President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday encouraged women to become whoever they want to be, while expressing her hope that the media would stop using the term “strong women” to describe those with successful careers.
Tsai made the remarks in a video recorded for a forum held by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taipei to mark International Women’s Day tomorrow.
Over the past few years, the nation has seen many women working hard in their professions and challenging gender stereotypes in various industries, Tsai said.
For example, an increasing number of women work as soldiers, police officers and firefighters, protecting the public and their property, no matter how tough the missions are, she said.
Numerous female physicians, pharmacists, healthcare professionals and researchers have made significant contributions to the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she added.
Tsai said that she hopes the “successful woman” would not become just another gender stereotype, but a natural part of society.
One day, people will hopefully no longer hear “strong women” in the media to describe women with successful careers, she said.
The government should implement more measures to break gender stereotypes and promote gender equality, she added.
The theme of the forum this year was the “courage” of women in Taiwan in facing various challenges and meeting the needs of life’s different stages.
Six female panelists with different backgrounds were invited to discuss issues such as postpartum care and childcare, the reproductive rights of women with disabilities, widowed women living alone, and elderly women in retirement.
In his opening speech, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that despite the vast majority of attendees at the day’s events being women, he believed more men should attend to better understand the topics.
“Women have the courage to be persistent; to not give up, to be positive; to explore all of the possible ways to achieve a desired solution; and to be gentle,” he said. “Gentleness is an excellent trait found in many women, but it should be found in men, too.”
Some goals cannot be met by an insistence on forcing one’s way through, Chen said, adding that showing some gentleness and reason might open up new possibilities for progress.
“The power of gentleness is key to our impressive performance in fighting the virus,” he said.
Many healthcare workers and employees at centralized care facilities are women who have shown that difficult situations can be solved through compassionate care, rather than tough discipline and punishments, Chen said.
Asked how he defines “courage,” Chen said that courage comes from caring — such as for human beings or for nature — because when people care about someone or something, they find the strength to help or improve a situation.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by