A number of women’s rights groups have expressed expectations of seeing a female legislative speaker or deputy speaker elected by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in a bid to promote gender equality.

With Taiwan electing its first female president this year, the proportion of elected female legislators has also set new records, rising from 33 per cent elected at the last legislative election to 38.1 per cent at the 2016 legislative elections, one of the highest proportions of females in politics in the world, the Chinese-language United Evening News stated.

According to the statement released by the women rights groups, two criteria regarding gender equality should followed when the DPP conducts the election of legislative speaker and deputy speakers.

First, ensuring a female is elected either legislative speaker or deputy speaker should be a priority in order to “show respect to women voters” and also based on the fact that nearly 40 per cent of the DPP-majority legislature are female.

Second, the selection of the two candidates should be based on past interpellation performances. Nominees for speaker and deputy speaker must present their views on gender equality.

Other conditions include positive support or concrete contributions on gender equality policies -- advocating of home care policies, publicising of previous equality efforts and showing an understanding of women’s heavy burdens as a family caretaker.

It is necessary for party caucus legislators to consider the standards for the two candidates, namely by the Legislative Yuan’s leader voting for gender equality in the speaker and deputy speaker elections.

Such a gender-initiative nomination would set gender equality into motion and prioritise the caucus parties’ to put forward nominees while considering equal representation of gender stated the women groups.

Based on the statement, the Kuomintang (have a better track record than the DPP as Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng and Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu were a gender-equal duo.

The statement was released by the Awakening Foundation and is also supported by the Taiwanese Feminist Scholars Association, the National Alliance of Taiwan Women’s Associations, the Taipei Awakening Association, the Kaohsiung Women Awakening Association, the Garden of Hope Foundation, and the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation.