Feminism in Taiwan

Taiwan has a complex history of feminist and women's-rights movements with periods of progressiveness where feminism and strong female icons flourished and periods of strict authoritarianism where equality and individual rights were devalued.

The 1970s and 1980s[]

Annette Lu is considered the founder of feminist thinking in modern Taiwan and established the first formal women's-rights movements in 1972.^[1] After delivering a twenty-minute keynote address during the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979, Lu was arrested, court-martialled and sentenced to twelve years in prison. She served five-and-a-half years and was released in 1985. She would later serve as the Vice President of the Republic of China between 2000 and 2008.

While Lu was in prison, Yenlin Ku and other activists published Awakening, a feminist magazine. Five years later, the same group founded the associated Awakening Foundation and, at the same time, a Women's Research Program at the National Taiwan University. Yenlin Ku later published a paper, Selling a Feminist Agenda on a Conservative Market – The Awakening Experience in Taiwan, summarising Taiwanese feminist history from the 1970s forward. titled,^[2]

The 1990s and after 2000[]

Hwei-syin Lu's Women's Self-Growth Groups and Empowerment of the 'Uterine Family' in Taiwan provides a more detailed analysis of the progression of feminism in Taiwan and the role of uniquely Taiwanese concepts of gender.^[3]

Prominent Taiwanese Feminists[]

Li Ang (writer) Feminist writer
Chen Hsiu-hui Feminist activist and politician
Fangge Dupan Feminist Poet
Josephine Ho Feminist scholar and activist
Huang Sue-ying Feminist activist and politician
Yenlin Ku Feminist involved in the women's movement in Taiwan
Annette Lu Feminist politician active in the Tangwai movement^[4]
Miss Ko Feminist singer-songwriter and rapper
Tina Pan Feminist politician and member of the Legislative Yuan from 1993 to 2002 and again from 2005 and 2016
Peng Wan-ru Feminist politician. Former director of the Democratic Progressive Party's Women's Affairs Department
Jolin Tsai Feminist singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and businesswoman
Wu Yi-chen Feminist lawyer and politician
Xie Xuehong Feminist activist and politician
Yang Fang-wan Feminist lawyer and politician

References[]

^ Chang, Doris T. (2009). Women's Movements in Twentieth-Century Taiwan. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0252090813.
^ Yenlin Ku (12 November 1998). Selling a Feminist Agenda on a Conservative Market – The Awakening Experience in Taiwan. National Chiao Tung University.
^ Farris, Catherine S.; Rubinstein, Murray A.; Lee, Anru (2004). Women in the New Taiwan: Gender Roles and Gender Consciousness in a Changing Society. M. E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0765640260.
^ "KMT: DPP heavyweights were once members". China Post. 3 March 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

[1] Chang, Doris T. (2009). Women's Movements in Twentieth-Century Taiwan. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0252090813.

[2] Yenlin Ku (12 November 1998). Selling a Feminist Agenda on a Conservative Market – The Awakening Experience in Taiwan. National Chiao Tung University.

[3] Farris, Catherine S.; Rubinstein, Murray A.; Lee, Anru (2004). Women in the New Taiwan: Gender Roles and Gender Consciousness in a Changing Society. M. E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0765640260.

[4] "KMT: DPP heavyweights were once members". China Post. 3 March 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

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Feminism in Taiwan

Contents

The 1970s and 1980s[]

The 1990s and after 2000[]

Prominent Taiwanese Feminists[]

See also[]

References[]