While President Chen Shui-bian (
Addressing an audience from eight private businesses which were being honored for their outstanding efforts to promote gender equality in the workplace, Chen said that Taiwan still has a long way to go before women in the workforce receive equal treatment.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Over the years, it has been acknowledged that improvements have been made in Taiwan to create gender equality in the working environment.
"However, the situation is still far from satisfactory as women here still face unequal treatment in terms of opportunities for employment and promotion, payment and well-being," Chen said.
Just an hour later, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) echoed Chen's view as she presented awards to the businesses, complaining she has "suffered much hardship" that as a female vice president since being inaugurated last May.
"On the voting day of March 18, the Taiwanese people elected me to be vice president of the country. But the society as a whole is not mature enough [to accept a female leader], and I've endured much hardship since then," the outspoken vice president said.
Lu, the first-ever female vice president of Taiwan, has made similar remarks on several occasions, often provoking attacks against her from the media.
One of the worst attacks, launched by the political weekly magazine The Journalist (
While some of the attacks focus on Lu's outspokenness and strong personality, Lu herself has said it is deep-rooted discrimination against women that lies beneath the criticism.
Eight companies were awarded for either having non-discriminatory policies on payment and promotion, allowing flexible working hours for women, or providing assistance to female employees for child care.
The companies singled out after a selection process by women's groups, academics, industry representatives and government officials were China Motor Corp, IBM Taiwan Corp, Merck Sharp & Dohme (I.A.) Corp Taiwan, General Instrument of Taiwan Ltd, Motorola Electronics Taiwan Ltd, Riteck Corp, Youth Cultural Enterprise Co and Pan Ram International Corp.
According to academic studies, there has been a culture of discrimination against female employees in Taiwan's corporations.
The Council of Labor Affairs also indicated recently that women in the workforce are still paid less than men.
While the bill of gender-equal working opportunities, which obligates employers to provide a non-discriminatory work environment, has yet to be passed in the legislature, the businesses that received the awards yesterday have already implemented policies that pursue equality.
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