Premier Cho Jung-tai said at a meeting of the Cabinet-level Gender Equality Committee April 30 that the government is deeply invested in promoting gender equality in the workplace to build a diverse, friendly and just society in Taiwan.
According to Cho, gender equality is a high-priority policy, and the government continues to implement measures to address imbalances. These include regular disclosure of gender wage gaps by occupation, efforts to achieve more gender-balanced faculty representation at colleges and universities, and the installation of more gender-friendly restrooms, he said.
In particular, Cho instructed the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics to analyze wage data so that related agencies like the Ministry of Labor can identify areas of concern, including those involving Indigenous citizens and those with disabilities, and formulate more supportive measures.
The premier added that starting next year, publicly listed companies with a paid-in capital exceeding NT$10 billion (US$320 million) will need to disclose information such as gender representation, average and median wages of all full-time employees.
The Ministries of Education, the Interior and National Defense are being required to identify departments with low or no female representation, Cho said, noting that the ministries were also being instructed to provide strategies to address the issue, including formulating provisional measures based on the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women whenever applicable, he added.
Cho also took the opportunity to thank the meeting’s participants for their valuable policy suggestions, and said he expected the committee to continue working with public and private sector partners to create a more inclusive society. (SFC-E)
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