The Gender Dimension of the MDGs in R.O.C(Taiwan)
2016-02-19
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| 1.Eradicate Poverty |
Where we are: Between 2000 and 2013, the GNP per capita of the R.O.C. (Taiwan) has increased from USD 14,704 to USD 20,386. However, gender differences still exist in employment patterns and incomes. In 2012, the employment rate for men and women was 63.8% and 48.2%, respectively. For people with paid jobs, their average income is USD 1209.8. For men, the average monthly earnings is USD 1,319.5, and for women is only USD 1,059.7. Women's monthly income is generally USD 259.8 less than men's, which makes women relatively financially disadvantaged. National Pension Insurance protects financial safety of the disadvantaged groups:The R.O.C. (Taiwan) implemented the National Pension Insurance program in October 2008, and the insured subjects include citizens aged 25-65 who do not receive sufficient protection from other social insurance policies due to unemployment or working as unpaid workers. The insurance provides old-age pension benefits, mental/physical disabilities benefits, survivors pension benefits, maternity benefits as well as funeral benefits. In addition, the insurant and his/her spouse have mutual obligations to pay for each other's insurance premium, which is more favorable for housewives. By the end of 2012, the number of insurant was around 3.726 million, and among which 52.1% are women and 47.9% are men.  |
| 2.Achieve Universal Primary Education |
Where we are: The R.O.C. (Taiwan) implemented the 9-year compulsory education program in 1968, and by 2011, the enrollment rates for male and female students in elementary school were 97.98% and 97.88%, respectively. However, for children aged 6-12 with disabilities, the enrollment rate was only 90.72%. As for the dropout rate, in the same academic year, the rates for general students and indigenous students in elementary school were 0.04% and 0.22%, respectively. And the percentage of indigenous dropout girls to total dropout girls was 13.5% while the percentage of indigenous dropout boys was 16.2%. Both statistics are considerably higher than the percentage of indigenous students to total students. The educational opportunities and resources for Taiwanese children remain affected by ethnicity and physical/mental factors. Integrated search and counseling assistance ensure the educational rights of school dropouts: The R. O. C (Taiwan) promulgated the Regulations Regarding Student Dropout Notification and Re-admission Counseling at Elementary/Junior High Schools in 1996 (amended in 2012) to provide guidance on the relevant responsibilities and methods for educational professionals in searching, follow-up and counseling of dropout students, and assisting them in returning to education. These regulations aim at helping the work of searching and assisting school dropouts in their return to school. In addition, the Guidelines for Sex Education and Care of Pregnant Students was implemented in 2005 for the purpose of protection of the educational rights of pregnant students, and specifies that schools shall establish a task force with the principal as the convener immediately after the identification of teenage-students’ pregnancy, with the principal of the school as the convener. Additionally, a single liaison shall be appointed, to help pregnant students return to education. Till the 2011 academic year, the rate of total return schooling for elementary dropouts is 86.7%, while the rate is 92.7% for indigenous girls and 90.0% for indigenous boys.  |
| 3.Promote Gender Equality |
Where we are: Between 2000 and 2013, in the R.O.C. (Taiwan), women's participation and power in public sphere have shown a continuous increase, nevertheless, when compare with men, there is still a long way to go. The percentage of women in the parliament has increased from 19.1% in 1998 to 33.6% in 2012, and female executives as well as managers have climbed from 14.8% in 2001 to 23.2% in 2012. With respect to the elected mayors, there are still fewer elected female mayors than men. The first female Vice President was appointed in 2000 and the first woman special municipality mayor was elected in 2006. The percentage of female chief administrative officers for 2012 was 18.2%. Gender quota promotes women's participation and opportunities: The constitution of the R.O.C. (Taiwan) established in 1946 stipulates that the seats for elected women in all elections shall be protected, and the amendment revised in 2005 further specifies that the legislative elections will be modified to the "Single-District Two-Votes System", and the proportion of elected female legislators in all parties' election lists shall not be lower than 50%. In recent years, the proportion of women in the legislature has increased dramatically, which contributes positive effects to the gender quota system. In the 2012 election, elected female legislators accounted for 25.32% of the total regional legislators, and with the protected quota of 50% for women as legislators-at-large, female legislators account for 33.63% of all legislators.  |
| 4.Reduce Child Mortality |
Where we are: In 2010, the mortality rate for children under five in the R.O.C. (Taiwan) was 5.5%. For the causes of death, specific conditions originating from the prenatal period are at the top of the leading causes of death among children under five, while second place is congenital malformations and chromosomal anomalies, and the third is accidental injuries. The government has conducted various statistical analyses on infant mortality rates by gender and population. From the results, the mortality rate for male and female infants were 4.6% and 3.8%, respectively, showing no significant difference. However, the indigenous infant mortality rate was as high as 9.6%. Prenatal diagnosis reduces the number of deaths among infants and child with congenital malformations: The R.O.C. (Taiwan) provides ten free prenatal care visits and one ultrasound examination to pregnant women and also offers financial support for high-risk pregnant women (e.g. advanced age, family history of genetic disorders, risk probability greater than 1/270 after serum screening, and fetal abnormalities identified by ultrasound, etc.) to have chromosomal and genetic testing in order to ensure early diagnosis of abnormalities and provide counseling services. This helps prevent adverse birth outcomes as well as reduce the number of live births with high risks. Between 2000 and 2011, the number of deaths for infants and child with congenital and chromosomal abnormalities had been reduced by 64%. Mother-baby friendly environment promotes maternal as well as child health: In 2001, the R.O.C. (Taiwan) initiated the certification program to promote mother-baby friendly hospitals and started to offer training courses of breastfeeding counseling for health care professionals as well as to set up consultation websites, hotlines and human milk banks. Moreover, the Act Governing Breastfeeding in Public Places was implemented at the end of 2010 so as to protect mothers' right to breastfeed in public places. Between 2001 and 2013, mother-baby friendly hospitals have increased from 38 to 176, covering 78.6% of the births nationwide.  |
| 5.Improve Maternal Health |
Where we are: In the R.O.C. (Taiwan), the maternal mortality rate has decreased to less than 10 deaths per 100,000 live births since 1986, yet the number has remained almost the same since then. The lowest rate of 4.2 deaths per 100,000 live births was observed in 2010 and the highest rate was reported in 2013 with 9 deaths per 100,000 live births Furthermore, the percentage of advanced-maternal-aged women has increased, and with problems such as obesity, pregnancy-associated complications including high blood pressure, diabetes and pregnancy toxemia are all challenges for reducing the maternal mortality rate.
Maternal Health Handbook and interpretation services promotes the reproductive health of female immigrants: the R.O.C. (Taiwan) regularly publishes and revises the "Maternal Health Handbook" and has translated it into five different languages including Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Indonesian and English, and has made a series of short films on the topic of reproductive health to help new immigrants obtain information on topics such as pregnancy, childbirth and newborn care, etc. Meanwhile, training programs are offered to new residents so that they can act as interpreters help reducing inequalities in reproductive health caused by language barriers .  |
| 6.Combat HIV/AIDS |
Where we are: In the end of 2013, the total number of people infected with HIV in the R.O.C. (Taiwan) was 26,475. Among them, 1,759 women were infected, which accounts for 6.6% of the total infected population. Compare to other region in Asia or worldwide, the infection rate of women was significantly lower in Taiwan and has gradually decreased over the years. Two most common approaches of contracting HIV among women in Taiwan are heterosexual sex and drug abuse. Those infected through drug abuse increased dramatically between 2004 and 2007, then gradually decreased since the implementation of Harm Reduction Program for Drug Addiction. In 2013, 75% of the infected women were infected through heterosexual sex, indicating that women's health is still affected by unprotected sex as well as unequal gender relations. Harm Reduction Program inhibits drug addiction-related HIV infection: The R.O.C. (Taiwan) initiated the Harm Reduction Program for drug addiction-related AIDS in 2005 by providing free clean needles, methadone substitution treatment, health education, counseling and other measures to effectively stop the spread of AIDS. Between 2005 and 2013, the numbers of women infected with HIV due to drug abuse have dropped from 328 to 5.  |
| 7.Ensure Environmental Sustainability |
Where we are: The impact on the ecosystem and negative effects on local residents from climate change, natural disasters and human development has become important issues over the years. However, in national environmental policies, the uniqueness of women's situations and the necessity of women's participation in the decision-making remains largely ignored. Environmental Protection Administration is the highest decisionmaking agency for environmental policies in Taiwan, and since its inception in 1987, all 12 former ministers have been men. Additionally, among all 14 general directors of the Department of Environmental Protection of Taipei City Government, only one was femaleg . Since 2007, the gender statistics of environmental protection personnel shows that the percentage of specially appointed and junior civil service officers that were women was merely between 19% and 23% among various government departments. Likewise, the percentage of women board members amongst private environmental protection foundations was between 22% and 23%. The gender issue as well as the needs of disadvantaged groups should be included in the vision "Sustainable Environment" of the Golden Decade: The "Golden Decade National Vision" program was launched in 2013, the fifth vision within the project is a "sustainable environment" that includes three main themes: green energy and carbon reduction, ecological community and disaster prevention. Among the 3 themes above, disaster prevention project aims to benefit mainly indigenous people and elderly women. Important topics that require attention include: how to integrate the gender issue and assess the eco-safety coefficients in general, providing appropriate disaster prevention strategies as well as protocols, and enhancing the self-help abilities of disadvantaged groups when facing a disaster.  |
8.Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Where we are: The R.O.C. (Taiwan) is not a member of the UN, but still participates in training for international personnel, technology cooperation and investment financing, etc., based on the spirit of global togetherness. Moreover, Taiwan directly works with the people or local institutes in partner countries through non-governmental organizations to assess, implement and supervise a number of developmental projects let the achievements of the projects directly benefit the people affected, making substantial contributions to the eight MDGs. Nevertheless, the ODA has not yet analyzed the statistics of the relevant budgets on the empowerment of women and gender equality.
Where we are: Between 2004 and 2012, in the R.O.C. (Taiwan), internet usage rates for women increased from 59% to 69.5%, which is still lower than the men's usage rate of 76.5% in 2012. This is mainly due to women above the age of 40 having lower internet usage rates; the rate for women between the age of 50 to 59 is 13.7% lower than that of men in the same age group. Likewise, when compared with men who are between the age of 40 to 49 and who are above 60, women's internet usage rates are also 9.8% and 8.0% lower, respectively. Vocational training project assists Swaziland women to start their own businesses: The R.O.C. (Taiwan) launched a vocational training project in Swaziland in 2011. The training provided is tailored toward the needs of local Swaziland women, and by working with the national arts and crafts training centers in Swaziland, various training courses including sewing, mechanics, electricity and plumbing, and computer courses are offered so as to help women obtain professional certificates. Additionally, by establishing information testing centers, training centers and digital opportunity centers, it is now possible to provide computer classes as well as information and communication workshops, so that the digital divide can be narrowed, and the goals of improving women's employment opportunities and entrepreneurship will be achieved.  |