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Presidential election 2008: 13 days to go: Ma pledges to tackle top threats to women's safety

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou, front center, yesterday releases a balloon along with other participants at a meeting organized by the Girl Scouts of Taiwan in Taipei's Youth Park PHOTO: CNA

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday presented his women's policy on International Women's Day, promising to ensure women's safety and create 100,000 more full-time jobs for them if elected on March 22.

Ma vowed to tackle the top three threats against women in Taiwan: domestic violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment. He also pledged to ease pressure on women and to fight for their safety, equality and development if elected.

Ma said he would increase prison terms by as much as 50 percent for sex offenders and would implement stricter standards on granting parole.

On reducing the amount of pressure placed on women, Ma said he would implement all the provisions in the Gender Equality Employment Law (兩性工作平等法) and seek to eliminate discrimination against women in the job market.

"We will establish a mature nursing system and create a carefree environment for women. Society will help to take care of their children and elderly family members when they are at work," Ma said while attending an International Women's Day celebration event at Youth Park in Taipei County.

Ma also promised to provide employment subsidies for women to encourage them to join the job market, which could create more than 100,000 jobs over the next four years.

"What we provide will be full-time high-quality jobs. We are not talking about part-time jobs or temporary work," he said.

When asked whether or not he would celebrate Women's Day with his wife Chow Mei-ching (周美青), Ma said he had been busy with campaigning events and would not spend time with her.

Chow, however, will begin visiting voters and campaigning for him starting on Thursday, Ma said.

Chow, who has rarely made public appearances during her husband's previous election campaigns, usually avoids publicity and has only campaigned for Ma on the eve of the two elections when he ran for Taipei mayor.

Ma said Chow would not join his campaign tour and would solicit support at separate events.
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