Kuomintang (KMT) presidential hopeful Hung Hsiu-chu spoke on women’s participation in politics at an Asian forum for female legislators on Wednesday.
She said that most societies, including Taiwan’s, discriminate against women. But since the 1990s, Taiwan has enacted many gender equality laws. These include a 2003 law on gender equality in the workplace and a 2004 law on gender equality in education. The government also has a Gender Equality Commission. Hung said that 38 of Taiwan’s 113 lawmakers are women. That’s 33.6% of the total. Hung said she hopes to see that number grow to 50%.
"According to studies on women’s movements, 30% is a key benchmark for participation in politics," said Hung. "That’s because once you’re past that percentage, you can impact policies and the political culture. Taiwan has already met that standard. But I’ve been thinking what kind of changes we would see if one day we have 50% female lawmakers. Men don’t have to worry: we are certain that things will be even better than when women made up 30% of lawmakers."
Hung said that 50.6% of Taiwan’s women were working in 2013. However, female workers in Taiwan earn only 82% of what their male counterparts make.
Although Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, Taiwan is second only to the Netherlands on the United Nations Development Programme’s Gender Inequality Index. Hung said that this progress has been the result of long term effort in Taiwan.