A report in the Los Angeles Times on Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election says that Taiwan will likely see its first female president take office in 2016.
The report, published in the newspaper’s Monday edition, says this is because both of Taiwan’s major parties have nominated female candidates. The report says the ruling Kuomintang’s nomination of Hung Hsiu-chu and the opposition DPP’s nomination of Tsai Ing-wen show that Taiwan is ready to accept a female leader.
Head of the Taiwan-based Chunghua 21st Century Think Tank, Joanna Lei, is quoted in the report as saying that Asia has a tradition of women taking charge of affairs in their 50s and 60s. However, the report says that unlike female leaders who have served as head of state in other Asian countries, Hung and Tsai are self-made, reaching high office without the help of older male relatives.
Professor Liu Yi-jiun of Fo Guang University in Taiwan is also quoted in the report as saying that resistance to the idea of a female leader is low in Taiwan, at around 2%.
The elections are scheduled for January 16, with cross-strait issues and rising living costs expected to be central issues.