Women’s rights groups blasted municipal and county governments yesterday, saying that women continue to be seriously underrepresented among high-ranking officials in local administrations following the Nov. 29 elections.
According to information compiled by the Awakening Foundation, women account for less than one-quarter of high-ranking officials in most recently sworn-in local administrations around the nation, with the national average “overwhelmingly low” at 19 percent.
The foundation tallied newly sworn-in officials appointed as deputy mayors, secretary-generals, deputy secretary-generals, as well as the directors of various municipal departments in local administrations.
Photo: CNA
“Although many people say that the recent elections ‘turned around’ Taiwanese politics, in terms of gender, we can see that nothing much has changed,” Awakening Foundation secretary-general Lin Hsiu-yi (林秀怡) said.
Lin said that women’s rights groups have long demanded that members of either sex should account for at least one-third of high-ranking officials in local government.
“Local governments should be capable of empathizing with issues encountered in the daily lives of the public, as they directly come in contact with the people,” Lin said.
Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) drew criticism because only two out of a total of 30 of high-ranking officials he appointed are women, making Greater Taichung the second-most lopsided local administration in the nation in terms of gender composition.
The Kinmen County Government also came under fire, as its panel of high-ranking officials consisted entirely of men.
Women were best represented among top officials in Pingtung County, Hsinchu City and Hualien County, at 41 percent, 32 percent and 28 percent respectively.
Newly elected mayors and commissioners from the rest of the nation appointed fewer women in their Cabinets, with the numbers for Taipei, Greater Taoyuan and Greater Kaohsiung hovering at about 25 percent, while other places exhibited lower numbers.
“It’s important to have different gender subjectivities to bring different perspectives into local government,” Awakening Foundation chairperson Chen Yi-chien (陳宜倩) said, adding that all officials in local governments should be educated on gender awareness, regardless of their gender.
The activists said that rather than indicating the absence of talented women across various professions, the low percentage is a result of less importance being placed on the achievements of women.
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