Chen promotes gender equality

President Chen Shui-bian yesterday answers phone calls during a visit to greet female workers at Chunghwa Telecom Co's Taipei mobile-phone call center ahead of International Women's Day next Tuesday. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said the government is now undertaking work to integrate resources to further promote gender equality.

Chen made the remarks while receiving groups of female representatives at the Presidential Office yesterday.

"Although Taiwan is not a member of the UN, promoting awareness of gender equality is a universal value pursued by all humankind," Chen told his visitors, adding that this is currently taking place domestically in Taiwan.

Earlier in the day, while visiting Chunghwa Telecom's customer service center, where the majority of customer service workers are female, the president pledged that the government would also work to open up more employment opportunities to encourage female workers who have left the workplace to return.

Seeing several pregnant female customer service workers, the president, citing the experience of his daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤) -- who was breast-feeding during her masters degree studies -- said he could comprehend the hardship working mothers face.

"Fortunately, with the advance of higher education, the performance of female workers in the workforce is gradually being recognized. The government has also worked to establish nursery facilities and the like in the community to help lessen working mothers' household burdens," Chen said.

The president made the visit ahead of International Women's Day next Tuesday, to show his appreciation for working women.

"Creating a female-friendly working environment is the government's imperative, and our responsibility is therefore to ensure that working women and housewives are not being discriminated against," Chen said.

Chen noted that he realizes marriage and pregnancy often get in the way of female professionals' careers, forcing them to leave their jobs.

The president said he believes the Laborers' Pension Law (勞工退休條例), which is to take effect on July 1, will help give female and senior workers a better sense of security and also encourage female workers to return to the workforce.

The new Laborers' Pension Law will require an employer to deposit a minimum of 6 percent of an employee's monthly salary into an individual retirement fund.

Employees may also continue to build up their retirement savings if they switch companies.

Despite the existence of the Gender Equality in Employment Law (兩性工作平等法) and articles promoting female employment, the president said these are not sufficient, since female workers are concerned not only about their own rights, but also those pertaining to children's education, home care for senior citizens, nursery services and the like.

Chen expressed the hope that government, civil organizations and the private sector could work together to seek ways to better care for the well-being of women.

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