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.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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