Wed, Mar 07, 2012 page2

• Women still discriminated against at work

  FAIR SHAKE: Last year Taiwanese women on average earned 17.6 percent less than men, meaning they would have had to work an extra 65 days to receive the same pay

  • Staff Writer, with CNA
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  More female than male workers in Taiwan feel they have suffered discrimination in the workplace because of their gender, a recent poll showed.

  The results of the poll, conducted by the Council of Labor Affairs, showed that 5 percent of female respondents felt gender had negatively affected their earning potential, while only 0.8 percent of male respondents had the same feeling.

  In addition, 3.7 percent of women felt that their gender worked against them in terms of promotions, compared to 1.5 percent of male workers who felt that way.

  The three areas in which female respondents said they were most discriminated against were pay raises, job searches and promotions. Male respondents said they were most discriminated against when it came to job assignments, job searches, promotions and employee benefits.

  The poll showed that more women than men felt that they had been mistreated in the workplace because of their gender in all eight categories surveyed, which also included performance appraisal, job training and education, severance pay, resignations and termination.

  In addition, 4.9 percent of women polled said they felt they were treated unequally after getting married, higher than the corresponding 0.7 percent among male respondents.

  Married respondents, regardless of gender, encountered difficulties when asking for leave, but married female respondents said being married was an obstacle when applying for a job, or could result in them being transferred to other departments.

  Furthermore, 5.2 percent of women surveyed said they had been mistreated in the workplace after becoming pregnant or giving birth.

  According to the poll, 30 percent of companies surveyed admitted that they consider gender when assigning jobs, 9.7 percent said they had different scales based on gender and 4.4 percent said they take gender into consideration when deciding salary increases.

  The poll also showed that the number of female respondents who were sexually harassed in the workplace fell from 6.4 percent in 2010 to 5.4 percent last year, although the number was still 4.5 percentage points higher than that of their male counterparts.

  In addition, 37.2 percent of the companies polled offered paid family care leave for employees last year after the law was revised, expanding the right to such leave from civil servants to private sector workers.

  The poll, conducted in November and December last year, collected 3,078 valid samples from companies and 4,002 from workers.

  In related news, the council designated Monday Equal Pay Day in Taiwan this year, pointing out that Taiwanese women need to work an average of 65 days more to earn the same salary as their male counterparts.

  Governments in various countries designate an Equal Pay Day to highlight the unfair treatment of women in terms of salary in the work place. Each country designates a different day of the year, depending on how long it takes women in their country to earn the same salary as their male counterparts.

  Taiwanese women on average earn 17.6 percent less than Taiwanese men, which means that they would have had to work an extra 65 days, or from Jan. 1 to March 5, to receive the same amount of pay as their male counterparts last year, the council said, citing statistics from the -Directorate--General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics.
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