Taiwan to hold gender equality week to coincide with similar U.N. session

Taipei, March 7 (CNA) The Taiwan government and a civil rights organization will hold a week of activities in New York later this month to highlight gender equality, at the same time as the United Nation's annual session on women's rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Thursday.

Taiwan Gender Equality Week (TGEW), scheduled for March 11-22, will seek to promote the country's achievements on the world stage in the area of women's empowerment and equality, even as Taiwan remains excluded from the U.N., according to the foreign ministry.

The two main TGEW events, called Taiwan Main Stage and Taiwan Cultural Night, will be held on March 13 at the Taiwan representative office in New York, MOFA said in a press release.

The 2024 TGEW program also includes a series of non-governmental forums during the week of activities, which is being organized jointly by the Taiwan government and the Foundation for Women's Rights Promotion and Development (FWRPD), the ministry said.

First introduced in 2020, the TGEW will coincide this year with the annual U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, scheduled to be held March 11-22 under the theme "Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective."

As Taiwan is not a member of the U.N., it cannot participate in the session, therefore, it is promoting its women's rights achievements in New York, the headquarters of the U.N..

At one of the main TGEW events on March 13, the participants will hear a presentation by Hank Huang (黃崇哲), president of the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF), on how Taiwan is working to achieve gender equality by means of financial resilience and inclusion, the foreign ministry said.

Other speakers on the Taiwan Main Stage program include Kelley Currie, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, according to MOFA.

At the other March 13 event -- Taiwan Cultural Night -- female Taiwanese entrepreneurs will share their creative ideas and hand out some of their products, such as tea and handicraft, in an effort to promote Taiwan's cultural traditions and their role in empowering women in small communities, MOFA said.

Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations from Taiwan are expected to participate in 33 forum sessions, which will be held throughout the TGEW to highlight Taiwan's achievements in women's economic empowerment through education and government policies, the foreign ministry said.

Taiwan, officially called the Republic of China, has been excluded from the U.N. and its special agencies since in 1971, when it left the U.N. and was replaced by the People's Republic of China.