In my integrated English and history class, I created a Country profile on the second Millennium Goal, Universal Primary Education. The purpose of this piece is to show and explain how gender equality is unequal not only in the world but in Taiwan. I feel like I am proud of the interview I conducted with students from DePaul University. I interviewed two women one from Bangkok and one from Taiwan so I could get two different voices from places that are close to each other. Please look below at my Country Profile and please leave a comment on what you think about Taiwan’s gender equality situation.
Today gender equality in Taiwan is great compared to what it was in the past. For example if it wasn’t for one law that was put in place in 1997, Taiwan could be a complete different country. That one law was called Moe; a law that makes school put 4 hours of gender equality education a semester. In an article I found online called “Going To School In East Asia” had a really great paragraph that stood out to me about the Moe Act.
“Ministry of Education (MOE) also stressed globalization in higher education. Taiwan followed the world trend of higher education globalization, redirected the aim of education toward market-oriented. Lessening government control and integrating social demand with market forces, Taiwanese education in the 1990s has been influenced by globalization to a great extent. Also, began in 2003,MOE started to promote a “World Class Research University” project, proposing to upgrade at least one of the universities in Taiwan be ranked among the top 100 leading international institutions of higher education within the next 10 years. Universities are required to establish a system of evaluation using methods as the SCI, SSCI, and the EI, or to be in accordance with the standards that meet international recognition for awards, achievements, and contributions within their field of expertise. In 2005, MOE granted NT$50 billion (equals US$1.56 billion) to 12 universities in the following five years to empower their research capacity to reach the world class level.”
That might not seem like a lot, but compared to nothing a year, it is a good change. Since then, education for girls and woman has increased dramatically. This has not only changed education dramatically but this has changed life completely. For example parents in Taiwan always wanted to have boys instead of girls so they could not only carry their family name but so they can own nay of the family property in the future.
Below please view my maps that I created that shows us how much gender equality improves, as the country gets darker and darker as years go by. You can see in map one the Taiwan is lightly highlighted, that is because, female participation in primary education in 1950 was at its all time low at 39 percent. As years go by you can see that in map to, the shade of the country gets darker, and that’s because, it jumped a remarkable 10 percent in 21 years. As we get to the present, it has gotten very dark because Taiwan was able to keep that percentage of 48 for about 4 decades.
Gender equality is nothing new to Taiwan; there have been many problems. Like woman not getting the same education as boys and not getting the same responsibilities or respect as boys. In conclusion Taiwan has made a great effort to rehabilitate their education for all.
Bibliography
Chi-Lang, and the Qing general. It was the first time that Taiwan was reclaimed. “Going to School in East Asia — SCHOOLING IN TAIWAN.” ¬F¤j¤½¦@(Ó¤H)ºô¶¦øªA¾¹. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. <https://www3.nccu.edu.tw/~iaezcpc/Going%20to%20School%20in%20East%20Asia%20–%20SCHOOLING%20IN%20TAIWAN.htm>.