More than half of Taiwanese women would view sexual harassment in the workplace as a joke and would take no action, a poll released by the Ministry of Labor on International Women’s Day yesterday found.
It also found that 4.4 percent of women and 0.4 percent of men in Taiwan said they had suffered sexual harassment at work over the one-year period leading up to the poll.
Among the female workers, the sexual harassment came mainly from coworkers (47.7 percent), customers (38.6 percent) and supervisors (25.0 percent), the poll found.
Asked about how they would respond if confronted with sexual harassment on the job, 54.7 percent of the female respondents said they would laugh it off and take no action, while 33.4 percent said they would file a complaint.
On the issue of discrimination, the poll found that most companies in Taiwan said they would not treat an employee differently based on gender or sexual orientation.
According to the survey, 20 percent of employers said they would take gender into account when allocating tasks, and 6.6 percent said they would consider gender when determining wage and salary structures for their workers.
The survey also examined compliance with the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法) and found that 78.1 percent of applications for family care leave were approved over the year leading up to the poll.
In the case of maternity leave, 94.7 percent of applications for up to eight weeks of leave were approved, the poll showed.
The poll was conducted in September last year, with 3,297 valid samples collected from employers and 4,514 from employees.
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
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
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
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