A New York Times report from Thursday says that Taiwan seems poised to elect its first ever female president. Two of the three candidates running in next January’s presidential election are female. The two female candidates represent Taiwan’s two major political parties.
The report says that the gender of the candidates is not a major concern in the election. The report also says that Taiwan does a better job of putting women in politics than any other country in the world. The two female candidates standing in this election are Vice Legislature President Hung Hsiu-chu of the ruling Kuomintang and Tsai Ing-wen, chair of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party. Neither of the two women has any connection to former or current male politicians.
Joyce Gelb, a professor at the City University of New York, says that she was impressed to see that Taiwan is only second to Scandinavian countries in terms of female political leadership.
According to the report the rise of women in Taiwanese politics reflects on the matriarchal traditions of some Taiwan’s aboriginal tribes and the promotion of women’s education during the Japanese colonial period. However, the report says that the most important factor was the 1951 introduction of a quota for women in the legislature. Female participation in politics has become especially noticeable since the advent of multiparty politics in the 1980s.