Women's Rights activists criticise 'Career Line' cracks
Originally published on Sinocentric.co.uk
At a seminar commemorating International Women’s day in Taipei last month, KMT Deputy Secretary-General Hung Hsiu-chu, and director of the KMT’s Women’s Department, Chen Yu-mei criticised the growing trend in using the term ‘career line’ (事業線) to describe a woman’s cleavage. Originally referring to the palm-reading method of foretelling career prospects from the length of the creases of the palm, the term originates in a 2009 interview, questioning male DJ’s from Hong Kong’s ‘Banana Club’ about their preference in bra cup size and has since gained popularity in Taiwan.
Leading activist and conference attendee, Yao Shu-wen, executive director of the Modern Women's Foundation expressed fears that accepting the term could result in women’s attractiveness being considered a legitimate factor in employment decisions. Wang Chieh-yen, a member of the government's Committee for Women's Rights Promotion argued that Taiwanese government should follow Korea’s example and take a more active role in monitoring and promoting women’s representation in the media. Korea introduced clothing censorship for performers in 2000 and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, meets annually with scriptwriters and producers to discuss how to include women's issues in their programs.
However, it’s not just female celebrities who’ve had to face ‘career line’ cracks from the Taiwanese media. Ahead of his 8th album release this year, pop star Show Lo’s weight loss regime came under scrutiny as fans debated whether the ‘career line’ shown in promotional photos was airbrushed or not.
Manufactured pop aside, women’s economic status in Taiwan is still lacking relative to their male counterparts. Whilst Taiwan was ranked 2nd in Asia in the GEM (Gender Empowerment Measure) index according to a UN Development Programme report in 2008, only 10% of large sized enterprises in Taiwan are run by women and the average turnover of women-owned business is just one-third of their male-counterparts. According to statistics from the Council of Labor Affairs in 2002, Taiwanese women’s participation rate (47% of over 18s) in the labour force was 2% lower than in Japan and 3% lower than South Korea. The contribution of officially ‘unemployed’ wives of businessmen who play a vital role in enterprise often gets overlooked and does not factor in problematic GEM index calculations. In politics, women have a visible presence with members of the Central Standing Committee of both leading parties remaining fairly stable over the past few years at between 20-25%, protected by a female quota in the case of the DPP.
Women’s career opportunities have improved greatly in Taiwan over the past few decades but although few career-minded ladies would falter at a cleavage crack, after this week’s “whose are these boobs” comment on the Telegraph website in England, it’s clear that world over, it’s still a struggle for professional women to be judged on their ideas rather than simply their sexuality.
