President Tsai highlights progress in empowering women

President Tsai Ing-wen addressing an event with female members of the foreign diplomatic corps on March 14 said that the government is committed to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment while working with like-minded partners to realize a world free of discrimination.

Tsai, citing a report released by the Executive Yuan earlier this year, noted that the country ranks sixth globally and first in Asia in overall gender equality. Taiwan has been actively working with international friends such as Australia, Japan and the U.S. in establishing mechanisms including the APEC Women and the Economy Sub-fund and the 2X Women’s Initiative, she added.

Tsai made the remarks during an event as part of International Women’s Day in Taipei City. Co-organized by St. Kitts and Nevis Ambassador Jasmine E. Huggins and Australian Office Taipei Representative Jenny Bloomfield, the event gathered high-profile women including Afas Falah, deputy minister of the Cabinet-level Council of Indigenous Peoples; Sandra Oudkirk, first female director of the American Institute in Taiwan; and ambassadors of the country’s allies Belize, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Palau, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Tuvalu.

According to Tsai, Taiwan is willing and able to share the country’s experience with the world and several seminars on women’s empowerment have already been held under the Taiwan-U.S. Global Cooperation and Training Framework. The Taiwan Gender Equality Week leading up to the 66th session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women running until March 25, hopes to raise public awareness about gender equality in relation to climate justice and sustainable development.

Tsai also voiced support for the IWD2022 #BreakTheBias campaign, pledging to realize a world where ability and competence, rather than gender, determine opportunity and career. (YCH-E)