In a bid to help women be able to contribute more to the workplace and take better care of their families, the government is studying measures to remove barriers for career women on both fronts, a spokesman for the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
According to the spokesman, the council has been working on crafting policies to help women enjoy salaries equal to those of their male counterparts and to provide career women with financial subsidies for maternity leave and better daycare services for their children.
Compared with career woman in many other countries, Taiwan's female workers receive poor salaries, although many of them are college graduates or even hold higher degrees, the spokesman said.
According to a council review, female workers' salaries averaged 78.2 percent of those of their male counterparts last year -- an improvement from 70 percent 10 years ago but still lagging behind an average 85 percent in EU member states and 81 percent in the US.
While the Gender Equality Employment Law (兩性工作平等法) came into effect four years ago, officials said the salary gap remained wide.
If measures under discussion were to be put in place, it would boost women's willingness to stay in the workplace longer and rear more children, minimizing the impact of a graying population on the economy and society, they said.
The officials attributed salary inequality to several key factors, including a lack of professional training, quitting work to get married and needing to take care of their families.
A 2003 report by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed that 28.7 percent of married career women surveyed said they had resigned to get married, while 15.5 percent said they had quit work to give birth.
Meanwhile, most women working in low-income and unskilled professions, such as vendors or administrative personnel, stay for fewer years at the same company and prefer to work part-time because of family constraints, the officials said.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
RSS