Women’s rights and welfare under President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has significant room for improvement, opposition lawmakers said on International Women’s Day yesterday.
“The misery index of Taiwanese women has skyrocketed in the past few years as the current administration has not brought hope on almost every issue they care about,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said.
Citing statistics compiled by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), Pan said Taiwanese women have to work 65 days more than men on average every year, but their average salary was 17.6 percent lower.
Photo: CNA
Women’s labor force participation rate last year was 49 percent, compared with men’s 72 percent, he said, adding that between 2,000 and 3,000 women become unemployed after marriage or have children every year.
For those who are employed, they experience harassment from men, with 375 of the 386 reported cases of sexual harassment being filed by women, Pan said, adding that it did not include those who did not file harassment suits.
Ma has failed to improve women’s well-being as president as well as keeping his campaign pledge of allocating at least a quarter of Cabinet positions to females, DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said she would propose a bill to protect women’s right to participate in politics by increasing the number of female conveners in the Legislative Yuan’s subcommittees.
Her proposal is to increase the number of subcommittee conveners from two to three and any sex should not be less than one-third of the total number of conveners, which means that at least one female lawmaker would be a convener in every subcommittee.
Ma, meanwhile, touted the nation’s achievements in pushing for gender equality in various fields and promised to continue the work to promote women’s rights.
The president, speaking at an International Women’s Day event organized by the Ministry of the Interior, detailed the government’s continuous efforts in promoting women’s rights, including increasing the number of legislative seats for women and creating job opportunities for them, adding the government would work harder to reduce domestic violence and sexual harassment.
Statistics from the ministry showed that the female labor force participation rate reached 50 percent — contrary to the DGBAS’ figure that Peng cited — while the number of female legislators accounted for more than one-third of all seats.
Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) added the government would work to raise the number of female members in committees at government agencies and state-run corporations to account for at least one-third of all members.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS