Asia-Pacific women’s rights promoted by Taiwan, US

2016/03/16

A workshop on enhancing prosperity and opportunities for women throughout the Asia-Pacific was recently staged in Taipei City under the Taiwan-U.S. Global Cooperation and Training Framework.

Hosted by the ROC Executive Yuan’s Department of Gender Equality, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Taipei City-based Foundation for Women’s Rights Promotion and Development, the March 11 event saw local experts and women’s rights activists exchange ideas and share experiences on a range of related matters with 16 of their counterparts from abroad.

These included Stephenie Foster, senior advisor in the U.S. Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues; Marjorie Margolies, president of Philadelphia-based Women’s Campaign International; and Valerie Biden Owens, an international consultant with WCI.

The daylong workshop is one of many ROC government initiatives aimed at improving the lot of women. It also demonstrates that Taiwan and the U.S. are serious about collaborating on empowering women and bridging the gender gap across the region, according to the MOFA.

During Foster, Margolies and Owens’ stay in Taiwan, they met with President Ma Ying-jeou, as well as other government officials and representatives of Taiwan nongovernmental organizations. Women’s rights discussions ranged from strengthening collaboration between Taiwan and the U.S., to identifying areas of improvement in Asia-Pacific.

The event is the third held to date under the framework. It follows an international conference on dengue fever prevention and control staged December 2015 in Tainan City by Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control and the American Institute in Taiwan, and a seminar on molecular diagnosis for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome conducted in August the same year by the CDC and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Launched June 1, 2015, the framework is an institutionalized platform for expanding Taiwan-U.S. ties through cooperation on regional issues.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=242936&ctNode=2194&mp=9)