BPW 2014 International Congress

Women Leadership in the 21st Century 

H.E. Lu Hsiu-lien Annette

Former Vice-President of Taiwan

Juju Island, Korea 

May 24, 2014

International President Freda Miriklis, past

Presidents, President Dr. Insil Lee of Korea Federation

of BPW, sisters of IFBPW, distinguished guests, ladies

and gentlemen:

Good morning! Early birds get the worms. Brilliant

and hard working women earn success and respect!

Let’s congratulate the excellent leadership under

President Miriklis and past Presidents who devoted

their wisdom and enthusiasm to the development of

IFBPW.

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Congratulations also go to the Korea Federation of

BPW under the leadership of President Insil Lee and

President Aeduk Im of Jeju Club to organize and host

the 2014 International Congress here in Jeju Island. In

supporting IFBPW and enhancing the sisterhood

between Korea and Taiwan, I would like to present

you the delegation of 50 sisters coming with me from

Taiwan.

We are gathering here today from each corner of the

world, not to complain about the past, rather to

prospect the future. We are talking about the

leadership at the top, talking about how to climb the

mountain, up toward the peak of life. It is a great topic

for this congress as its host Korea is a model country

led by an excellent lady, President Geun-Hye Park.

President Park was born in the first family but grew up

with a series of tragedies and challenges. Her life story

certainly is a legend to women and deserves our

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appreciation. Besides the Jeju island has been named

the island of women where women play pivotal roles,

in the families as well as in the society.

Reflecting over the history of women leadership in

Northeast Asia, coincidentally China, Korea and

Japan, each had a woman with her unique status to

play a unique and critical role at a pivotal moment for

her own country. China’s Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后 ), Korea’s Queen Myeongseong (明成皇后 )

and Japan’s Atsuhime (篤姬) were the last queens of a

dynasty. While Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后 ) was a conservative, Japan’s Atsuhime (篤姬 )

appeared to be considerably liberated. However, the

story of Korea’s Queen Myeongseong (明成皇后 )

deserves a careful study for a fair judgment on her

leadership for Korea. Based on Feminism, it was

obvious that Dowager Cixi‘s (慈禧太后) conservatism

resulted in the stagnation of China for modernization.

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By contrast, Atsuhime’s(篤姬) liberalism was helpful

for Japan’s emancipation from Bakufu (幕府) to Meiji

Restoration (明治維新 ). However, the destiny of

Korean Queen reflects the struggle of woman for

herself and for her motherland. Throughout her entire

life, Korea’s last queen fought hard against feudalism

within royal palace and led her country against

intrusion from Russia, China, and Japan toughly and

bitterly. Regretfully, she was slaughtered and burned

to death by her enemy what a tragedy!

In modern history, women did not reach to the

pinnacle position until the 1950’s when Mongolia had

its first female president, though only in a brief period

of time. In 1990’s, there were 30 women elected to

become president. Ever since then, many countries in

Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America have elected

women presidents and female prime ministers. In the

year of 2005, women leadership seemed to be

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blooming, as in Germany Liberia, Argentina,

Bangladesh and 15 other nations worldwide.

Up until today there have been 43 countries having

a female President, and 58 countries have had a female

Prime Minister. And in Asia, there have been 7

countries having a female President and 5 countries

having a female Prime Minister. But are women in

these countries better than others? Not necessarily.

World Asia

Countries ever having a female

President

43 7

Female Presidents who served

less than a year

13

Countries ever having a female

Prime Minister

58 5

Female Prime Ministers who

served less than a year

21

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The UNDP uses 3 dimensions to capture the gender

achievement due to gender inequality within a country.

According to 2012 Gender Inequality Index (GII)

rankings, South Korea ranked 27, Singapore ranked

13, Japan 21, China 35. Despite that Taiwan is not a

UN member, Taiwan’s GII ranked No.1 in Asia, No.4

in the world!

Women’s Century, When to Come?

Doubtlessly, 21st century is the Asian Century. But

is it a century for women?

It is worthy of note that a number of countries in

Asia have had female head of state. And in Taiwan,

I’m the first woman vice-president and the only vice-

president reelected. Up till today, with the exception of

New Zealand, Australia, and me, those Asian women

national leaders all came from powerful political 6

families, either their father or their husband or brother

was a strong political figure. Some of them in fact

were political widows, and such widow politics has

been a unique phenomenon in Asia. Their participation

into politics shall not be considered a model for

feminist politician, as they were not on their own and

some were not proven to be good politicians. They

were by no means feminists and women’s rights were

not their priority. A Feminist politician shall stand up

on her own, not on her family; shall fight for the

people, not for her family or herself.

As a matter of fact, the most powerful person of the

year 2007 was not a man but a woman, German

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who happened to preside

over both the European Council and G8 group in that

year. And nothing terribly bad had happened. It is clear

that women really can lead the world, not just a nation

or a family. Indeed, long before Merkel, Madam

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Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister

already enjoyed the reputation of her international

leadership. They are all inspirations for us women.

Women’s Struggle in Taiwan

I would like to take a few minutes to share with you

the struggle and success of women in Taiwan.

Taiwan had been under martial law for 38 years,

whereby people’s freedom and political participation

had been severely restricted and their human

rights badly suppressed. Socially, it was as

conservative and feudalistic as one can

imagine. Taiwan’s women traditionally suffered from

the double burden of Chinese Confucian teachings and

Japanese male chauvinism.

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The whole Taiwan society was debating on how to

prevent young women from attending universities,

since they were expected to abandon their careers and

stay at home to take care of the household after getting

married.

It was under such circumstances that I began

to champion feminism, criticizing male chauvinism

and proposing new feminist beliefs. I wrote articles,

made speeches, organized women and conducted a

variety of activities.

On December 10th, 1979, when a large number of

people were celebrating the International Human

Rights Day at a rally, and the police and soldiers were

ordered to use tear gas against the crowd. I witnessed

so much chaos that I was outraged and stood on the top

of a truck to deliver a most passionate speech for 20

minutes, before a hundred thousands of people. Three

days later, I was the first one arrested followed by 151 9

others. Eventually I was sentenced to 12 years in

prison, but was released on a medical parole after 1933

days imprisonment.

On November 21st of 1997, the then magistrate of

my home county and eight other local politicians were

brutally massacred. With the country horrified in

shock with mafia and local factions, my party

nominated me to run for the replacement. I accepted

the challenge and got elected overwhelmingly. I had

overcome all the troublesome problems including

crime, corruption and pollutions made by my former

male colleague. I had brought tranquility and

confidence back to my home county, demonstrated to

people that a woman can serve the public better than a

man.

In 2000, I was invited by one of the defense lawyers

from the Martial Law trial, Mr. Chen Shui-bian to be

his running mate, and together we overturned 50 years 10

of authoritarian one-party rule, making me the first

female vice president. The electoral victory

in 2000 marked Taiwan’s milestone of democratic

change in ending over 50 years’ autocracy regime. It

also marked a new era of bi-gender politics, as

government was no longer monopolized by men.

During the eight years of my Vice-Presidency from

2000-2008, women’s roles and positions in the

political and government offices experienced an

unprecedented surge. Thirty-five women were

appointed into the cabinetry. In particular, I, myself

have initiated a special project named “the Good

Housekeepers” to train single mothers and divorcees,

in housekeeping, baby-sitting and nursing services, not

only to help them to earn a living, but also to help

professional women to be released from their

household tasks and to devote to their careers.

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With regard to Parliament, while in the 1970s only 7

percent of elected legislators were women, reached

now 33 percent. As more women went to Parliament,

they pushed through legislation a number of new laws

to protect and enhance women’s rights.

Write History with HER-stories

From the kitchen to the office, women have made a

big breakthrough, not only for herself but also for

humankind. Have women changed the world when

they became part of the decision makers?

Let us look over the entire human civilization. It has

been noted that 99.9 percent of all wars were initiated

by men, yet 80 percent of victims of war are women

and their beloved husbands and children. Why so?

Because women were not empowered to decide

whether there is a need for a war. Because women

were not empowered to prevent war from happening.

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We should not forget that we women are the

descendants of Eve and that we constitute half of the

world population. Without Eve, there would not have

been mankind; without women there wouldn’t be

babies. The point is why through the thousoles year of

human history are there only “his stories” and not “her

stories”?

Regretfully, throughout human history, problems

after problems threaten the survival of the universe and

living beings, no matter ecological or economic,

political or social. In recent years the global economy

has been hit by financial tsunamis. Worse than that, the

frequent occurrences of natural disasters and

catastrophes are the most crucial crises on earth.

The United Nations’ IPCC reports that, in the year

2008 there were 321 natural catastrophes which have

caused two hundred thirty-five thousand deaths and

affected 211.6 million people. 13

The geographic records indicate that there had been

5 great extinctions to destroy the earth throughout the

last 500 million years. These records remind us that

currently we are in the mid-term of the 6th Great

Extinction. In recent years, spices on earth have been

extinguished in an incredible speed.

How much time do we have before we mankind are

extinguished? What shall we do to rescue our mother

earth? There are only ten to tens of years for us to

prevent the menace, but we have to change our

lifestyle and to improve our management of the earth

before it is too late. We have to promote green

economy to reduce environmental pollution and

natural resource depletion. We have to save the earth

and save our future!

Empowerment of Soft Power

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To face the unprecedented, multiple challenges

coming our way, we women have to learn

and apply the wisdom of “soft power.” My country

Taiwan has learned to project soft power, namely,

democracy, human rights, culture, love, peace and

technological innovation.

These values help and facilitate Taiwan’s

transformation from a small, poor country under an

authoritarian regime into a highly developed country

with most advanced high-technology and democracy.

Of course, Korea is another good model for soft

power, making Korea so progressive and powerful in

the world, contrast to the Communist North Korea.

Especially under the leadership of Madam Park, the

strong power of soft power easily distinguishes itself

from the orthodox of hard power manipulated by a

young Communist leader.

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While the traditional “hard power” is destructive

and exploitative, soft power is constructive and

generous in nature. Soft power is the foundation for

world peace and substantial development. Hard power

should no longer be the sole measurement of a

country’s success, and soft power will play more

important role in the future of our world.

Can soft power help strengthen women? Of course,

women are the best players of soft power. But to be

empowered to play, women must first enrich

themselves with their own soft power of mercy,

beauty, wisdom and courage.

To show mercy is to embrace the unfortunate and to

give hope for the hopeless. Women’s beauty is not just

physical but spiritual and intellectual. Women shall

develop themselves for wisdom rather than sexual

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appearance. And courage is to speak up for what is

right and to fight against what is wrong. It is with these

four virtues that women will break away from being

the passive victims of history and will become active

writers for human story. With mercy, beauty, wisdom

and courage, these four virtues, we women can

become good and strenghful peace makers for the

world！

21st Century: She-Economy

Believe it or not, the 21st century is a century for

she-economy! In fact, women made 85% of consumer

choices. It is expected that in the next decade, about

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870 million women around the world will enter the job

market and 822 million come from non-industrialized

countries. They will create work and start businesses

and the gender gap in earnings will be narrowed down.

Mobile and Internet technologies will help women run

businesses easier and overcome the legal or traditional

barriers that prevented them from participating.

In the Asia-Pacific region, women’s potential

remains largely underutilized. Collectively, the 21

countries of the Asia Pacific region lose between $42

to $46 billion of GDP annually by not tapping into

women’s economic potential.

Indeed, the era for she-economy has come! In 2009,

the total combined income of women in the world was

$13 trillion, and it is expected to add up $5 trillion in

2014. With good income women will become good

consumers. More products are designed and marketed

specifically for women, or suiting women’s taste. 18

Businesswomen certainly know better than men for

what women really like and need.

What are female characteristics in she-economy?

Compared to men, businesswomen tend to start

businesses from humanitarian perspective, caring more

about environmental protection and ecology, and sense

of beauty. More women in business mean more

humanity, more green economy, and more artistic

interests. In a word, women tend to be the pivotal

power for the substantial development of the globe.

While her-economy pursuits for self-interest,

expansion and exploitation, she-economy reflects a

value of humanity, greenness, and benevolence. While

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he-economy stresses on “hard power,” she-economy

elaborates “soft power.”

The women leadership in the 21st century has to put

the priority of gender-specific target along with she-

economy into her agenda. I firmly believe that with

Feminism and soft power, women’s leadership can

change the world better. We women shall be

determined to lead our family, our society and our

world for a better future. The path is long and filled

with obstacles. We need friends but we do not rely on

others. We rely on ourselves. We make mission

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impossible into mission possible. Above all, we write

her-stories into human history!

Thank you.

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