TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Department of Gender Equality (DGE) published its “2024 Gender Image” gender equality report on Monday (Jan. 29).
In a press release, the DGE announced that its “2024 Gender Image” report was included in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Social Institutions Gender Index (SIGI) evaluation for the first time, per CNA. Taiwan ranked first in Asia.
The Cabinet said that to encourage men to share housework, the subsidy for parental leave was increased from 60% to 80% in July 2021, along with relaxed eligibility criteria. The application rate for male parental leave reached 25.2% in 2022, a 7% increase from 18.2% in 2020 before the new policy was implemented, per Liberty Times.
Regarding female participation in the government, in the 2024 legislative election, 41.6% of elected candidates were women, the same number as the 2020 election. Following the 2022 nine-in-one elections, seven counties and cities had over one-third female representation in high-level positions, while four had less than 20%.
The report also said that Taiwan has been actively encouraging female research talent, with women comprising 23.1% of researchers in 2021, showing a steady growth trend.
According to its own Gender Equality Index, Taiwan’s score in 2022 was 72 points, an increase of 4.1 points compared to 67.9 points in 2015.