10/22/16

Taiwan

Female Presidents

The upcoming U.S. elections between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have sparked curiosity and a greater awareness of women in politics and particularly female presidents. Over the summer I had the opportunity to live in Taiwan during the inauguration of Taiwan's first democratically elected female president, Cai Yingwen. Reporters from all over the world came to document this historic moment and advancement for all Asian countries. I could not help but ask everyone their opinion of Cai Yingwen. Many Taiwanese people would respond by saying they are unsure because she was only recently elected and hasn't created stability yet. Nobody seemed shocked or worried that their president was a female, only that they did not know what her policies were going to be and that they hope for improvements to the economy. Many people did not feel particularly partial or impartial towards her, but a phrase often repeated was that the younger generation really supports her. 

I wanted to know if the election of Cai Yingwen would result in more women representatives in Taiwan. Surprisingly Professor Lin from Ping Tung National University and UN representative for Taiwanese aboriginals informed me that since the inauguration of Cai Yingwen the number of women in a 40-seat cabinet was decreased to only four women. CEDAW in Action (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women) writes,

“Tsai’s gender equality policy in 2012 promised that the gender ratio in governments — whether local or central, and regardless of pay grade — would at least be one-third women, but the last time there were so few women in the Cabinet was under then-premier Vincent Siew in 1997, she wrote. Tsai’s recent predecessors have done better, Lee said, referring to President Ma Ying-jeou and Chen.” (Hui-ping and Chung).

Of course many factors lead may be impacting the decrease of women in cabinet, it is not solely Cai Yingwen effecting the outcome of women in cabinet. Unfortunately, the gender ratio is still low and the election of a female president is not necessarily the answer to increasing women in politics.

If Hillary Clinton is elected President of the United States it will be interesting to note how or if the gender ratio in the United States will increase.

 

Bibliography

Hui-ping, Chen and Jake Chung. Women's Groups Prostest Lack of Women in Cabinet. Gender News in Taiwan. Taipei: CEDAW in Action, 2016. News Report.