In the long struggle for gender equality around the globe, Taiwan is proving to be a quick study. Today, Taiwanese women help drive the economy and inspire the younger generation to reach even higher.
According to a recent report by a local magazine, Business Weekly, the rise of female power during the past decade is significant both in the East and the West. Changing social attitudes toward women and the rise of a knowledge-based economy are opening more possibilities for women. Today, the power of women is notably represented by outstanding women in politics, business, high-tech industries, and many other highly professional fields. The trend is putting to rest old ideas of women as the "second sex."
The struggle for gender equality has been a long one. For thousands of years, women were disenfranchised, and only over the last century have societies around the world begun to agree that women should have a voice in national life. The denial of a woman's right to vote and to own property was historically the most representative example of women's second-class standing. But other slights were common and entrenched. In China, for example, where family records represented an important source of collective memory, only the maiden names of the female members of the family were recorded in the genealogies, while men had their full names listed. But China was not alone in its chauvinism.
Societies around the globe stifled the voices of women and shut them out of economic and social activities. Toward the end of the 19th century, this began to change. In 1889, married women in Finland became the first to gain the right to manage their own property. In 1906, New Zealand became the first nation to give women the vote, while Finland permitted women to stand for elective office. A century later, there are at least 12 countries with women serving as the head of state, while many others are managing businesses and taking leading roles in many aspects of society.
The enormous social changes in Taiwan have opened the way for women to take part in society as never before. Today, the vice president, Lu Hsiu-lien, is notable in that many countries that started on the road to gender equality much earlier have yet to have a woman serve as vice president. While outside of politics, Taiwan's well-educated female workforce has flourished in an increasingly knowledge-based economy. The global Who's Who of high-tech industries is swelling with female executives, such as Carly Fiorina, who became chairperson and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 1999, while Taiwanese women are taking up important posts in the offices of foreign high-tech companies in Taiwan, including Accenture, HP, Intel, and Microsoft.
Managing Director of HP Taiwan, Rosemary W. Ho, notes that these companies' choice of women as their country-level executives exemplified their commitment to diversity. "One of the reasons that female executives have gained appreciation from foreign companies is that these companies stress diversity," she says. "HP, for instance, has a target of achieving a 1-percent increase in the number of management-level females this year. What's significant about the goal is more the mentality than the percentage. We hope that our efforts will come to good results, which could in turn produce some effects on local businesses' hiring policies." HP Taiwan has a company-wide female to male ratio of 37:63, while at the management level it stands at 3:7.
A 2002 survey by another local magazine, Global Views Monthly , targeting 862 listed domestic companies, suggests that Taiwanese companies still have a long way to go. According to the survey, 85 percent of the companies recognize the increasing numbers of female executives. In reality, only 13.4 percent of local businesses employ more females than males and only 0.2 percent retained more female executives. The survey confirms Ho's view that the service industry, specifically the financial sector and the media, promises more opportunities for women to vie for executive positions than other industries. In selecting medium or high-level executives among the eligible male and female candidates of matching strengths, the report says, 22.8 percent of the interviewees would give priority to men while 1.4 percent would do the opposite.
The same year, the government passed the Gender Equality Labor Law, which was intended to ensure that women got a fair chance in competition with men in the workplace. But the magazine's business survey suggests that the law had not yet started producing positive effects on local hiring practices.
Yet, the success of Ho, who was rated by the Global Views Monthly survey as the most representative female manager among 28 high-level female executives, is a good reminder of how far women have come. Ho had worked as a software engineer in the US for ten years before she came back to Taiwan in 1991 and turned herself into a professional manager. She has experienced over the past six years two major mergers that resulted in the disappearance of the companies she headed. But she continued even after the restructurings to sit at the top of the new enterprise, showing her perseverance and demonstrating her value to the companies. "It never crossed my mind that I should limit my goals simply because I'm a woman," she says. "When it comes to gender, the real problem lies in your mindset. Do you really consider being a woman a hindrance to your performance or your ability to communicate?"
Ho says that gender differences have little to do with job performance. "The differences should be in the ways they handle business," she says. "The 'glass ceiling' is always there not just for women but for other minorities. What matters is how you use your status as a minority to your advantage. Being a minority can mean that you attract more attention and that your good performance stands a greater chance to be seen." In her opinion, many Taiwanese women are conscious of their performance, but many of them are less intent on aiming high. "Treat the sky as your limit," she says. "Keep your eye on your highest goals, and never give up."
As dedicated as she is to her profession, Ho has tried to balance her professional life with other interests. "I practically pick up a new hobby every year--horseback riding, skating, singing opera, skateboarding, you name it," she says.
One of the most persistent challenges for professional women has been balancing their careers with family. Ho suggests that marriage is in fact a controllable factor in life. Choosing a supportive and understanding husband helps prevent many problems for a career woman, she believes. Ho says many of her female friends do well both in caring for the family and running businesses.
Yet the balancing act is tougher in some professions than others. Female doctors, especially surgeons who could be called to work anytime, may find it hard to fulfill the roles of a wife, a mother, and a professional at the same time. Koh Chee-chee, attending doctor at Mackay Memorial Hospital's Department of Pediatric Surgery, recognizes the difficulties of balancing family with career and suggests that the government work on implementing policies that would be more supportive of career women, such as more comprehensive childcare services and better policies for hiring full-time help for the family. "Before I got married, and even before I became a mother, I was happy about my chosen career as a surgeon," she says. "But now as a mother of two kids who sends her kids to Malaysia under their grandparents' care, I'm not so sure about that any more, even though the job is still very fulfilling."
At present, female doctors and attorneys are allowed to take a 30-day maternity leave, 18 days fewer than the eight-week paid leave enjoyed by those covered by the Labor Standards Law. Koh says that her job demands long hours, tremendous pressure, and a host of difficult skills that must be constantly improved by experience and unending study. "The decisions we make often involve other people's lives," she says.
In addition to the support of her family, an important pillar of strength for Koh is her religious faith, which she says helps her through many critical situations where quick decisions are needed. She says a surgeon must always be decisive and be strong enough to sustain long shifts.
Koh says that a doctor's gender is less of a concern for the patients than her perceived age, since patients want a doctor who is experienced. Yet, the demands of surgery also require sharp eyes and good coordination, and so many surgeons retire once their reflexes start to slow down. They are not the only professionals whose careers depend on well-maintained health. Liu Yen-ling, a female pilot with China Airlines, says that it is essential that she eats a healthy diet and gets enough sleep to make sure she is a good pilot.
Liu is one of the first two female pilots in Taiwan. Looking back, Liu says her decision to divert her career from the passenger cabin to the cockpit seems courageous but also a natural evolution. "It was courageous because no one had gone before us to tell us what would be awaiting us," she says.
Because of her success, Liu encourages women to take on challenges and test their limits. "Taiwan provides a friendly environment where women are free to expand their knowledge and skills," Liu says. "With that advantage, they stand a good chance of fulfilling their goals despite the many challenges that women face. Perhaps what's more important now is to encourage women to make time for themselves."
Liu says that women should take a step back once they gain a certain level of recognition. "Sometimes women look threatening if they push too hard. When I take a step back, I see different views and it's easier to resolve problems." In addition, she strongly recommends that career women do not sacrifice their right to becoming a wife and mother. "Every career has to come to an end," she says. "Family is always the greatest thing, the final destination in life." She says that the government should help eliminate age limits as a hiring criterion and improve laws that regulate the job market so that women can have stable careers and still have time to spend with their families. "Professional jobs rely on one's ability to solve problems, rather than on one's gender or age."
In fact, the environment in Taiwan has improved greatly for women. The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics compiles statistics for its own gender empowerment measure (GEM), which is usually administered by the United Nations Development Programme. The UN began its research in 1995 by ranking member states annually in its Human Development Report to measure the degree of women's participation in politics and economy, and their level of influence in decision-making. Since Taiwan is not a member of the UN, the directorate general compiles its measurement based on UN standards and then ranks Taiwan among other countries accordingly. The GEM measures women's participation in society by gathering statistics in four separate areas:
1. The percentage of seats in parliament held by women
2. The percentage of female legislators, senior officials, and managers
3. The percentage of female professional and technical workers
4. The ratio of estimated female to male earned income
In 2001, Taiwan scored a 0.651 on the directorate general's GEM, placing it first in Asia and 21st among the 71 countries rated. A perfect score would garner a 1.0 rating, and Iceland placed highest on the scale that year with a score of 0.847.
Furthermore, according to a 2002 survey by the directorate general, the period from 1991 to 2001 saw increases in the number of female professional and technical workers, as well as sales clerks and service workers in various sectors, while the number of female laborers dropped by 9 percent to 22.7 percent. The survey indicates a 14-percent increase in the number of women receiving a higher education in the same period, reaching 30.4 percent, which is higher than Singapore's 23 percent and close to Japan's 31 percent. The report attributes the changes in labor distribution to education.
The report also registers a slight increase in participation by women in the workforce to 46 percent, which is lower than those of Korea, Japan, Singapore, and the United States, indicating that Taiwan still has room for improvement. In the long struggle for gender equality, however, Taiwan has achieved enormous success in just a brief span of time.