In a bid to help women be able to contribute more to the workplace and take better care of their families, the government is studying measures to remove barriers for career women on both fronts, a spokesman for the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
According to the spokesman, the council has been working on crafting policies to help women enjoy salaries equal to those of their male counterparts and to provide career women with financial subsidies for maternity leave and better daycare services for their children.
Compared with career woman in many other countries, Taiwan's female workers receive poor salaries, although many of them are college graduates or even hold higher degrees, the spokesman said.
According to a council review, female workers' salaries averaged 78.2 percent of those of their male counterparts last year -- an improvement from 70 percent 10 years ago but still lagging behind an average 85 percent in EU member states and 81 percent in the US.
While the Gender Equality Employment Law (兩性工作平等法) came into effect four years ago, officials said the salary gap remained wide.
If measures under discussion were to be put in place, it would boost women's willingness to stay in the workplace longer and rear more children, minimizing the impact of a graying population on the economy and society, they said.
The officials attributed salary inequality to several key factors, including a lack of professional training, quitting work to get married and needing to take care of their families.
A 2003 report by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed that 28.7 percent of married career women surveyed said they had resigned to get married, while 15.5 percent said they had quit work to give birth.
Meanwhile, most women working in low-income and unskilled professions, such as vendors or administrative personnel, stay for fewer years at the same company and prefer to work part-time because of family constraints, the officials said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
RSS