Tsai features in US newspaper article on women leaders

2016/07/29

President Tsai Ing-wen was included in an article showcasing eight women to serve as national leaders published July 24 by U.S.-based newspaper The Washington Post.

“Women steering the ship of state: They’re just about everywhere (except here)” introduces Tsai as the “first female president of Taiwan,” winning the nation’s top job with 56 percent of the vote. Her background as a former professor and trade negotiator holding degrees from Cornell University and London School of Economics is also highlighted.

Tsai is in the esteemed company of the late Indira Ghandi, former prime minister of India; Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, ex-president of Argentina, Theresa May, prime minister of Britain; the late Golda Meir, former prime minister of Israel; Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany; the late Margaret Thatcher, ex-prime minister of Britain; and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia and the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Elected in January this year, Tsai said in another Washington Post article published this month that Taiwan’s society and democracy is “mature enough” and the people of Taiwan “place emphasis on the quality and value of individual politicians rather than their gender.”

According to the July 24 piece, “Countries with parliamentary systems and those that have proportional representation offer better opportunities for women to ascend party ladders and move into top jobs without having to wage costly presidential elections.”

Taiwan’s system of democratic governance is not a parliamentary system, and candidates for the presidency must win office through fierce but fair elections.

Under the ROC Constitution, at least 50 percent of a party’s at-large lawmakers must be women. This year, a record number of women were sworn in as legislators following commencement Feb. 1 of the ninth ROC Legislative Yuan. A total of 43 female legislators took their places in the 113-member lawmaking body, up from 38 in the eighth edition. This equates to 38 percent—the highest in Asia and topping such countries as the Philippines at 27.1 percent, South Korea 16.3 percent and Japan 11.6 percent, according to the latest statistics released by Switzerland-based Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=246517&ctNode=2194&mp=9)