Civic groups pan parties' responses to gender-equality questionnaire

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) A coalition of 28 civic groups on Tuesday criticized the "disappointing" and frequently indirect responses it received to a gender-equality policy questionnaire it submitted to Taiwan's main political parties.

The groups, including the Awakening Foundation and the National Alliance of Taiwan Women's Associations, submitted the nine-point questionnaire to a total of eight political parties in early November.

Of the country's three largest parties, the questionnaire responses submitted by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) consisted mainly of expansions on its current policies, Awakening Foundation Chairwoman Chiang Chen-yin (姜貞吟) said at a press conference.

Among the opposition, the proposals submitted by the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP), on the whole, posed an inadequate challenge to the ruling party, Chiang said.

On the issue of salaries and work-life balance, the groups said that the DPP promised to offer more flexible parental leave, offer paid family care and long-term care leave, and extend the length of paid maternity leave.

However, the party did not offer specifics on those plans, and did not provide a proposal for reducing overall working hours, the groups said.

In Taiwan, new mothers are currently able to take eight weeks of maternity leave at 100 percent of their insured monthly salary, while new mothers and fathers can take six months of parental leave at 80 percent of their salary before their child turns 3.

The government does not guarantee paid family care leave or long-term care leave.

Meanwhile, the groups said the KMT had promised to offer 3.5 days of annual paid family care leave, while the TPP pledged to "increase" family care leave, but without specifics on the number of days or whether they would be paid.

On the topic of public day care access, Chiang said the DPP put forth a plan to increase the number of quasi-public and public community childcare centers, while the TPP and KMT's responses focused mainly on increasing childcare-related subsidies.

None of the three main parties, however, provided concrete plans to reduce the urban-rural gap in access to childcare, Chiang said.

In terms of addressing the labor shortage at long-term care centers, only the KMT pledged to integrate migrant workers into the system, by gradually allowing government-contracted nursing homes to hire foreign caregivers, said Lee Shao-fen (李韶芬), a consultant at the Awakening Foundation.

In contrast, the DPP's response focused on finding ways for people caring for elderly family members to continue working, while the TPP focused on expanding direct hiring of home-based foreign caregivers and increasing transparency among labor brokers, Lee said.

The policy questionnaire, as well as the parties' responses and the civic groups' responses to the responses, are available online (in Chinese).

Aside from the DPP, KMT and TPP, the other parties that answered the questionnaire were the New Power Party, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party, the People First Party, the Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party, and the Green Party.