Taiwan's first woman officer to be promoted to the rank of general since 1967 yesterday said the promotion represents efforts by the male-dominated military to realize the goal of gender equality in the services.
Pan Ai-chu (潘愛珠) said her promotion signifies a bright future for all women serving in the military.
Pan, 44, is the first woman officer to become a major-general since 1967. She is the third woman to achieve this rank in the history of Taiwan's military.
Pan's two predecessors were Chou Mei-yu (周美玉) of the army's medical branch and Chiang Yi-yin (姜毅英) of the Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB), according to the Ministry of National Defense.
Chou was promoted to major-general in 1958, while Chiang was promoted to the rank in 1967. Pan is therefore also the second woman officer with the MIB to become a major-general.
She has been working at the MIB for more than two decades, specializing in Chinese affairs. Her new position is chief of political warfare at the MIB.
At a regular defense ministry press conference yesterday, Pan put herself in the spotlight for the first time since the news of her promotion was widely reported by the local press last week.
When asked by the press to speak about her promotion, Pan said she wanted to thank Chief of the General Staff General Tang Yao-ming (
"Not every woman officer can be as lucky as I am. My promotion represents efforts by the male-dominated military to realize the goal of gender equality in the services," Pan said.
Pan did not explain what she thought might be the reasons for her to be chosen from among nearly 50 woman colonels in the three services.
It has been the military's policy to promote senior woman officers to the rank of general since Tang Fei (唐飛) became defense minister in 1999, the defense ministry said.
In May of last year the defense ministry said it was a priority of former minister Tang to promote a woman officer to the rank of general during his term.
But the scheduled promotion did not happen during Tang's term. It has been delayed up to now partly because many of the senior woman colonels who were qualified for the promotion had been fighting hard for the chance, a defense official said.
Of the nearly 50 woman colonels who are currently in the armed services, at least a dozen of them were qualified enough for promotion to the rank of general, the official said.
A senior woman colonel with the National Security Bureau was initially expected to become the chosen one but the delay in the selection process caused her to lose the chance, he said.
She had no choice but to retire several months ago.
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