I have a Taiwanese friend who had a very high level and well paying position in a company which does business with many Japanese companies. If you ever want to see somebody have extreme hatred in their heart, you just need to ask her why she left her job. She left because of the sexism. She will tell you the story of how even though she was the highest ranking person in a meeting, she was required to serve tea and wait on the men like a servant.
I've mentioned before that as sexist as most Asian culture can be, Taiwan is pretty far ahead of most countries in the status and treatment of women. However things are not perfect, for example with the older generation spousal abuse is not condoned, but it is widely tolerated. But when it comes to jobs, there are many women in high positions and quite a few who are heads of companies.
That being said, it's still hard for Taiwan to let go of conventions which were given to them by Japan. For example in many businesses, the women are required to all wear a matching uniform, while the men can wear whatever they want. It can be quite disheartening when you go into a bank, real estate agency, department store, or even a regular office, and you see all the women wearing the same thing while the men have a wide variety of suits on.
Today's picture is a common sight. The three of them are coworkers and the man is wearing what he wants, while the two women are wearing a uniform, granted you can't tell cause my camera is pretty poor.
Unfortunately that is not it. There are also beliefs on what type of job is a "woman's job." Just the other day I was at the bank and every bank teller was a woman, and there was one manager at a desk in the back who was a man. Thinking about it, this seemed to be the way it is at every bank. I asked my friend "are men even allowed to be bank tellers, or are only women hired for this job?" She said "of course men can be." To be honest though, i don't know if I've ever seen it.
Well things may seem dire, but like i said compared to the rest of Asia, Taiwan is a good place to be a woman. Last night I was talking to a Japanese friend of mine who is back in Japan. She mentioned that she doesn't like Japanese guys, and that she greatly prefers Taiwanese guys. In her eyes (and pretty much the opinion of everybody in Asia) Taiwanese guys are much more caring and are kinder.
Here's hoping that Taiwanese guys will one day be kind and caring enough to stop the sexist and abusive practices that are left in Taiwan.
