The report, reviewing advancements in women’s status from 1999 to 2008, was presented before the Cabinet by MOI Minister Liao Liou-yi.
Citing studies from the Council for Economic Planning and Development, Liao said it is estimated that females in the country will outnumber males at 50.04 percent of the entire population in 2014, the first time in history, and possibly reach 51.3 percent by 2031.
Taiwan’s female population grew 5.85 percent over the past 10 years, whereas the island’s male population only increased by 2.77 percent during the same period.
In addition, the MOI pointed out that women account for 51.5 percent of people aged over 65, up from 46.8 percent a decade ago.
The report also found that women in Taiwan over the last 10 years had made great progress in areas such as literacy, life expectancy, gross enrollment in educational institutions and work income.
Liao said the literacy rate for females aged 15 and over improved from 91.1 percent in 1997 to 95.9 percent in 2007. Women’s life expectancy rose from 78.93 years in 1998 to 82.01 years in 2008, an increase of 3.08 years while men were expected to live only 2.37 years longer.
In terms of gross enrollment, females between 6 and 21 years of age represented 87.4 percent in 1997 and 102.4 percent in 2007. Women’s salary purchasing power parity averaged US$15,112 in 2000, and rose to US$21,098 in 2005, a 40-percent growth.
The MOI study also found that women’s political and economic participation had improved a great deal over the last decade. In 1995, female legislators comprised only 14 percent of the total lawmakers. In 2008, even though the number of parliamentarians was slashed by half, the ratio of females rose to 30.1 percent. The rate of women possessing managerial jobs climbed to 17.5 percent in 2007, a 4.4-percent increase from 1995. Female professionals and technicians represented 42.5 percent in 1995, compared to 46.4 percent in 2007. In 2000, the contribution of women to gross domestic product was 52.3 percent of that made by men. Five years later, this had grown to 58.8 percent.
The minister said according to a study the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics conducted using statistics regarding women’s status in Taiwan. The nation’s gender-related development index would rank 22nd worldwide, based on the method of calculations used in the U.N. Human Development Report 2006. Among Asian countries, the nation should rank second after Japan.
In terms of gender empowerment measure, which looks at inequalities in opportunities for men and women in a country, Taiwan would rank 24th in the world, next only to Singapore, the minister said.
While attending a local activity celebrating International Women’s Day March 7, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said that seeking gender equality is a universal value. To achieve this goal, he instructed that starting this year each ministry has to include a gender influence evaluation in their mid-to-long term planning proposals.
Write to Jean Yueh at yueh@mail.gio.gov.tw