Taipei: Nearly 70 percent of respondents said they would support unmarried partners and single women having children if key institutional protections were established, according to an online survey released Tuesday by a Taiwanese childcare NGO.
According to Focus Taiwan, the Childcare Policy Alliance stated that 71 percent of the respondents oppose non-marital childbearing and 61 percent oppose single parenting when protections are lacking. However, once both parents have child support obligations, and government-supported childcare and "anti-discrimination" measures are in place, opposition would "reverse to nearly 70 percent support."
On the topic of single women having children, the alliance reported that 60 percent oppose the idea in the absence of childcare, anti-discrimination, and workplace support systems. If government support systems were in place, respondents would "flip to 70 percent support" for single women having children, the alliance noted.
Taiwan faces a severe declining birthrate, with its total fertility rate among the lowest in the world alongside Singapore, the alliance said at a press conference in Taipei ahead of International Women's Day on March 8. The alliance conducted the online survey from Feb. 13 to Feb. 24, collecting 1,305 responses, of which 88.5 percent were from women.
Wang Chao-ching, convener of the Childcare Policy Alliance, mentioned that "Taiwanese people are in fact not as conservative as imagined." Unlike same-sex marriage, the public does not view non-marital childbearing through moral judgment, but worries "in a practical sense that single-parent childrearing will have no resources," Wang stated. "If government systems are in place, everyone will support it," he added.
Lin Lu-hung, chairperson of Taiwan Women's Link, said that Taiwanese women are "not unwilling" to have children but wish to have children without in-law relationships. She highlighted that although some local governments subsidize egg freezing, the requirement to be married and have one partner infertile means that "many women who hope to give birth while single cannot use" the eggs, resulting in their disposal. Lin urged the Legislature to prioritize passing provisions of the Assisted Reproduction Act to allow single women to use assisted reproduction and receive institutional and resource protections.
Lee Ying-hsueh, policy director at the Awakening Foundation, pointed out that poverty among single mothers is often misinterpreted as "personal morality or a wrong choice," when it is actually "the result of systemic punishment." He called on the government to follow recommendations from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development to ensure children in all family types can enjoy their best interests through sufficient public care resources and anti-discrimination laws.