Taiwan voters elect a record high number of women to mayoral positions following the 2022 local elections, according to the Department of Gender Equality. (Courtesy of Gender Equality Committee)
 

Taiwan ranks seventh globally and first in Asia based on data used to compile the latest U.N. Gender Inequality Index, according to Taiwan’s Department of Gender Equality.

In a statement, the Cabinet-level DGE said the overall percentage of women aged 15 and above in the workplace was 51.5 percent in 2021. A typical monthly wage for female workers in 2021 was NT$40,030 (US$1,346), it added.

The proportion of elected women politicians continues to increase, the DGE said. Female mayors in Taiwan accounted for 56.3 percent of the total positions following the 2022 local elections, the department added.

According to the DGE, in 2019, the proportion of female graduates in natural sciences, mathematics and statistics, as well as engineering, manufacturing and construction in Taiwan were 43.1 percent and 18.9 percent respectively, reflecting an increase of 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent from the previous year. In 2020, women accounted for 22.9 percent of researchers in Taiwan, which is a 1.4 percent increase from a decade before.

The findings are contained in the DGE’s latest Gender at a Glance study. Conducted annually since 2006, the research adopts the same assessment methodology as the annual gender survey published by the U.N. Development Program.

The DGE calculated that Taiwan scores 0.036 out of 1, where the higher the value, the greater the inequality. The country ranks after Denmark, Norway and Switzerland. Fellow Asian countries South Korea, Japan and China finished 15th, 22nd and 48th, respectively. (DL-E)