Taiwan nominated for nine gender impact awards

Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) Taiwan has nine activities and reports on the list of nominations for the Gender Impact Awards, lagging behind only the United States, which has 12 nominations, according to the list released Monday by Womany, which presents the awards.

Established in 2011, Womany, the first social media in Taiwan with a core focus on gender issues and female consciousness, presented the awards for the first time last year to look back at the important gender progress and events that marked the past year.

The awards are divided into seven categories: the best gender report, the best practice for gender diversity, the best gender arts design, the best gender corporation, the best mass communication, the best gender social campaign, and Asian highlights.

A total of 44 gender equality events and reports have made it into the nomination list, including Taiwan's "#MeToo movement," and India's campaign leading to the scrapping of a 12 percent tax on sanitary pads.

The nine Taiwanese nominations on the list include the installation of the country's first comfort woman statue in Tainan, southern Taiwan and the initiation of a referendum on same-sex marriage.

Taiwan Coalition against Violence, a member of the jury panel, said that the year 2018 has seen a great achievement towards gender equality and there have been calls for reflection on gender-based violence from the entertainment and media industries, as well as the public and private sectors from around the world.

Modern Women's Foundation, another member of the jury panel, said that the past year has seen a series of events advocating for gender equality in many countries in Asia as well as in Africa, and the gender equality movement has become more prevalent in the world.

A press conference for announcing the winners of the Gender Impact Awards is set to be held on Dec. 20, according to Womany.