Speaking at the National Women’s Day Congress yesterday, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) announced his ministry would address gender equality by creating a National Gender Equality Policy Framework by the end of the year.
The framework would serve as a guide for all central and local government offices and become the government’s official policy objective on gender issues, Jiang said.
He promised that the framework would have concrete measures to integrate a gender perspective into various aspects of society.
He said the seven core areas addressed in the framework would be healthcare, legal and security issues, education and media, population and marriage, employment and economy, power and influence, and environment and technology.
These seven areas were identified after the ministry held 38 consultations with officials and community groups throughout the country from last November to January.
“[In drafting the framework] we will review past efforts, address fundamental values, propose new policies and sketch detailed solution plans,” Jiang said, while encouraging organizations and academics to provide feedback.
Once the framework comes out, a new Department of Gender Equality under the Ministry of the Interior would be established next year to implement the framework’s policy recommendations.
However, Chang Chueh (張玨), a professor from National Taiwan University’s Institute of Health Policy and Management, said it would take political will and coordination between local officials, private organizations and the central government to change a society that is, in many ways, still dominated by men.
Another participant at the forum questioned whether the government was painting an overly rosy picture about its advocacy for gender equality.
Huang Pi-hsia (黃碧霞), the head of the Department of Social Affairs, said the establishment of a new department to promote gender equality shows the government’s commitment to undertake more efforts to address this issue.
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