The International Council of Women (ICW), the oldest international women’s organization in the world, is set to hold its general assembly and executive meeting in Taiwan for the first time.
The theme of this year’s executive meeting, which is to begin on Monday, is “transforming society through women’s empowerment,” council president Kim Jung-sook said.
With the support of the government, Taiwan has been able to make progress in gender equality and on other gender issues, Kim said when asked why Taiwan was chosen as the host of this year’s meetings.
Council members also want to see firsthand and learn more about how Taiwan achieved greater participation for women in the political, economic, social and other spheres, she added.
One of Taiwan’s achievements in women’s participation is that 38 percent of lawmakers are women, the highest ratio in Asia, said Linda Liu (劉怜君), president of the National Council of Women Taiwan, an ICW member that is organizing this year’s meetings in Taipei.
Asked about women in leadership positions, Kim said that it was difficult for women to lead Asian countries, presumably because of the dominance of Confucianism, which tends to favor men over women, making it harder for women to gain power.
Kim said that discrimination against women is still a prevalent issue in Asia, adding that women should be united and be empowered.
Women should have greater participation in politics, the economy and other parts of society, she said.
The executive meeting is to run from Monday to Thursday next week at the Grand Hotel and bring together about 100 experts and members of women’s rights groups from more than 40 nations to discuss women-related issues, the National Council of Women Taiwan said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Taiwan’s first female president, is scheduled to speak at the meeting.
Regarding Tsai, Kim said she would encourage the president to make great efforts to realize “true gender equality” by raising women’s participation in political, economic and social arenas to 50 percent.
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