Taiwan has conducted one of the world's longest experiments in political affirmative action, using quotas and reserved seats to bring women into electoral politics for decades. Today, women hold 42 percent of Taiwan's legislative seats, the highest share in Asia and comparable to Nordic countries. The island elected its first female president in 2016 and re-elected her four years later, and has also elected two female vice presidents since 2000.
Since the 1990s, a trend of gender quotas in elections has spread globally, with over 130 countries introducing such measures. However, Taiwan's approach began much earlier, with the Republic of China passing a Constitution in 1946 reserving seats for women. After the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan in 1949, quotas were followed in local elections even during decades of authoritarian rule.
As Taiwan democratized in 1987, some feminist organizations worried quotas implied women could not win on merit, but they ultimately advocated for and succeeded in four major quota reforms. A 2002 law guarantees women seats in local council districts electing four or more members, creating incentives for parties to nominate female candidates. In 2030, the quota will increase to one in three seats, becoming gender neutral, requiring at least one woman and one man in every trio of seats.
Research shows female candidates have become very competitive, with the number of electoral districts needing reserved seats dropping from 31 in 2002 to just four in 2022. While women rarely need reserved seats to win today, their existence remains crucial as a safeguard securing party nominations. If Taiwan had never adopted gender quotas, Japan serves as a comparison point, as both won suffrage after WWII, but Japan never reserved seats and today has far lower female representation.
Source: New York Times Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing