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Chinese_Taipei
Flag of Chinese_Taipei
Population (in Mil.)	23
Sex Ratio (m/f)	1,02
Life Expectancy Ratio (f/m)	-
Fertility Rate	-
Income Ratio (f/m)	-
Literacy Ratio (f/m)	n/a
Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (f/m)	n/a
Women in Parliament (in %)	n/a
SIGI Rank	0
More information on variables
Did you know that Chinese_Taipei ranks number 0 of 102 countries on the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index? To learn more, see the official country note "Gender Equality and Social Institutions in Chinese_Taipei" at genderindex.org:

Social Institutions

It is perhaps easiest to consider the situation of women in Chinese Taipei in comparison with that of women in mainland China (PRC). While Chinese Taipei has adopted a Western civil and capitalist legal system over the past century, its Civil Code retains strong paternal characteristics whereas PRC legislation upholds the principle of gender equality (Chen, 2002). Thanks however to the initiatives and efforts of private organizations, there is a growing awareness of women’s rights issues. One important aspect concerns education and includes the eradication of traditional gender roles in school textbooks. Legal amendments aiming to protect women’s interests have been realized only during the last decade. Over 90 percent of Chinese Taipei’s population adheres to Buddhism or Taoism, or some mixture of both.

Family Code

Part IV of the Civil Code concerns family matters and amendments in 2002 strengthened women’s rights in a number of areas. The legal marriage age is 16 years for women and 18 years for men. Early marriages appear to be uncommon, and according to a 2006 report by the Ministry of Interior the national average age of marriage was 28.5 years for women and 32.5 years for men. The average age of marriage was highest in Taipei City and lowest in Changhua County (Taipei Times, 2006). While polygamy is illegal, it is not uncommon for rich Taiwanese men – in particular businessmen who cross the border frequently - to have concubines or second wives in mainland China. With regards to parental authority, women and men have the same legal rights following recent revisions of the Civil Code. Despite the fact that many women in Chinese Taipei are still defined by their role as mothers, wives and homemakers they were only granted equal custody rights with men in 2002: prior to that time, the father was automatically granted custody of a couple’s children in the event of divorce by mutual consent (Taiwan Government Information Office, ROC). There is no legal discrimination in the area of inheritance, but daughters are often expected to discard their right in deference to their brothers (Taiwan Review, 2006)

Physical Integrity

Following pressures from the country’s women’s organizations, the government introduced new laws to protect women from gender-based violence in the late 1990s. The 1997 Sexual Assault Prevention Act criminalizes all sexual violence against women, including spousal rape. The 1999 Domestic Violence Prevention Act made it possible for police and government officials to interfere in domestic conflicts between family members and also in the absence of a formal lawsuit by the victim. The enforcement of these laws varies between regions, however. Women in Taipei City, for example, benefit from a greater network of social protection services than do women in other parts of the country. Still, domestic violence remains a problem: by November 2006, over 61 000 cases of domestic violence had been reported during the year, representing a projected 9 percent increase of reported cases in 2005 (U.S. Department of State, 2007). The Ministry of Interior cited this as evidence of women’s increased willingness to report incidents. It can be noted also that there appears to be an abnormally high rate of domestic violence in cross-border marriages, many of which are arranged by international brokers. The Sexual Harassment Prevention Act came into effect in 2006 and extends the legal protection for women to include verbal and psychological harassment. There is evidence of missing women and newborn boys outnumber newborn girls. The preference for a male child has outlived Chinese Taipei’s reliance on agriculture and the attendant need for manual labour (Taiwan Review, 2006). The population sex ratio is 1.04.

Civil Liberties

There are no restrictions on women’s freedom of movement or on their freedom of dress.

Ownership Rights

Women were long deprived of managing their matrimonial property, including land. Up until revisions of the Civil Code in 2002, in the absence of a formal agreement, husbands had the right control, use and dispose of their wives property. Wives, on the other hand, had no right to their husband’s property (Taiwan Government Information Office, ROC, 2001). Today, both men and women have equal legal rights to any property registered under their respective names. There are no legal provisions that discriminate against women in their rights to obtain bank loans and other forms of credit. Female entrepreneurs, most from the younger generation, benefit from various micro-credit schemes, but are still outnumbered by male borrowers. In the first quarter of 2003, little over 1 200 women had received micro-entrepreneurship loans and represented almost one quarter of the total number of applicants granted loans (APEC Gender in Chinese Taipei).

Sources

Gender Statistics in Chinese Taipei are available at http://http://eng.stat.gov.tw/lp.asp?CtNode=1619&CtUnit=769&BaseDSD=7
APEC Gender in Chinese Taipei, Chinese Taipei Framework for the Integration of Women in APEC, available at http://gender.wrp.org.tw.
Chen, Y. (2002), Civil Law Development: China and Taiwan, Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, Spring 2002, Volume 2.
Klasen, K. and C. Wink (2003), “Missing Women”: Revisiting the Debate, Feminist Economics 1/2003, Volume 9, Issue 2-3.
Lang, G. and J. Smart (2002), Migration and the Second Wife in South China: Toward cross-border polygyny, The International migration review, volume 36, no. 2, Blackwell Oxford.
OECD (2006), The Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base, www.oecd.org/dev/gender/gid.
Taipei Times (2006), Taipei has oldest average marrying ages, report says, by Jean Lin, published 22 May, 2006, www.taipeitimes.com.
Taiwan Government Information Office, Republic of China, A Brief Introduction to Taiwan: Social welfare, www.gio.gov.tw.
Taiwan Government Information Office, Republic of China (2001), Liberating Women, by O. Chung, www.gio.gov.tw.
Taiwan Review (2006), Toward True Gender Equality, by Pat Gao, published 3 january, 2006, http://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw.
United Nations (2004), Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Fertility Report, New York.
U.S. Department of State (2007), Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2006: China (Taiwan only).

The Women, Business and the Law

Where are laws equal for men and women?

The Women, Business and the Law report presents indicators based on laws and regulations affecting women's prospects as entrepreneurs and employees. Several of these indicators draw on the Gender Law Library, a collection of over 2,000 legal provisions impacting women's economic status. This report does not seek to judge or rank countries, but to provide information to inform discussions about women’s economic rights. Covering 128 economies, Women, Business and the Law provides data covering 6 areas: accessing institutions,using property, getting a job, dealing with taxes, building credit, and going to court.Read more about the methodology.

For detailed information on Taiwan, please visit the Women, Business and
the Law Taiwan page.