Promoting what they say will be greater gender equality in the armed forces, officials from the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday the military will soon see a woman general -- the second in Taiwan's military history.
"There are now 48 female colonels in the military. From among them, the defense ministry will promote one to the rank of major general [army and air force] or rear admiral [navy]. It is sure to happen. I dare say very soon," said Captain Chin Huei-an (
"It is a policy priority set out by the premier-select and incumbent Minister of National Defense, Tang Fei (
We will follow Tang's instructions to have it done as soon as possible," Chin said. He did not give a timetable for the implementation of the plan.
At the same time, however, Chin suggested a large scale increase in the promotion of women officers to the position of general was unlikely, as most serving female colonels are not sufficiently experienced for the top positions.
Over the past five decades in Taiwan, there has only been one woman general, who was in the medical branch and retired years ago. No active-service woman has been a general since then.
Meanwhile, Colonel Ting Chien-chung (
There are around 6,800 women serving as officers or non-commissioned officers (NCOs) in the services, with most of them taking administrative or staff jobs, Ting said.
One defense official, who declined to be identified, said it was good for the military to have female personnel, but that assigning them to desk jobs was not such a positive sign.
The official said that there were too many female officers or NCO's in ministry offices already.
Defense Minister Tang has noted the problem, he said.
In fact he has instructed personnel officers to ensure that these women are transferred to field units after two to three years service.
If the military wants women personnel only for administrative work, the official said, it may as well hire people from the civilian sector to do it.
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