Women comprise 13.6 percent of the volunteer military, with 19,000 members, a number that is expected to rise to more than 20,000 next year, a Ministry of National Defense report said.
A report on the recruitment and promotion of women in the military mandated by the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee has been completed, an unnamed ministry official said.
The number of women serving has steadily increased to 19,000 this year from 6,900 in 2006, when the armed forces began integrating women on a large scale, the official cited the report as saying.
Regarding officers, there are 3,000 women who comprise 11.2 percent of all volunteer officers, it said.
The two highest-ranking women in the military are major generals, with one serving in the ministry and the other in the National Security Bureau, the report said.
There are more than 9,000 female non-commissioned officers, comprising 14.5 percent, while 6,000 enlisted female soldiers comprise 14.2 percent of all volunteer enlisted troops, it said.
Although comparatively few women choose to serve in the combat arms, gender integration in those branches has accelerated, the official said.
Last year, women comprised 15 percent of all soldiers with a combat military occupational specialty, up from 9.7 percent in 2014, the official said.
Combat divisions open to women include the infantry, artillery, military police, marines, aviation, missile specialists and most positions in the navy, the official said.
The military is implementing a pilot program for recruiting and training female soldiers for the armor branch, including the tank and self-propelled artillery crew, they added.
The occupational positions under evaluation are commander, gunner and driver for tanks and self-propelled guns with a non-commissioned officer ranking, the official said.
The Army Command is to evaluate the performance of female armored troops before making further decisions, the official said.
The Republic of China military began recruiting women in 1932 to meet a need for intelligence officers, while the recruitment of female military nurses and political warfare officers followed in 1947 and 1951 respectively, the official said.
Careers in other technical fields were opened to women in 1991, while the army, navy and air force academies began enrolling women in 1994, the official said.
By 2006, women could volunteer for most enlisted and non-commissioned ranks, and the quota is increased annually, the official said, adding the program was modeled after the gender integration efforts of Western militaries.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS