Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday vowed to increase the number of women participating in politics and said that the DPP would place a priority on nominating female candidates for the borough and village chief elections, which are to be held in June.
Yu made the pledge at a news conference held by the DPP's department of women's development to announce the establishment of a consulting team to implement the party's "gender mainstreaming" policy.
Gender issues
Hsu Chia-tien (許嘉恬), the director of the department, said that the concept of "gender mainstreaming" -- which aims to bring gender issues into the mainstream -- is a global strategy for promoting gender equality that was established at the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995.
The concept highlights the need to ensure that gender equality is a primary goal in all areas of social and economic development.
Hsu said that the team is comprised of 23 experts and academics who have expertise in law, politics, public health and economics, and includes two men, one of whom is only 25 years old.
None hold posts in the party or the government.
Yu, who serves as the team's convener, said team members will help the DPP to revise regulations to meet the idea of "gender mainstreaming."
"We will endeavor to expand women's participation in politics. First, we will make female candidates a priority in the nominations for the upcoming elections for borough and village chiefs in June," Yu said.
Yu added that the gender mainstreaming project will be combined with course offered by the Taiwan Democracy Academy, the party's political training organization, that will soon be resumed.
The academy was established in 1996 to train party members and promising politicians but was halted in 1999 because of the 2000 presidential election.
KMT wish site
Meanwhile, in celebration of Women's Day today, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is inviting women to make a wish to a statue that bears KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) face on the party's Web site.
Ma will fulfill the wish of the woman who proposes the "most original" wish, according to the KMT.
Asked to comment on the KMT's activity, Yu said that it only serves to deify Ma and exposes the party's mindset of male superiority and its sexual discrimination.
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