As the world highlights the role of women this week with International Women’s Day, a poll of women in Taiwan by the employment site Yes123 shows the challenges women face in the workplace.
The 2016 movie Hidden Figures depicted how women of color, who were segregated by race and gender in 1961, went on to play key roles in the space race by calculating the trajectories for the Apollo 11 and Space Shuttle missions.
Face forward to Taiwan in 2022, and women are still facing prejudice at work because of their gender, age and appearance. In a recent poll, more than 60% of respondents said their employer tolerates offensive jokes.
One woman says she’s heard guys crack jokes about female colleagues, but it goes both ways, women do the same. Another says women are louder and more dominant at her company.
Are women financially independent? Employment site Yes123 asked more than 1200 women online. About two-thirds said they are financially independent, while a third said they aren’t.
Almost 70% of respondents said they don’t have enough authority to have a big influence in their companies.
How bad is gender discrimination at work? Nearly 60% say it’s very serious while 42% say it’s not.
And what did the women surveyed say is the biggest source of pressure at work? More than 40% say they work hard but don’t get raises. About a third say their bosses are difficult and don’t respect them, while a similar number say the workload is too heavy.
When the survey asked women if they are under a lot of pressure at home, only 30% said they aren’t.
Yes123 Deputy PR manager Yang Tsung-bin says companies should give women the same treatment as men in terms of promotions and raises.
The government’s Gender Equity Committee says Taiwan ranks first in Asia for gender equality, but this latest survey suggests there’s still quite a ways to go for women to feel they receive equal treatment in the workplace and at home.