Women, family and the political economy of Taiwan

Abstract

To maintain political stability and a cheap, elastic labour supply necessary for contemporary capitalism to operate in Taiwan, the government allocates a large share of its budget to national security, a small share to a social welfare infrastructure, and encourages an ideology of patriarchal familism. This paper examines how women facilitate Taiwan's comparative advantage in the world economy by considering: (1) the ways in which women from a small village community act in defence of the patriarchal family; (2) what their interests may be in maintaining such a family; and (3) how development affects their lives.

Notes

College of Nursing and Office of Women in International Development, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. Research for this paper was carried out in collaboration with Bernard Gallin, whose insights have helped me immeasurably. We acknowledge with thanks the organisations that provided financial assistance over the years and made our field trips to Taiwan possible. Specifically, funding was provided by a Foreign Area Training Fellowship, a Full‐bright‐Hays research grant, the Asian Studies Center at Michigan State University, the Mid‐West Universities Consortium for International Activities, the Social Sciences Research Council, and the Pacific Cultural Foundation.