President Tsai Ing-wen (???) marked International Women's Day on Tuesday by paying tribute to Taiwan's female athletes, while offering her own spin on a traditional saying that compares women to men.
In a Facebook post, Tsai wrote that the performance of Taiwan's female athletes in events such as the Tokyo Olympics and the AFC Women's Asian Cup had demonstrated the "extraordinary power of women."
The women's national soccer team, in particular -- which qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time in 14 years and reached the tournament's quarterfinals while having several players test positive for COVID-19 -- exemplified both sportsmanship and the spirit of the Taiwanese people, she said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (???) hailed women in a statement for balancing their professional and domestic roles throughout the pandemic, saying their efforts "held up half of society."
Highlighting the government's record on women's issues, Su noted that female unemployment in Taiwan had dropped to pre-pandemic levels, while the number of women in the workforce had increased by 76,000 since last June.
The government rolled out new measures last July aimed at making it easier for people to start a family, including subsidizing infertility treatment, expanding subsidies for prenatal checkups, and increasing paid parental leave from 60 percent to 80 percent of one's salary, said Su.
As a result, the number of people applying for paid parental leave between July and December increased by 30 percent over the previous year, while leave applications by men jumped by 56 percent, he said.
March 8 was recognized as International Women's Day by the United Nations in 1977.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel