Release of First Award-winning Study of the 2020 APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies (HWHE) Research Prize

(27 November 2020, Taipei) Chinese Taipei won the 2020 APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies (HWHE) Research Prize since its inauguration in 2014. Today, government officials, corporate executives, academic scholars, and social enterprise activists came together to highlight the importance of work-life balance, which is the theme and winning category of this Chinese Taipei study. The timing of this press conference cannot be more fitting as this year marks the time point when Taiwan officially enters population decline with deaths outnumbering births.    

Led by NTU Professor Lih-Rong Wang of the Department of Social Work, the research team joined force with Seek and Find social enterprise in completing this study titled “Work-Family Conflict, Social Support and Well-being: Chinese Taipei Unique Experiences.” The study collected 727 effective surveys from professionals and workers in Taiwan, covering different industries and sectors, company sizes, positions, and both local firms and multi-national corporations. Participants were invited to anonymously share their background information, including that of their spouses and children.

“This study identified the ‘unspoken conflicts’ facing men in their work and family roles, clarifying that both men and women face similar dilemma in fulfilling both work and family responsibilities; there is no statistically significant difference based on gender,” Professor Wang said. “Taiwanese society has not taken this issue seriously. We must strive to remove traditional gender biases and social stereotypes, and to act more pro-actively in planning and providing family-friendly policies and measures, so that both male and female workers can achieve a better balance between work and family responsibilities.”

Another critical finding of this study indicated that over 90 percent of workers caring for children under the age of six expects more employee-centered flexible workplace support and programs. These policies and programs include (1) Flextime: Both employers and employees can negotiate a set of systematic flexible working hours that allow workers to balance work-family responsibilities; (2) (non-regular) Work-from-home: Employees can choose to work from home when family care emergencies occur; (3) Flexible work schedule: Employees can decide on flexible work schedules to avoid rush hours and have more time to handle family demands.

“Work-family conflicts have been a systematic problem for the entire society for decades. It takes the determination from stakeholders across sectors and disciplines to achieve a solid breakthrough,” said Ms. Yulin Tsai, Founder of Seek and Find Co.. In leading the Seek and Find social enterprise to advocate flexible work arrangements, Ms.  Tsai believes that this Prize marks the beginning of a new phase for Taiwan in gender equality and work-family balance. Next-stage studies by specific industries, sizes of company and work patterns are required to further develop practical and relevant work-family balance measures and programs. 

Former Premier Chi-Kuo Mao of the Executive Yuan attended the press conference to congratulate the success of this social enterprise-academic partnership that leads to solutions to address the society’s demographic and structural changes. 

“APEC established this Research Prize to bring people’s attention to the five following areas that improve women’s health: workplace health and safety; health access and awareness; work-life balance; sexual and reproductive health; and gender-based violence,” explained Director-General Wu Hsiu-chen of the Department of Gender Equality, Executive Yuan. Sex-disaggregated data and gender-based research and analysis serve as an empirical basis to help decision-makers and business owners make policies that can improve women’s health so that women can join and rise in the workforce. 

Ministry of Labor’s Deputy Minister San-gui Lin described the gender equality in employment policies and measures that the MOL has spearheaded. The Act of Gender Equality in Employment encourages companies to implement a wide range of workplace gender equality measures, including providing nursing rooms, childcare facilities and measures, and support for workers to better achieve work-life balance. Many companies even provide many family-friendly measures that are more progressive than what the Act requires. By winning this APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize, it shows that Chinese Taipei has made advancements in the area of workplace work-life balance. More labor policy planning, gender equality promotion, and international cooperation should be conducted in this area to achieve more substantial outcomes. 

Ms. BoonHuey Ee, General Manager of Merck Biopharma Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macau, gave her remarks at the press conference. Merck KGaA  is the private partner of the APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies (HWHE) Initiative. It strives to build Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) in its corporate cultures and advocates for the importance of women’s health on sustainable economic development. It holds deep commitment for work-life balance by taking strong result-oriented actions, including women leadership cultivation, flexible work arrangements and measures to safeguard women’s health. “We believe that the participation of a larger female workforce contributes to greater vigor and benefit to companies and industries,” said Ms. Ee. 

As a representative from an exemplary multi-national corporation, Ms. Tina Lin, General Manager of Google Taiwan, shared the firm’s best practices. Google spares no efforts to build a working environment of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. Under the pre-requisite of guarantee worker’s health and wellbeing, Google applies digital technologies to lift limitations of geography, time and space. This is to nourish and activate a gender friendly workplace to create open and innovative corporate culture and to extend care and respect for all the employees.

Mrs. Fu-Mei Tang, Founder of Season Arts Kindergarten, spoke on behalf of the SMEs in Taiwan. As a mother of a child with special needs and an entrepreneur, she shared how she realized her dream. She calls for more social support for families, especially parents with special need children. Her business, Season Arts, holds a unique “Five Heart” philosophy and regards people development as its core competitive advantages. Her organization is committed to helping female work partners to achieve work-family balance and self-realization. 

The press conference also invited Mrs. Georgia Huang and Mr. Vincent Chen, top executives from multi-nationals based in Taiwan and across the straits, to share their personal stories in balancing professional careers and family responsibilities, including their experiences in marital relationship and parenting. Facing all kinds of pressing needs, including the needs to take care of their families, children, professional careers and self-expectations, the speakers shared their secrets to living a fulfilling, balanced life, including priority setting, time management, and legacy building.