Many would probably agree that the participation of women in politics is no longer an issue, since women have long been guaranteed a certain number of seats in the nation’s legislative body.
Taiwan’s first female vice president, Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), was elected as early as 2000 — one of a few in Asia. Lu has the further distinction of having been Taoyuan County’s only female commissioner, in 1997.
However, a look at the list of mayors and commissioners in the major cities and counties over the past six decades show that women remain politically underrepresented.
To date, Taipei City, Taipei County, Taichung County, Tainan City and Tainan County have never had an appointed or elected female mayor or commissioner.
The only female mayor Taichung City has ever elected is Chang Wen-ying (張溫鷹), who served from 1997 to 2001. Yu Chen Yueh-ying (余陳月瑛), the only female commissioner in Kaohsiung County’s history, served two terms, from 1985 to 1993. Chen Chu (陳菊), who is seeking her second term in the year-end special municipality race, is also the only female mayor Kaohsiung City has ever elected.
Not surprisingly, all of these female heads of local governments are from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has established a reputation for promoting women’s participation in politics. That has long been a tradition in the party, since female politicians sometimes had to take on more responsibilities — especially during the period when some of their spouses were arrested and charged with treason after the Kaohsiung Incident more than three decades ago.
During former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) term, he kept his promise that one-fourth of his Cabinet members would be women.
In contrast, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government — including the current Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration — has never made such progressive political pledges.
Women make up nearly half of the nation’s population, as the latest government figures show. It is thus disturbing to find that the problem of political underrepresentation lingers on, with few female candidates running or winning mayoral races. Some oversimplify this problem by saying that women probably haven’t done well enough or haven’t demonstrated a strong will or ambition to take part in the highly competitive elections. Still another possible cause may be that voters — including women living in these metropolitan constituencies — still consider the task of running the central and local governments a man’s job and thus hesitate to place their trust in female mayors, although society has gradually accepted that women can outperform men as bread-winners.
The participation of DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) — who is also the nation’s first female political party chief — in Sinbei City and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu of the DPP and her rival — Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), the KMT’s only female candidate — in Greater Kaohsiung is therefore of great significance in the Nov. 27 polls.
Whether they win or lose, their participation alone will help boost public awareness and confidence in women politicians, setting fine examples for many more to follow.
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