Working Women and State Policies in Taiwan: A Study in Political Economy

289 Pages·2000·1.144 MB·English

by  Fen-ling Chen (auth.)

Working Women and State Policies in Taiwan
Also by Fen-ling Chen
FAMILY POLICY (in Chinese)
Working Women and State
Policies in Taiwan
A Study in Political Economy
Fen-ling Chen
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
Yuan-Ze University
Taiwan
© Fen-ling Chen 2000
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 978-0-333-80209-0
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ISBN 978-1-349-42151-0 ISBN 978-0-230-50887-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230508873
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chen,Fen-ling,1967–
Working women and state policies in Taiwan :a study in political
economy / Fen-ling Chen.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-349-42151-0
1.Women—Employment—Government policy—Taiwan.2.Women–
–Taiwan—Attitudes.3.Women employees—Taiwan—Attitudes.I.Title.
HD6202 .C48 2000
331.4'12042'0951249—dc21
00–027827
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
Contents
List of Tables vi
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgements xi
List of Abbreviations xii
1 Introduction 1
2 Theoretical Perspectives 18
3 Family and Gender Ideology 40
4 Capitalist Development and the Female Labour Force 69
5 Women’s Movements and Women in the Policy-making
System 109
6 Social Welfare and State Policies 128
7 The Emergence of the Gender Equal Employment Bill 200
8 Conclusion: Towards a Theoretical Historical Account
of Gender Inequality in Taiwan 233
Appendices 248
Notes 255
Bibliography 259
Index 274
v
List of Tables
2.1 The ‘breadwinner’ and individual models of social policy 36
3.1 Living arrangements of married women in Taiwan 45
3.2 Expectations of women aged 22–39 for living and financial
support in old age in Taiwan, by education, 1965–85 46
3.3 Ideal number of children of married women in Taiwan,
by generation 50
3.4 Women’s attitudes towards housework and childcare,
Taiwan Province 51
3.5 Attitudes towards the concept ‘If the wage of a husband is
enough for living, a wife should not go out to work’ 53
3.6 The willingness of women to work in cases where there
is no economic hardship 53
3.7 Attitudes towards the employment of women with
pre-school children, Taiwan Province 54
3.8 Comparison between the 1930, the 1985 and the 1996
versions of the Family Chapter of the Civil Code 61
4.1 Female population, activity rate and percentage share
by industrial composition, 1905–60 70
4.2 The percentage of female students in each level of education,
selected countries 73
4.3 Female labour force participation rate in selected
countries, 1994 76
4.4 Employment status of married women aged 15–64
who have been in paid work in Taiwan by
generation, 1993 84
4.5 Types of daycare arranged by married working women
in Taiwan aged 15–64 for their youngest children 85
4.6 Women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s earnings
in selected countries, 1970–95 89
4.7 Percentage of women by occupational composition,
1966–94 93
4.8 Number of students in universities and colleges
by course of study 95
5.1 Comparison of the three phases of the civil
women’s movements in Taiwan 114
5.2 Women nominees elected in Taiwan in the 1990s 120
vi
List of Tables vii
5.3 Important activities and consequences of civil women’s
movements in Taiwan 122
6.1 Histories of social insurance and employee’s benefit systems,
women’s entitlement and the percentage of the female
population covered in Taiwan 132
6.2 Comparison of three main social insurance systems
in Taiwan 135
6.3 Labourers’ old age benefits: gender differences 137
6.4 Implementation of maternity leave and maternity pay
by industry in Taiwan 139
6.5 Comparison of parental and family leave in selected
countries 142
6.6 Welfare expenditure per capita, by the Taiwanese central
government, 1991 144
6.7 The allocation of welfare expenditure on women of the
central government and Taipei city government 145
6.8 Social services for women provided by local government 147
6.9 Important policies and pronouncements of the KMT
for promoting women’s employment 152
6.10 The number of foreign workers in Taiwan 157
6.11 Important pronouncements of two main opposition
parties for promoting women’s employment 159
6.12 Welfare expenditure and outcome of the policy of
promoting employment for people with low employment
abilities 163
6.13 Surveys of business: measures the government should
take to solve the problem of labour shortage 167
6.14 Important policies and pronouncements of the KMT
on protection and equal opportunity for women workers 171
6.15 Important pronouncements of the two main opposition
parties on equal opportunities policies 176
6.16 Important policies and pronouncements of the KMT
on caring 183
6.17 Important policies and pronouncements of the two main
opposition parties on caring 188
6.18 Social welfare for caring in Taiwan area, 1955–98 190
6.19 Backgrounds of employers of foreign maids in Taiwan 195
6.20 Caring policies for different kinds of families 196
6.21 Changes in state policies on women’s employment 198
7.1 Gender discrimination events and the development
of the GEEB in Taiwan 204
viii List of Tables
7.2 The important contents of the GEEB 210
7.3 Opinions against the legislation 217
8.1 The factors affecting state policies in Taiwan, from 1945
to the present day 234
List of Figures
2.1 Polachek’s hypothesis of occupational segregation between
genders 19
2.2 Zellner’s hypothesis of occupational segregation between
genders 20
4.1 Numbers of employed persons in Taiwan, 1951–94 74
4.2 Labour force participation rate by gender in Taiwan,
1966–94 75
4.3 Unemployment rate by gender in Taiwan, 1966–94 75
4.4 Changes in female labour force participation rate in
Taiwan by age 77
4.5 Changes in the female labour force participation rate
in Taiwan by marital status, 1966–94 78
4.6 Labour force participation rates of married women
with/without children, 1980–92 78
4.7 Changes in percentage share of female labour in
Taiwan by occupational class, 1966–94 79
4.8 Changes in percentage share of male labour in Taiwan
by occupational class, 1966–94 80
4.9 Changes in percentage share of female labour in Taiwan
by occupational composition, 1966–94 81
4.10 Changes in percentage share of male labour in Taiwan
by occupational composition, 1966–94 81
4.11 Percentage of women part-time workers by marital
status in Taiwan, 1995 82
4.12 Wage differentials between genders in various
industries, non-supervisory level only, 1977–93 90
4.13 Changes of the percentage of women employees
in different industries, 1977–93 92
4.14 Percentage of women in government departments
by job position, 1980–94 94
4.15 The changes of women’s status by marital status and
working condition 100
5.1 Women as percentage of those who passed the high-level
examination of civil servants in Taiwan, 1966–95 117
6.1 Women’s entitlements under social insurance systems
in Taiwan, 1994 131
ix