The National Police Agency (NPA) yesterday announced a massive personnel reshuffle involving 146 high-ranking police officers, including the promotion of National Highway Police Director Liao Mei-ling (廖美鈴) to NPA deputy director-general, a milestone in the agency’s history.
Liao’s promotion in July 2022 made her the first female officer to earn the three stripes and three stars insignia, and now she is making history again as the NPA’s first female deputy director-general.
Liao has a gentle demeanor, but is strong-willed and determined, able to complete all tasks handed down to her and has earned the respect of her superiors, one of Liao’s subordinates said.
Photo copied by Yao Yueh-hung, Taipei Times
The latest reshuffle within the NPA affects county and city police bureau chiefs and deputy chiefs all the way up to the agency’s deputy director-general.
Ten out of 16 county and city police chiefs have been reshuffled, although there were no changes in the six major municipalities.
In related news, women’s groups and Democratic Progressive Party legislators including Fan Yun (范雲) yesterday called for increased gender representation in politics, proposing that the Local Government Act (地方制度法) be amended to increase the quota of female seats in local governments from one-quarter to one-third.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The groups at a news conference called on the Ministry of the Interior to draft a bill as soon as possible to expand women’s opportunities to hold office and reduce the urban-rural gender disparity in local politics, working toward the goal of an even male-female split.
Female representation in Taiwanese politics has made clear improvements, yet institutionalized gender inequality still remains, particularly in local elections, the groups said.
After the 2022 election, women constituted 39.79 percent of special municipal councilors and 36.02 percent of other county and city councilors, but only 26.15 percent of township councilors, they said.
The Local Government Act has not been amended since 1999, Fan said.
The law stipulates that when the number of special municipality, county or city government councilors or township councilors reaches four, one seat shall be reserved for a female councilor.
If the number exceeds four, one seat out of each additional four shall be reserved for a female councilor, effectively only guaranteeing that between one-in-four and one-in-seven seats remain female and offering no quota for lesser-populated areas with fewer than four seats, Fan said.
In the 2022 election, 22.11 percent of constituencies across Taiwan had no female elected representatives, compared with 46.71 percent among township and city constituencies, highlighting the disparity between urban and rural areas, she said.
Many exceptional female politicians have emerged from local elections, demonstrating the importance of equal participation in local politics, she added.
Fan said that the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women aims for 50 percent female representation in politics.
The Ministry of the Interior has discussed possible amendments to the act for more than a decade, she said.
Fan urged the ministry to come up with a draft bill, and for it to invite representatives from women’s groups to attend hearings on the proposed amendments.
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