Taiwan eyes 50% female representation in parliament: VP-elect

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) touted Taiwan's progress in gender equality by noting that the country should aim for 50 percent of lawmakers in the Legislative Yuan to be women, at an event celebrating diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) Thursday.

At the DEIA forum held by the American Institute in Taiwan and the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (AmCham), where Hsiao gave the closing remarks, she said Taiwan could reach 50 percent female representation in the legislature in the future, as it already had 40 percent when she left the Legislative Yuan in 2020.

"When I first joined the Legislature [in 2002], only 20 percent were women," she said, adding that over the years the country's parliament has seen a steady increase in female representation.

In the ninth Legislature for which Hsiao was elected a member in 2016, 38.1 percent of lawmakers were women and in the next Legislature in 2020 that rose to 41.6 percent.

"Of course, we have a goal of making it 50 percent, and I'm sure we will get there pretty soon," Hsiao stressed.

In the current Legislature, which was elected in January 2024, 41.6 percent of lawmakers are also women.

On female participation in politics, the vice president-elect also said that Taiwan has "a record that is better than the United States" having elected the first woman president and also the second female vice president, Hsiao herself. The audience laughed in response.

Of the 535 members of the 118th Congress in the U.S., 155 are women, representing 29 percent of all lawmakers.

To further show Taiwan's progress "beyond statistics and representation," Hsiao also noted that when she was in the Legislature over 20 years ago, "we often heard comments made on gender-based prejudices in the Legislative Yuan."

"Those comments are no longer acceptable on today's floor, as they will be condemned," she stressed. "They now occasionally appear, but they are less tolerated."

Indeed, last July, the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration "took extraordinarily swift actions to pass amendments to the three gender equality laws -- the Gender Equality and Employment Act, Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, and Gender Equity Education Act," Hsiao said.

The laws were amended after a spate of accusations that became known as Taiwan's metoo movement, when various accusations of sexual misbehavior were made by women against men across Taiwanese society, from politics to business and the media.

She pledged that proactive measures to ensure fairness in the regulatory environment and the legal environment will continue to be taken, and "broader awareness and education initiatives" will also continue to be supported by the government.

The AmCham Taiwan's 2024 DEIA Celebration Forum, according to the business chamber, aims to promote the principles of DEIA and create a platform for businesses to co-learn with governments through partnerships and the sharing of best practices.

An Executive Order signed by U.S. President Biden and enacted in 2021 says all U.S. federal agencies "must remove barriers to equal opportunity and provide resources and opportunities to strengthen and advance DEIA," according to AmCham.