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Family Policy

Passed at the eighth meeting of

The Social Welfare Promotion Committee of

The Executive Yuan,

October 18, 2004

Currently Taiwan's economy continues growing. As gaps in income become wider, unemployed and low-income families are increasingly showing their underprivilegedness. Development of information technology has changed interpersonal communicative relations and interaction modes. The scale of migration in transnational populations has increased. The import of foreign home-care labor and the ratio of cross-cultural marriages have risen and changed the cultural identification with the traditional family. Communities of new-style residences have been built in great numbers, while traditional community relations are being dissolved, out of which is forming a new community relationship. Fertility rates of child-bearing-age women have been dropping, and the size of household members has contracted. The population is fast aging. Subjects of home care are changing from the young to the old. As divorce rates rise, the percentage of single-parent families is increasing. The structure of the family is increasingly becoming diverse. The participation percentage of women labor is rising, while the gender equality concept is gradually replacing the patriarchal system of "men outbound, women homebound." Domestic violence incidents are frequently reported, and marital and parent-child relations are unstable. Calling on maintaining traditional ethics alone seems unable to respond to the impact of the aforementioned social and economic changes on families on this island.

In light of this situation, there is a call for formulating a family policy. The Executive Yuan also included the item of "how to perfect family function and enhance living quality" in the third national social welfare conference agenda held in May 2002. And at that meeting, a resolution was reached as follows: "Based upon the respect for diverse family values, to assess different family needs, to establish a mechanism for integrating family policy groups, a need-oriented family policy should be studied and drafted." Accordingly, the Executive Yuan has instructed the Ministry of the Interior to invite all related ministries and departments to draw up Taiwan's family policy.

I. Background of Formulating the Policy

Considering Taiwan's recent changes in society, economy, and population structure, influences on the family are profound, such as:

1. Natality dropping: Decreases in birth rates will make Taiwan's population reach zero-growth within twenty to thirty years in the future and then turn toward negative growth. This may result in socio-economic problems such as insufficient labor, accelerated aging of population, overburdening of supporting the old.

(1) Natality: Taiwan's birth rates have dropped from 25.64‰ in 1971, 22.97‰ in 1981, 15.70‰ in 1991, to 11.65‰ in 2001 to 10.06‰ in 2003.

(2) Total fertility rate (TFR) of child-bearing-age women falling: Taiwan's total number of children born per woman (number of children born by a woman in her lifetime) has dropped from 7.04 persons in 1951, 5.59 persons in 1961, 3.71 persons in 1971, 2.46 persons in 1981, 1.72 persons in 1991, to 1.34 persons in 2002 to 1.24 persons in 2003.

2. Aging of population accelerating: Taiwan's percentage of aged population has risen noticeably due to the prolonging of the nationals' life expectancy and the fall of birth rates. It is estimated that the population aged 65 or above will nearly double within the next twenty years, from 9% of the total population to 16%. Care for the aged population and the burden of supporting them will become heavier.

(1) Percentage of the aged population rising: Taiwan's aged population has risen from 3.64% in 1966, 4.41% in 1981, 5.28% in 1986, 6.53 in 1991, to 7.86% in 1996 to 9.24% in 2003.

(2) Population aging fast: Number of years needed for the percentage of the aged population to rise from 7% to 14%: Japan 23 years, Taiwan 26 years, Germany 45 years, the United States 70 years, Sweden 85 years. Obviously Taiwan is one of the countries that have the fast-aging population in the world. Population aging too fast will squeeze the time to prepare for an aging society.

3. Divorce rates rising: Taiwan's crude divorce rates (pair/1,000 persons) have risen from 0.36‰ in 1971, 0.83‰ in 1981, 1.38‰ in 1991, 2.53‰ in 2001, to 2.87‰ in 2003, which is twice that ten years ago. The percentage of single-parent families has also risen as a result.

4. Labor force participation rate for women rising: Women's labor force participation rates in Taiwan have gradually risen from 35.37% in 1971, 38.76% in 1981, 44.39% in 1991, to 46.1% in 2001 to 47.14% in 2003. Though the percentage is not very high, it is already enough to affect home care, family relations, division of labor in house duties, and women's fair treatment in workplace.

5. Cross-cultural marriages increasing: With migration of transnational populations under globalization, Taiwan's cross-cultural marriage percentages have rapidly risen from 15.69% in 1998, 18.62% in 1999, 24.76% in 2000, 27.10% in 2001, 28.39% in 2002, to 31.85% in 2003. Not only are the percentages very high, but the increase speed is considerably quick as well. Families constituted by cross-cultural marriages are faced with social and cultural adaption problems and are in urgent need of assistance.

6. Unemployment rising: Taiwan's average unemployment rates have risen from 2.6% in 1996, 2.72% in 1997, 2.69% in 1999, 2.99% in 2000, 4.57% in 2001, to 5.17% in 2002, but dipped slightly to 4.99% in 2003. As globalized industries re-deploy themselves and the high-tech industry rapidly develops, the rising trend in unemployment seems hard to avoid. And the results will affect changes in the financial maintenance and in the relationship between household members.

7. Diverse family concepts looming: The traditional definition of "home" is being challenged. Diverse family concepts such as single-parent family, step-parent family, homosexual family, minor family, individual (who does not want to marry) family, etc., are being gradually accepted. But the well-being of their family members should also be taken care of.

8. Care burdens inside family:

(1) Workload of household duties of employed women with partners still high: According to the 2002 "Survey on Taiwan's social development trends" by the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics under the Executive Yuan, employed women's average household duty work hours per day were 2.46, and their male counterparts were 1.12. Obviously employed women's household duty burdens are still higher than their male counterparts'. Women's balance between work and family has not been effectively addressed.

(2) Percentage of senior citizens cohabiting with their children dropping: Taiwan's percentages of senior citizens living with their children have gone down from 70.24% in 1986, 67.17% in 1993, 64.3% in 1996, to 67.79% in 2000 to 63.40% in 2002. This suggests that their need of depending on the public care system is increasingly imperious.

(3) Percentage of women shouldering housework labor high: According to the 1998 "Survey on Taiwan's social development trends" by the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics under the Executive Yuan, in terms of division of housework, women as the persons in charge accounted for 91.2%, and men as the persons in charge accounted for 6.9%. This suggests that the concept of men shouldering housework labor is still not popularized.

(4) Percentage of women caring for children by themselves high: According to the 2003 "Survey on Taiwanese married women's child-rearing and employment" by the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics under the Executive Yuan, in respect of how 15-64-year-old women care for their children, below-3-year-olds taking care of themselves reached up to 69.65%, cared for by family members 22.35%, by babysitters 7.41%, by foreign housemaids 0.13%, by day-care centers and others 0.46%. Obviously so far as caring for children is concerned, Taiwan's married women still need to rely on themselves or family members. Assistance is urgently needed from the public sector and society.

9. International trend of gender equality: The concept of gender equality has already spread across all over the world, including Taiwan. Gender equality not only involves social, political, economic, and educational aspects, but the advance of domestic equality as well.

10. Family-related social problems frequently taking place: Juvenile crime, marriage violence, child abuse, elder abuse, mental disease, vagrants, suicide, school children discontinuing schooling, etc.¡Xall these suggest that family's energy in education, support, care, and meeting members' needs is dropping. It needs to be "recharged" in order to reduce the occurrences of social problems and lower the disbursement of social costs.

II. Policy Goals

The core idea of formulating Taiwan's family policy is to support the family rather than to unlimitedly invade or control it. Country and society should recognize that the family in transition already cannot revert to the size, composition and function of the family in conventional agricultural society; that stability of the family is the most solid foundation for country and society's stability and development; and that the problems and needs confronting the family is in urgent need of assistance from country and society. Therefore, the goals of formulating a family policy are, on the one hand, to maintain the stability of the traditional family and, on the other, to respond to the influences on the family from the aforementioned changes in Taiwan's society, economy, and culture. These goals are enumerated below:

1. to safeguard the family's financial security;

2. to promote gender equality;

3. to support the family's care ability and share the family's care responsibility;

4. to prevent, and assist the family in resolving, family members' problems; and

5. to encourage tolerance in society.

III. Principles of Formulating the Policy

Based upon the policy axis of supporting the family, regardless of gender, age, physical conditions, race, religious faith, language, culture, and marital status, family members should be respected and treated equally. And families should not be treated differently in respect of economic conditions, marital status, with or without children, ethnic identity, geological area of residence. To safeguard the underprivileged's right to existence, however, it is categorical for a country to provide proper remedies in favor of the family to maintain its function. For this reason, some principles are proposed below to serve as a basis for planning concrete practice solutions for family policy, and to ensure the above family goals are realized:

1. to affirm the importance of the family;

2. to respect diverse family values;

3. to empower underprivileged family members and families;

4. to care for the well-being of family members fairly and meantime give consideration to the principle of difference justice; and

5. to encourage family integration.

IV. Policy Contents

1. To safeguard the family's financial security

(1) Establish an pension insurance system available to all the people, and safeguard the basic financial security of senior citizens, of their family members, and of the disabled with financial needs.

(2) Combine with population policy and strengthen financial support and assistance for underprivileged families in order to abate the burden of their home care and ensure the stability of their family finance.

(3) Make use of community resources and offer opportunities of part-time jobs and of receiving higher education to adolescents from low-income families in order to accumulate human resources, assist them in entering the labor market, and stabilize employment.

(4) Assist people who are able to work ability and come from low-income families in taking part in the labor market in order for them to come out of poverty as soon as possible.

(5) Aiming at different types of family compositions, develop a consolidated income-tax and tax-exemption scheme that corresponds to the principles of fairness and justice, in order to safeguard security and fairness of family finance.

2. To promote gender equality

(1) Implement the Gender Equality in Employment Law (GEEL) and the Employment Service Act to eliminate the employment hindrance of gender discrimination.

(2) Carry through the regulation related to baby care and leave without pay in the GEEL, and study and deliberate income maintenance during the period of baby care and leave without pay.

(3) Encourage public and private institutions to provide an employee- and -family-friendly work environment in order to mitigate employees' dual pressure from employment and home care.

(4) Promote and educate the value of sharing household duties by the two sexes.

3. To support the family's care ability and share the family's care responsibility

(1) Provide families with active service to decrease the chances of children and adolescents being arranged outside home and to enhance families' functions of nurturing and caring.

(2) Construct a complete early children treatment and education system to assist children of retarded development in receiving early treatment and education.

(3) Make community day-care and after-school care service available to all to mitigate families' burden of caring for their children.

(4) Encourage businesses and social welfare organizations to cooperate to undertake businesses' child care, elder care, and employee assistance programs in order to increase employees' family well-being.

(5) Plan a long-term care system and support families with elders, disabled, rare-disorder patients in need of long-term care to alleviate their care burden.

(6) Provide for communities to support families with mental patients to mitigate their care burden.

(7) Cultivate home care manpower of Taiwanese origin to decrease families' reliance on foreign care maids.

4. To prevent, and assist the family in addressing, family members' problems

(1) Carry out the Family Education Law, offer marriage and parenting education-related courses, and assist family members in enhancing communicative skills and family management abilities.

(2) Offer family service and assist families in enhancing relations between spouses, between parents and children, between siblings, and between family members.

(3) To safeguard children's and adolescents' rights, assist both parties of divorce in smoothly reaching a children or adolescent guardianship agreement, and introduce a family affairs mediation system to reduce parenting conflicts as a result of divorce.

(4) Strengthen single-parent family support networks and assist single-parent families in supporting themselves.

(5) Provide treatment service for adolescents' discontinuing schooling and behavioral aberrations in order to prevent them committing crime or engaging in the sex trade.

(6) To terminate domestic violence, provide domestic violence victims and witnesses with related support measures and strengthen inflicters' treatment service to achieve family reconstruction.

(7) Promote gender equality, eradicate patriarchal thoughts, and strengthen awareness and education of domestic violence prevention to carry out domestic violence preventions.

(8) Establish community-wide (or local) family support (service) centers to prevent and assist in managing family crisis.

5. To encourage tolerance in society

(1) Actively assist cross-cultural marriage families in adapting to the local society.

(2) Assist cross-cultural marriage families with their children's education and family care.

(3) Provide foreign spouses and families with parenting education and training and marriage consulting service.

(4) Promote diverse cultural values, eradicate discriminations as a result of differences in age, gender, sexual orientation, race, marital status, physical and mental conditions, family composition, financial conditions, blood relations, etc.