Don't call them 'superwomen'

What do dishwashers and the fall from grace of a ping pong star tell us about women in Taiwan

Going by the numbers, Taiwan is probably one of the best place to be a working woman in Asia. More than 40 percent of managerial positions are held by women, and almost 42 percent of legislators are female. Given the fact that the top job in the country is held by a single woman, the sky seems to be the limit.

However, despite the fact that Taiwanese women are successful at the highest levels of business and politics, it doesn’t mean that women are living the gender equality dream here in Taiwan. In fact, for one group of women in particular, life sounds particularly hellish: wives.

The modern Taiwanese woman is now often expected to have a career outside the family and bring in her share of income. However, the traditional expectations put on a Taiwanese wife has not been lifted. They’re expected to cook, to clean and take on the lion’s share of the childcare.

Only 3% of households have dishwashers. When European appliance maker Bosch tried to find out why, they realized that there was in fact a powerful taboo for women asking for help with housework…even if the help came in the form of a machine. In order to get around the taboo, they came up with the slogan “Your family deserves your time, your dirty dishes don’t!” God forbid a woman might want that time off for herself.

Another expectation that weighs heavily on the Taiwanese woman: the pressure to live with the husband’s family and basically perform “being a good daughter-in-law.” When Japanese ping-pong star Ai Fukuhara was caught on camera having an affair, the conversation that raged on really had more to do with whether or not the pressure of living with her husband’s family drover her to it.

Is it any wonder that more Taiwanese women are choosing to marry later, if not at all?

Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen, single lady and proud pet-mom, told her FB audience for International Women’s Day that she hopes not to hear the word “superwoman” being attached to high-achieving women in the workplace anymore because it’s sexist to assume a woman must be extraordinary to succeed in the workplace.

I would also like the word “superwoman” to to have to apply to so many Taiwanese moms who have to balance work, cooking, child care and never being good enough for the in-laws.

One factor that would lead to advancement on this count would be lower housing prices, which would allow more young couples to move out of the family home. But that is another subject for another post.