Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) The relative success of Taiwanese women's participation in politics will face a new challenge in the future to go from policy counselling to policy making, participants in a forum said Thursday.
Taiwan women's political participation rate ranks among the highest in the world, but women should play an even more important role in the government, National Taiwan University Professor Huang Chang-lin said in the forum organized by the Department of Women's Development of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP.)
At present, women's participation in politics is generally restricted to elections, the legislature, and policy counseling, said DPP Legislator Wang Shu-hui. However, women's participation in politics should be "broader and further" than that, she added.
"Democracy is more than policy elaboration, policy making is equally important. There should be more women participation in major public policies because women tend to look at the world in a different perspective to men, " said DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung.
"We have to reconsider the partnership between women's groups and the government. And I believe we'll have a better government with more women participating, " he said.
To achieve this aim, government attitude will be a key factor, said Huang, citing the example of the Commission on Women's Rights Promotion (CWRP) under the Executive Yuan as saying that CWRP has been involved more in policy making since
2004.
The issue of gender equality is one of the most important processes in democratization. And as successful as Taiwan women already are, there are still more challenges ahead, she said.
The forum is the last in a series of events that commemorates the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the DPP's Department of Women's Development.