Data from the Executive Yuan’s Gender Equality Committee yesterday highlighted improvements in gender equality in the nation.
Of the batch of legislators elected in January, 47 of 113, or 41.59 percent, are women, the committee said.
Data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union showed that Taiwan has the highest proportion of female legislators of any parliament in Asia, and the 16th-highest worldwide, it said.
The number of women in decisionmaking roles in government, schools and private companies has also steadily increased in the past few years, with women accounting for nearly 43 percent of such roles overall, the committee said.
The gender wage gap has narrowed as well: Over the past decade, the average hourly wage gap fell from 17.9 percent in 2009 to 14.2 percent last year, the committee’s data showed.
Separately yesterday, a survey released by the Chinese Institute of Engineers showed that only 13 percent of the nation’s engineers are women and most of them believe they have to work harder to receive the same recognition or promotions as their male counterparts.
The survey on the relationship between career development and gender differences in engineering, the first of its kind in Taiwan, was conducted among engineers at 39 enterprises, seven government agencies, and eight research and development companies that together employ 130,000 people.
A total of 1,307 valid samples were collected, including 531 from female respondents.
Women make up 15 percent of engineers in the civil engineering sector, 29 percent in architecture and urban planning, 8 percent in electrical and electronic engineering, 18 percent in information and communications technology and 17 percent in chemical engineering materials, the survey showed.
Forty-four percent of engineers in biomedical engineering are female, while women account for 17 percent of engineers in environmental engineering/green energy and 3 percent in mechanical engineering, it showed.
Across all sectors, women make up 13 percent of engineers, the survey found.
The institute, which is 109 years old, selected its first female director in 2012 and last year established a female engineers’ committee to bring more women into the engineering and science and technology sectors, institute president Liao Ching-jong (廖慶榮) said.
There is still a large gap between the number of female engineering graduates and those working in the field, Liao said.
More than 60 percent of male and female engineers saw no difference between male and female supervisors, but said that it is more difficult for women to find a job and be promoted in the field, said Hsueh Wen-jean (薛文珍), head of the institute’s female engineers’ committee, citing the survey.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
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