The number of female board members in companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) and the over-the-counter (OTC) market is far below the number of male board members, this year’s gender report released by the Executive Yuan yesterday showed.
In the report, the Cabinet’s gender equality department said listed companies on the main board and the OTC market recorded a total of 2,233 female board members in 2022, up 861 from a year earlier, while female board members accounted for 15.6 percent of the total, up 3.5 percentage points from a year earlier.
Despite the growth, the number of female board members still lags far behind the number of male board members at listed companies, which was 12,125 in 2022, making up 84.4 percent of the total.
Photo: Screen grab from the Executive Yuan’s Web site
However, the Executive Yuan said that women play a major role in the development of Taiwan’s small and medium-sized enterprises, which have paid-in capital of less than NT$100 million (US$3.2 million) and a workforce of fewer than 200 employees.
The number of small and medium-sized enterprises owned by women reached 603,000 in 2022, up 129,000 or 27 percent from a year earlier and making up 37.3 percent of the total, the report showed.
By sector, the service sector saw female-owned businesses account for about 40 percent, compared with 24.6 percent in the agricultural and minerals sector, and 27.1 percent in the industrial sector.
In the service sector, women owned more than 35 percent of the companies in most industries, with 46.8 percent in the lodging, and food and beverage industry, and 45.6 percent in the education sector, the report said.
“Other service firms” in the report, including household helpers, beauty parlors, funeral homes and religious service industries, were 47.2 percent owned by women, it added.
In government, female ministers accounted for 21.9 percent of the Executive Yuan as of the end of January last year, which was below the target of one-third promoted by the government, it said.
The Executive Yuan said female political appointees in government accounted for 24.1 percent of all political appointees in 2022, also below the one-third target.
Female members of the Examination Yuan and female judges in the Judicial Yuan made up more than 50 percent, while female members of the Control Yuan accounted for more than 40 percent, the Executive Yuan said.
However, in the Constitutional Court, female justices accounted for only 26.7 percent in 2022, the report said.
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