Women economic empowerment at the labor market through ESG means in Taiwan

Abstract

With a growing acknowledgment of gender equality being one of human rights, and adoption of SDGs, CSR and ESG policies among corporations around the world, Taiwan, deemed pioneer in the race of gender equality in Asia, has also implemented the same for the purpose of economic empowerment in women. The study reviews the status of female labors’ rights in workplace and analyses how regulations and the implementation of ESG measures could help achieve a true gender equality in workplace on the island. The study has organized and reviewed the transition of governmental administration responsible for gender equality, all kinds of policies regarding gender equality, including encouragement of gender ratio of the management in corporations, the legal framework of labor regulations with respect of gender issues and the SDG or ESG implementations among corporations regarding the same. With the findings presented through article, the study concludes that traditional view of hard laws may not be appropriate or effective enough to reach a true gender equality in the workplace due to the lack of flexibility while soft laws, e.g., ESG guideline and other associative measures, may be more effective from a bottom-up approach. Moreover, the study also concludes that Taiwan is on the path to better working conditions through the nature of sustainability report disclosed by corporations regardless of the scale of them. Thus, it is likely to achieve economic empowerment in women in Taiwan with the promotion of related soft laws policies.