The Changing Status of Women in Taiwan: 1945-2010 by Mei-Lien Lu A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama May 7, 2012 Key words: women, status, Taiwan, culture, development, democratization Copyright 2012 by Mei-Lien Lu Approved by Cal Clark, Chair, Alumni Professor of Political Science, Director of the MPA Program Cynthia J. Bowling, Associate Professor of Political Science and Ph.D. Program Director Linda F. Dennard, Professor of Political Science at Auburn University-Montgomery Murray Jardine, Jane Dickerson Lanier Professor of Political Science Abstract This dissertation analyzes the economic, social, and political status of women in Taiwan from 1945 to 2010. This research was guided by a theoretical model of how the status of women worldwide is influenced by the extent of patriarchal culture, the level of economic development, and the degree of democratization. Hypotheses drawn from the theoretical model were tested by using data collected from 174 developing and developed nations. Overall, the statistical analysis found that patriarchal culture, economic development, and democratization exert fairly strong influences over some dimensions of women’s status but have little association with others. This implies that the nature of women’s status is complex and complicated because each nation has its own circumstances that are shaped by its historical background, traditional culture, geographic location, and so on. Therefore case studies of individual countries should provide valuable insights into the dynamics of women’s changing status in the contemporary world. This dissertation presents such a case study that analyzes the status of Taiwanese women in terms of social conditions, human and social capital, economic activities, and political participation and power. Although women made major progress in all four areas, significant problems and barriers remain. In terms of social conditions, Taiwanese women made substantial gains and reached developed world status by the 21st century on ii life expectancy, infant and maternal mortality, and fertility. However, Taiwan’s sex birth ratios give strong evidence of selective female abortions after the second child, indicating the continued existence of patriarchal norms. During the postwar era, there have been tremendous increases in women’s educational levels and literacy; and the pre-existing gender gap on these dimensions has vanished among younger Taiwanese. In addition, women are now more active than men in voluntary organizations. However, substantial sex segregation in higher education majors still remains; and the less educated women from previous generations are at a substantial disadvantage in the country’s modernized economy and society. Over time women’s participation in the labor force has increased greatly, but it still is not high by international standards. In addition, there was a major jump in occupational segregation between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, which probably hurt women’s relative status. In contrast, women’s average wages and salaries have risen to approximately 80 per cent of men, far from equal but approximately the level that exists in the United States. Women and men now vote at equal rates, although women remain substantially underrepresented in terms of office-holding. Over the postwar period, women’s representation in legislatures and councils increased gradually to 20 per cent to 30 per cent over the last two decades, although their share of the elective chief executives of local governments is much lower. There were few women in the national cabinet before 2000, but since then they have held 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the ministerial posts; and women’s share of the civil service has increased markedly over the last two decades to iii nearly 40 per cent. By international standards, this is fairly respectable. The experience of women in Taiwan since the end of World War II, consequently, offers hope to women in other developing nations. Their living conditions have improved greatly; and they are approaching parity with men on many dimensions. While certain types of inequality certainly remain, more progress in the future appears highly likely. iv Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Dr. Cal Clark, the committee chair, for his invaluable guidance, support, and assistance throughout the production of this dissertation. I would also like to thank Dr. Cynthia J. Bowling, Dr. Linda F. Dennard, and Dr. Murray Jardine for their continued encouragement and helpful suggestions, and for serving on my dissertation committee. I am especially grateful to Dr. Janet Clark; her expert advice, ongoing support, and careful reading of all of my writing will never be forgotten. I am greatly indebted to my family for all their help and unconditional love. I sincerely express my appreciation to my friends around the world, especially those in Auburn, Alabama; memories of their words of encouragement and many kindnesses to me are forever engraved on my mind. v Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………...... ii Acknowledgements ……….………………………………………………………….….. v List of Tables …….………………………………………………………………………. x List of Figures …….………………………………………………………………….....xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCATION ………………………………………………………1 1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………...1 2. Progress and Problems for Women in Taiwan ………………………………….5 3. Chapter Outline ……………………………………………………………….. 14 CHAPTRE 2: INFLUENCES ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN ……………………... 16 1. Theories about Patriarchal Culture and How It Inhibits the Status of Women…17 The Nature of Patriarchy …………………………………….……………… 19 Confucian Patriarchal Cultures ………………………………….………..… 26 2. Major Stages and Dynamics of Economic Development …………………….. 33 3. Contending Theories of How Development Affects the Status of Women ……49 4. How Does Democratization Affect Status of Women? ………………………..60 Women’s Movements and Women’s Autonomous Interest Groups ………… 62 Women’s Political Representation …………………………………………...70 5. Theoretical Model ……………………………………………………………...81 vi CHAPTER 3: THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN TAIWAN IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ……………………………….. 86 1. Defining and Measuring Properties and Data Collection …………………….. 86 2. Testing the Hypotheses ……………………………………………………….. 90 Bivariate Correlations for Testing the Theoretical Model …………………...91 Multiple Regressions for Comparing the Impacts of the Three Explanatory Factors …………………………………………… 94 3. Comparing Taiwan to Other Nations by a Residuals Analysis ………………. 97 Residuals Analysis for Women’s Participation in Labor Force by GDP Per Capita ……………………………………………………….. 99 Residuals Analysis for Fertility Rate by GDP Per Capita …………………. 103 Residuals Analysis for Women’s Per Cent of Parliamentary Seats by GDP Per Capita ……………………………………………………… 106 4. Conclusions ………………………………………………………………….. 115 CHAPTER 4: THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION OF TAIWAN …………………………………………………………117 1. An Introduction to Taiwan ……………………………………………………117 2. From 1945 to the 1950s ………………………………………………………121 3. From the early 1960s to the early 1970s …………………………………….. 129 4. From the mid 1970s to the late 1980s ………………………………………...135 5. From the late 1980s to present ………………………………………………. 145 6. Implications ……………………………………………………………….…..155 CHAPTER 5: THE CHANGING STATUS OF WOMEN IN TAIWAN ………….…. 156 1. Social Conditions ……………………………………………………………. 157 Life Expectancy …………………………………………………………….157 vii Infant and Maternal Mortality ………………………………………………159 Fertility Rate …………………………………..............................................162 Sex Ratio at Birth ………………………………………………………….. 164 Urbanization ……………………………………………………………….. 166 2. Human and Social Capital ……………………………………………………. 168 Educational Level …………………………………………………………..168 Literacy ……………………………………………………………………. 170 Participation in Voluntary Organizations ………………………………….. 172 3. Economic Activities ……………………………………………………………173 Labor Force Participation ………………………………………………….. 173 Distribution of Occupations and Occupational Segregation by Sex ………..177 Entrance into Administrative, Managerial, Professional, and Technical Related Occupations ……………………………..………. 183 Gender Pay Gap …………………………………………………………… 184 4. Political Participation and Power ………………………………………………187 Voting Rate ………………………………………………………………… 188 Political Representation …………………………………………………….188 Participation in Women’s Interest Groups ………………………………… 203 5. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………. 212 CHAPTER 6: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION …………………………………… 214 1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 214 2. Theoretical Model …………………………………………………………….. 215 3. Results ………………………………………………………………………… 218 viii 4. Significance of this Study ……………………………………………………...227 Appendices ..……………………………………………………………………………230 Appendix A.....………..……………………………………………………………. 231 Appendix B.…………………………………………………………………………233 Appendix C …………………………………………………………………………238 Appendix D.…………………………………………………………………………243 Appendix E..…………………………………………………………………………248 Appendix F..…………………………………………………………………………253 Bibliography....................................................................................................................257 ix List of Tables Table 2.1 Women in Parliament in 1997, by Region of the World …….…………........71 Table 2.2 Women in Parliament in 2005, by Region of the World …………………….71 Table 3.1 Economic, Social, and Political Indicators Used in the Analysis, and Taiwan’s Data Sources ………………………………………………… 89 Table 3.2 Correlations