Parents should be able to take leave by the day or by the hour to take care of their children, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said yesterday, as he and other lawmakers reintroduced a bill to instate more flexible parental leave.
Taiwan’s birthrate has reached a new low, meaning the labor shortage would continue to worsen, Childcare Policy Alliance convener Liu Yu-shiu (劉毓秀) told a news conference in Taipei.
However, 49 percent of working-age women are not in the workforce, as many stay at home to take care of children, she said.
Photo: CNA
The alliance in 2022 proposed an amendment to create a new kind of parental leave, which must now be reintroduced to the legislature as it has begun a new session.
Single women work at a higher rate than their male counterparts, but workforce participation drops off after they get married, Hung said, adding that women also find it difficult to return to work after spending time away.
Parental leave is very inflexible, forcing many caregivers out of the workforce anyway, he said.
Current rules under the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別工作平等法) provide for parental leave of up to two years, which must be taken before a child is three years old. Each parent can apply twice for parental leave, for a minimum period of 30 days.
Hung said he and his colleagues have reintroduced the bill, and called on government agencies to take it seriously.
The bill drafted by the alliance has four main elements: parents would be able to use parental leave until their child is eight years old; parents could apply for leave by the day or by the hour; parental leave and unpaid maternity or paternity leave should be considered together, with subsidies offered for six months; and parental leave should be scheduled 10 days in advance, with an option to apply the day before in emergencies.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS