted its current name in 2012 and is now staffed by the Department of Gender Equality (DGE) under the Executive Yuan.

Yang pointed out that gender bias exists in many areas of society, which is why the GEC formed six specialized task forces led by the Ministries of Education, Foreign Affairs, Health and Welfare, the Interior, Labor, and Science and Technology, respectively, to help further the government’s policies.

In 1999, the government-supported nonprofit Foundation for Women’s Rights Promotion and Development (FWRPD) was established with the goal of implementing gender equality strategies. In 2008, it began operating the Taiwan Women’s Center, which helps fund and support dozens of women’s service centers throughout the nation.

Huang Ling-hsiang (黃鈴翔‬), the FWRPD’s vice director, took part in a forum titled Transforming Society through Women’s Empowerment held on the sidelines of the ICW meeting in Taipei. The purpose of the event was to examine gender-based inequalities and women’s roles in local communities and workplaces. Huang said such a forum taking place locally affirms “international recognition of gender equity development in Taiwan as well as the country’s growing connection to global women’s rights movements.”

Going Mainstream

In 2007, Taiwan ratified the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Enforcement Act of CEDAW was adopted by the Legislative Yuan May 20, 2011, and took effect Jan. 1, 2012.

Yang noted that while Taiwan is neither a U.N. member nor a signatory of CEDAW, the country is committed to eliminating gender bias in line with international standards. As such, the DGE has been supervising efforts by government units to formulate administrative measures that conform to the convention. The department is also responsible for drafting a report on the act’s implementation every four years that is examined by local and foreign experts.

Although CEDAW spells out what must be done to protect women’s rights, Yang said, “gender mainstreaming” explains how to go about doing it. The U.N. defines gender mainstreaming as the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in all areas and at all levels. In 2004, the Executive Yuan approved the incorporation of gender mainstreaming in training programs for government and school employees.

Huang said that in the past, before the government began compiling significant gender-specific statistics in the early 2000s, there was little relevant official data regarding women’s participation in the public and private sectors. Thanks to gender mainstreaming efforts, such information now abounds, including valuable figures concerning both men and women in terms of education, employment and entrepreneurship.

Statistics released by the Ministry of Finance in January reveal that 36.1 percent of the nation’s 1.33 million for-profit enterprises were headed by women at the end of 2015, representing a slight increase from 35.6 percent in 2010. In the service sector, including accommodations and food services, women in leadership roles accounted for more than 45 percent.

Meanwhile, women’s labor participation rose from 45.3 percent in 1995 to 50.7 percent in 2015, according to the Cabinet-level Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. The most recent government data also reveal more than 90 percent of women aged 25 to 29 are gainfully employed.

Global Movement

Recognizing that women play a significant role in driving economic growth, each June the FWRPD sends members or researchers to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Women and the Economy Forum. Last year, a 15-member delegation from Taiwan comprising government officials, scholars, NGO members and business representatives attended the forum in Lima, Peru, from June 27 to 30. The participants focused primarily on such issues as access to capital, digital literacy and promotion of women-operated micro, small and medium enterprises.

During the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Lima last November, representatives from Taiwan and the U.S. jointly announced a plan to establish the APEC Women and the Economy Sub-Fund, which aims to remove barriers that restrict women’s economic participation.

Since Taiwan joined APEC in 1991, the country has spearheaded a number of female empowerment initiatives including the Innovation for Women and Economic Development Project. The three-year undertaking, running from 2013 to 2015, made use of Taiwan’s industrial strength in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector to help improve the lives of women throughout the region. The program involved researching the benefits of women’s use of ICT, boosting women’s knowledge of new technologies and fostering public-private partnerships to help enhance such efforts.

Another important international event focusing on gender issues is the annual conference of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Each March, activists from Taiwan, many of whom receive travel subsidies from the FWRPD, attend meetings on the sidelines of the event hosted by CSW/NY, an NGO designed to facilitate discussions of issues pertaining to women and girls as well as effective lobbying strategies.

Last year, the Taiwan delegation included representatives from the Taipei City Government’s Office for Gender Equality (OGE) who shared their experiences of the capital city’s assistance programs for new immigrant women, most of whom hail from Southeast Asia and mainland China. The OGE was founded in 2014 as the first organization of its kind among local governments in Taiwan, with the Taoyuan City Government establishing its own office in 2016.

Huang pointed out that women from Taiwan are increasingly participating in a wide spectrum of international activities. “Events revolving around gender issues are happening all across the world,” she said. “And when they take place, representatives from Taiwan will be there.”

Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw