Women from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday urged people to vote for the party in Saturday’s elections, saying that it had advanced gender equality, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was becoming more conservative.
The DPP has pushed for gender equality and the empowerment of women, DPP legislator-at-large candidate Fan Yun (范雲) told a news conference at DPP headquarters in Taipei.
She and a group of female DPP legislative candidates presented videos and listed the accomplishments and gender equality policies promoted by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is seeking re-election as the party’s presidential candidate.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“In the past, at least KMT officials knew they were behind and tried to move forward on women’s issues, but we see now that the KMT is falling further behind, and going backward in a more conservative direction,” Fan said.
Fan said Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the KMT’s presidential candidate; former premier Simon Chang (張善政), its vice presidential candidate; and KMT chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) had all made sexist comments.
“So we call on voters to hand the KMT a heavy defeat, so that it can reflect and learn a lesson,” she said.
Fan also praised the Tsai administration for legalizing same-sex marriage.
DPP Nantou County Councilor and legislator-at-large candidate Lo Mei-ling (羅美玲) also spoke at the event, saying that she was born in Malaysia and had become a Taiwanese citizen through marriage.
“The DPP is the party working to improve the situation for women and new immigrants,” she said, adding that it is promoting a multicultural society in Taiwan, where people from Southeast Asia and other countries can be accepted.
She said many new immigrants and women from other countries working in Taiwan feel that the DPP has addressed their concerns and needs.
It has improved government programs so that they could make a living and contribute to society, she added.
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