Opposition party lawmakers and women’s rights groups Tuesday called for strengthened legal protections for working mothers to remove barriers for those reentering the job market after pregnancy.
According to a survey released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) in 2020, roughly 1.26 million women aged between 15 and 64 years old had quit their job because of pregnancy in Taiwan, accounting for around 23 percent of working-age women in the nation.
Lai Hsiang-ling (???), a legislator from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), said at a press conference that women were often stigmatized when they do return to work.
Joined by two other TPP lawmakers and four rights groups at the press event to mark International Women’s Day, Lai said that Taiwanese women often delayed plans to find employment due to the difficulty of finding a job as a primary caregiver to children and oftentimes older family members as well.
Studies have shown that it takes a long time for Taiwanese women to return to work after giving birth and that even when they do so, they are often stigmatized, Lai said.
According to MOHW data, those who returned to work — around 59.9 percent of women — took an average of four years and five months after giving birth to find a new job.
Lai said that being the main caregiver sometimes became a hindrance to returning to work because employers believed that such women valued family responsibilities over work.
She said this often resulted in companies refusing to hire these women or offering them positions that paid less and required fewer skills.
To address these issues, Lai said the government should roll out incentives or push for amendments to encourage companies to hire women wishing to return to work after taking maternity and parental leave.
She added that the government should provide vocational training that meets the needs of industries to those women so they can be more competitive and confident when seeking employment.
Wang Shu-fen (???), the deputy CEO of the Garden of Hope Foundation, echoed this, saying there was a need for the government to provide more resources and support for women who are the main caregiver to children and elderly family members.
In addition, the government should work to provide incentives to men to encourage them to share such responsibilities with women, she added.
Only when women are relieved of the burden of caring for their children and other family members can the goal of increasing female labor force participation be achieved, Wang said.
In light of these issues, the TPP is preparing to propose amendments to relevant laws such as the Act of Gender Equality in Employment, Employment Insurance Act, and Long-Term Care Services Act, according to Lai.
Lai did not elaborate on specific amendments the party plans to put forth but said the TPP would host a number of public hearings during this legislative term to discuss more details with civil society groups.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel