Gender inequality in the form of discrimination against women has existed in Chinese society since ancient times. The founder of the Kuomintang Party, Sun Yat-sen, supported the principle of gender equality and in 1912, immediately after the victory of the Xinhai Revolution, insisted that it be included in the draft Constitution. In 1924, the Kuomintang recognized the need to "emancipate women's rights on the basis of the principle of equality between men and women in the law, economy, education, and society."

Keywords: Kuomintang, gender equality, status of women, individual freedom, equality of opportunity.

After the Kuomintang government moved to Taiwan, its policies became more conservative and authoritarian, which was dictated by the need to ensure social stability. In the 1950s and 1980s, Taiwan went through dramatic socio-economic and political conflicts, which led to a legislative increase in the status of women. At the same time, real equality of opportunity was still far away.

The Chinese specificity of the" women's question " is that in the absence of such a necessary factor as the industrial revolution2, equality between men and women in mainland China was established as a result of the socialist revolution. Inevitably, in a society with a low level of development of productive forces, a formal approach to this issue has emerged [Li Xiaojiang, 1988, p. 73; Sinetskaya, 2008, p. 219]. Chinese women have experienced all sorts of social upheavals and transformations, from civil war, revolution and socialist transformation, to the left - wing politics of the "late Mao" era to modernization in the post-Maoist era (Honig and Hershatter, 1988, p. 8).

Gender discrimination cannot be reduced to a"women's issue". The gender approach helps to understand the relationship between official ideology and generally accepted society3 values, social and economic development [Honig and Hershatter, 1988, p. 11; Li Xiaojiang, 1988, p. 73; Sinetskaya, 2008, p.15, 219].

¹ The Chinese National People's Party is a conservative political party in Taiwan. The Kuomintang was formed shortly after the Xinhai Revolution in China, which overthrew the Qing government. The Kuomintang fought an armed struggle with the generals of the Beiyang group and the Communist Party of China for the right to rule the country until the defeat in the Civil War in 1949, when the power in the country was completely taken over by the Communists and the Kuomintang government had to flee to Taiwan.

² Taking place in the West.

³ Reinforcing the traditional social hierarchy.

A significant role in the history of this issue was played by such a phenomenon as feminism. The history of feminism in China consists of several stages of development that are unequal in time and intensity. At the beginning of the women's movement in mainland China, unlike in Taiwan, the initiative was moving from men to women. For the participants of women's movements of that time, the question of the very existence of the Chinese nation was at the forefront, so the women's movement in the first half of the XX century played an integral, supporting role in the national movement. The identification of women's interests with the state will later cause the potential weakness of the women's movement, since it was combined with the national movement, which was initially alien to the very goal of freeing women from the traditional subordinate social status. At the same time, nationalism in mainland China served as a legal basis for the women's movement to acquire a socially recognized role. Therefore, feminism, which emerged in China as a result of grafting the Western graft onto the national trunk, ultimately worked for the needs of the state, and the goals of early feminists were reduced to the requirements to fight for the good of the nation [Chiang, Ku, 1986, p.26].

The women's movement emerged in China at the very beginning of the 20th century simultaneously with the revolutionary movement led by Sun Yat-sen, which expressed the national and general democratic demands of the Chinese people [Edwards, 2001, pp. 617-638]. The attitude of the "father of the revolution" to the issue of gender equality in China was ambiguous. In March 1912, as the interim President of the Republic of China, he issued a decree prohibiting the use of foot bandages by ⁴ women, citing considerations of humanity and the need to involve strong and healthy women in the cause of nation-building. In Taiwan, the campaign against foot bandaging began in the initial period of the Japanese occupation of the island; by 1915, the percentage of women who followed this tradition had decreased by 3 times - to 17.36%, largely due to the widespread use of education on the island [Lipinsky, 2011, p.1-2].

Sun Yat-sen paid great attention to the development of education. He issued the decree "Temporary measures for general education", which put forward the idea of creating a more universal education program in primary schools for boys and girls and separately for girls (later, at the initiative of Chiang Kai-shek's wife ⁵, education from the 5th grade became separate and was conducted according to special programs).

In the period immediately following the Xinhai Revolution, women were underrepresented in power structures. Of the 120 participants in the provincial Representatives ' conference that met in December 1911, only ten were women (mostly members of the Chinese Revolutionary League - the earliest female representatives in the legislature not only in China, but in Asia as a whole). In 1912, at the time of the regrouping of forces after the Xinhai Revolution and the reorganization of the Chinese Revolutionary League into the new Kuomintang National Party, the issue of women's right to political representation was not publicly discussed, and women were not allowed to attend meetings of the Provisional Parliament, although they insisted on it. There were also disagreements about women's political rights

⁴ The custom of leg bandaging in China dates back to ancient times. In the tenth century, it was regarded as necessary and beautiful, and then practiced for almost ten centuries. There were rare attempts to "liberate" women's feet, but artists, intellectuals, and powerful women who opposed the ritual were "white crows." Their efforts were doomed to failure: leg bandaging became a political institution. It reflected and perpetuated the socially and psychologically inferior status of women compared to men.

⁵ Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese military and political figure who became the head of the Kuomintang in 1925, after the death of Sun Yat-sen.

within the women's organizations themselves and among their leaders (Zhang Zhaohan, Tang Qiunying, etc.)⁶ [Biographical Dictionary..., 2003, p. 686 - 687].

At the same time, Sun Yat-sen continued to emphasize the principle of equality between women and men, the unification of women throughout the nation, and the widespread dissemination of education7, which he considered a prerequisite for "the inevitable acquisition of women's suffrage in the future." He did not attempt to influence the Provisional Parliament's decision on women's rights [Li Yu-Ning, 1988, p. 71]. For him, the interests of the nation and the creation of a powerful political party were at the forefront [Li Yu-Ning, 1988, p. 7, 9, 62, 66, 70]. Nevertheless, the" Society for Women's Suffrage of the Republic of China", headed by Tang Qiunying, advocated for the realization of women's political rights. During the drafting of the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, it sent petitions to the Provisional Parliament demanding the inclusion of an article on equal rights of men and women. However, the published draft Constitution ⁸ did not specify gender equality, but rather various laws adopted during 1912., restricted the right to vote for women. However, under the pressure of the progressive public, which saw education as the basis of national power and opportunities for women themselves to improve their economic, social and political status, a certain compromise was reached, which made it possible to move from the abolition of leg bandaging to the expansion of educational opportunities for women ^[Li Yu-Ning, 1988, p. 71].

A new phase in Sun Yat-sen's attitude to the women's movement began during the May 4 Movement of 1919, which helped many women realize the need to fight against traditional social restrictions and feudal traditions that oppressed their rights. At that time, the tangible results of women's struggle for their rights were reflected in two areas: the creation of joint schools and the right to vote. The youth who participated in the" May 4 Movement " sharply criticized the system of intra - family relations, which suppresses human individuality, and raised the liberation of women as a central issue of democracy [Ono, 1989, p.110-111].

In the early 1920s, in the absence of a stable national government, the new provincial governments in Hunan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Sichuan provinces themselves restored military and political order by adopting their own constitutions that guaranteed gender equality in political rights. These changes were the result of the work of women activists in the early 20th century. Since the establishment of the Republic, it has been China's expanded educational and commercial infrastructure in urban areas that has helped develop the suffragette movement, which was greatly influenced by the social and cultural changes in China after World War I. They contributed to the spread of Western trends in China (Edwards, 2001, p. 623). The Women's Organization of Hunan Province has put forward a 6-point program: giving women the right to vote, creating equal educational opportunities for men and women, ending discrimination against women in the workplace, giving women the right to decide whether to marry, guaranteeing women the right to inherit, and prohibiting polygamy. The Constitution of Hunan Province adopted in 1922 provides for-

⁶ Zhang Zhaohan was the headmaster of a girls ' school. An active advocate of the enlightenment, she called for equal political rights for women and men, but preferred a gradual conciliatory approach, unlike Tang Qiunying, who advocated radical change. The first female suffragist activists in China were few in number (Edwards, 2001, p.622). Like male political activists, they came from elite backgrounds.

⁷ This statement was illogical, as it required the establishment of an appropriate universal standard of education for all citizens, regardless of gender.

^{March 8-11}, 1912

⁹ Currently, there is an opinion that the stratification of society is carried out precisely on the basis of education, which can be a tool for strengthening or reducing social inequality.

He granted women the right to vote. Two women were elected to the provincial Assembly in 1921, and several women were elected to county assemblies [Biographical Dictionary..., 2003, p. 130].

In the 1920s, the women's movement in China developed slowly, as there were very few female students. They were mostly minors. There were almost no women workers at the enterprises, except for the textile industry in large cities on the coast [Sinetskaya, 2008, p. 131].

According to Helen Foster Snow10, ^the women's movement in China was largely not an organized force until the revolution of 1925-1927, when the Kuomintang, after the formation of the National Government (in July 1925), laid the foundation for the formation and implementation of a state-building policy based on Sun Yat-sen's "three people's principles". The women's movement in China first demonstrated itself as an organized force during the May 4 Movement of 1919, in a national protest against the "unfair" treaties between foreign powers following the First World War, and after this, feminist associations for women's rights were formed in Beijing, Shanghai, Canton, etc. [Foster, 1967 (2004), p. 21].

The demand for equality on the part of women led to the Kuomintang proclamation in 1924 of "emancipation of women's rights based on the principle of equality between men and women in law, economy, education, and society" and the intention to further expand women's rights. However, in 1931, women were not allowed to discuss the Constitution [Chiang and Ku, 1986, p. 26; Ono, 1989, p. 128].

The years 1925-1927 were a period when 1.5 million women from ten provinces were united under the leadership of He Xiangning, head of the Women's Department and a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang (elected in 1924), who provided training for women organizers, established women's unions, opened a bureau for the conclusion and dissolution of marriages, and educated local women for revolutionary affairs, trained women propagandists for the army. During the" May 30, 1925 Movement", the Shanghai Women's Federation, the Kuomintang Women's Movement Committee, the Women's Political Association, the National Assembly Women's Association, the Shanghai University Student Federation, and other unions were established. In 1927, after the split of the Kuomintang united Front and the CCP, both parties pursued different policies towards women. The Kuomintang stopped seeking support from peasant women and workers. Moreover, since 1927, feminists have been attacked by conservatives, including within the Kuomintang, which was "reactionary in discussing the place of women in the family and society "(Foster, 1967 (2004), p. 137). The CCP, on the other hand, continued its efforts to gain support from the broad masses of women for the cause of the revolution by promising and implementing economic and social reforms, which played a significant role in the CCP's final victory over the Kuomintang in 1949.

At first, the main goals of Chiang Kai-shek, who headed the Kuomintang government in 1927, were economic power, military strength and a system of total control over the population, the same as in Germany (after the establishment of the fascist regime) and Japan. At the same time, he relied on a moral code with an emphasis on the patriarchal family and male superiority. In the 1930s, he even made unsuccessful attempts to revive neo-Confucianism, which alarmed women whose mothers with bandaged feet reminded them of thousands of years of oppression and whose opposition to Chiang Kai-shek on this issue contributed to his political downfall [Foster, 1967 (2004), p. 17]. According to Chiang Kai-shek and the right-wing Kuomintang, all China needed was discipline, submission to leaders, austerity, and a return to the core values of Chinese culture (Edwards, 2001,

¹⁰ An American journalist who worked in China in the 1930s.

p. 623]. Militarized education for young people in secondary schools (formal military training for boys and nursing training for girls) was a necessary step in asserting nationalism, exalting the state, glorifying the leader, subjugating the will of the majority, and glorifying violence and terror. Puritanism was praised and there were attacks on people who visited the "cinema" and dance halls or were seen to be sympathetic to any form of" decadent Westernization " [Diamond, 1975, p.9].

In 1929, the Kuomintang China formed an association of wives of major politicians and financial figures and representatives of the well-off strata who were educated in Western universities. This association was under the patronage of Chiang Kai-shek's wife, Sun Meilin, who believed that educated women should not only support men, but also act actively and independently in public service "according to their duties, which include taking care of the home."

In 1930, the first Kuomintang Code of Women's Rights was adopted amid a heated discussion of women's emancipation. In Shanghai, the first female police force (made up of Chinese women)was even formed [Sinetskaya, 2008, pp. 101-102]. Public service for women, as defined by Madame Chiang Kai-shek, was limited to teaching literacy, mastering household management skills. In addition, she was a supporter of separate education, believing that it contributes to the best development of abilities ¹¹.

Chiang Kai-shek's 1928 "People's Law" included issues of marriage, guardianship, and other aspects of family relations. Family laws in the territory controlled by the Kuomintang were a tracing paper from German and Japanese. The discussion and level of development of the" women's issue "in China is" a unique phenomenon " on an international scale, since the party took into account the gender factor, considering it even more important than the class one. At the same time, according to some researchers, one should not exaggerate the contribution of the Kuomintang government to women's education and the scale of its support from "ordinary women", since socially and politically active women belonged to the educated strata of society [Siu, 1981, p.179; Sinetskaya, 2008, pp. 101-105].

Despite the fact that the Kuomintang family law rejected the traditional Chinese institution of marriage, in fact, there was no freedom of divorce in the territory controlled by this government. While in areas under the control of the CCP, freedom of marriage and divorce for men and women was proclaimed, the purchase and sale of women, the institution of concubines, etc. were prohibited [Ono, 1989, p. 106, 152-153].

During the war with Japan (1937-1945), many Chinese women between the ages of less than 9 and 76 suffered a sad fate. They were victims of brutal mass terror and rape by the occupiers. Women in Beijing organized rescue and first aid teams, political propaganda, etc. In 1938, a number of reconstituted women's social movements formed a "Women's Steering Committee" to help the wounded and orphans, train peasant women, and publish necessary publications.

When studying the development of the women's movement in China in the first decades after the Xinhai Revolution, two important points should be taken into account: the size of the country and the uneven development of various regions of China. This led to the uneven territorial distribution of any ideology, including feminism. The number of women involved in this movement was small, and the number of women involved in this movement was huge.-

¹¹ In Taiwan, as the author of the article (2010) noted, there are still separate high schools for girls, such as in Kaohsiung and Hualien.

the gap between traditionalism and new trends greatly slowed down the process of penetration of the latter into the public consciousness.

After 1949, each of the parts of divided China began to live by its own laws. But as far as feminism is concerned, there is something in common in both parts, for example, the legislative consolidation of equality between women and men before the law (the corresponding articles in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and in the Constitution of the Republic of China on Taiwan). In both cases, there were only state unions of women, and the very activities of these unions (in mainland China and Taiwan) It shows that views of women, in fact, were limited to seeing her primarily as a mother (a producer of new workers and soldiers), i.e., as a productive force whose enthusiasm needed to be stimulated in order to increase production and strengthen the state. At the same time, in Taiwan, unlike in mainland China, Christian and other religious women's organizations continued to function, but even for them, during this period, a woman appeared primarily in her traditional role - as a daughter, wife, and mother. Thus, it can be concluded that the task of educating a sense of self-identification, self-realization of a woman as a person was not faced by the authorities [Sinetskaya, 2008, p. 107, 140]. Moreover, even in the 1960s and 1970s. There was still harassment of women in various strata of Taiwanese society [Diamond, 1975, pp. 5-7, 39].

Taiwan did not have ^a permanent organized women's movement until the repeal of the State of Emergency Act in 1987, because the Law made it impossible for feminism to develop. Only after Chiang Kai-shek's death in 1975 did the gradual liberalization of the ruling regime begin, accompanied by an increasing struggle between the authorities and the opposition [Chiang and Ku, 1986, p. 32]. It was only in 1986 that democratization began, and in the process, the authorities began to tolerate the political opposition, which, while still in an illegal position, founded the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)in 1986. ¹³ As its chairman, Tsai Ing-wen, noted, the DPP "will continue to protect women's rights and help the government implement policies." improving social welfare" [Taiwan Journal, June 2008, p. 1].

In January 1989, a new law on civil organizations was ratified, liberalizing the rules governing the formation of political parties. The electoral law has also been improved to remove many restrictions on the conduct of electoral campaigns. In the early 1990s, Taiwan underwent an active institutional democratization and a profound transformation of political life, as well as the difficult process of gradually establishing relations with the PRC. Several important factors have played a role in Taiwan's democratization process, and political reform has been initiated by the regime itself, not by the opposition or society (Cabestan 1999: 31-62).

Women's movements in Taiwan emerged and operated within the framework defined by a relatively mild authoritarian regime after a long period of existence of a rigid authoritarian regime that did not provide political space for an independent women's movement [Waylen, 2007, p.30]. It was only when the women's movement was born in Taiwan in the 1970s that the issue of gender inequality and the need for changes in policy towards women emerged "per se" [Chen, 2001, p.109].

¹² Article 8 of the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations (adopted by the Kuomintang in Mainland China in 1943) states: "Only one organization of the same type of activity and level is allowed to register in one district, unless the Law provides otherwise."

¹³ The Provisional Rules for the Period of National Mobilization for the Suppression of Insurrection adopted in 1948 (hereinafter referred to as the "Law on the State of Emergency") any social movements were prohibited (this law was in effect de facto until 1991) [Gudoshnikov and Kokarev, 1997, p. 5].

The" women's issue " has historically been resolved in two aspects: the position of women in society and their protection (we are talking about benefits) in the presence (or absence) of equal rights and equal opportunities. This required not only compliance with existing laws, but also the creation of a cultural context for respecting women's rights, which is "impossible without a full-fledged women's movement." In addition, "poor education" prevents women from knowing and understanding their rights both as individuals and as a part of society [Sinetskaya, 2008, p.13, 222, 253-254].

True individual freedom implies not only equality of rights, but also equality of opportunities for their exercise. Thanks to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted in 1979, women are at the epicenter of the so-called third generation of human rights, when for the first time the world community placed the category of "justice" on a par with the categories of "freedom" and "equality" [Polenina, 2000, p. 33-37]. As part of the measures taken by the Taiwanese Government, the Women's Rights Committee ¹⁴ was established within the Legislative Yuan (1997), the Committee for the Prevention of Domestic Violence ¹⁵ (1999), the Committee for the Protection of Women from Sexual Violence ¹⁶ (1997), and others. City administrations have also adopted special budget lines on women's issues. With financial assistance from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a Fund for the Protection and Promotion of Women's Rights17 was ^established in 1998, whose main tasks are to study and revise laws related to women and develop instructions for the Government to prepare new laws. A network of general education centers has been established to provide women with legal services, professional development services, etc. [Taiwan Journal, June, 2008, p. 1].

Currently, the maternity financial support system in Taiwan allows working women to take ¹⁸ months of parental leave. However, it often happens that when a woman decides to exercise this right, some employers regard it as a manifestation of low labor motivation, which, due to the preservation of traditional ideas about gender roles, negatively affects her career prospects ¹⁹ [Taiwanese Panorama, 2010, N 4, p.29].

In 2000, the Government promulgated a legislative act on assistance to families of women in difficult situations. Financial support for these women includes life-saving subsidies, health insurance, and "kindergarten" subsidies. All levels of government provide women with assistance in filing lawsuits. In accordance with this act, the Ministry of Education offers subsidies to graduates of higher education institutions whose mothers suddenly find themselves in difficult life situations [CEDAW, 2009, p.210, 197-199].

Women in Taiwan still face social and legal barriers to divorce. The Civil Code of 1931, partially revised in 1975, grants the right to exercise child custody to fathers, without fully protecting the interests of women in maintaining children, paying them alimony, or allocating part of jointly acquired property. In June 2002, several articles in Part 4 of the Code were revised with respect to the property rights of wives who were granted the right to manage, use, receive income and dispose of property under their own name, which is one of the indicators of increasing women's status.

¹⁸ As amended by the Employment Insurance Act (2009).

¹⁹ Nevertheless, in Taiwan's central cities, advertisements for bank loans and posters depicting fathers and mothers, or just mothers with two children, have appeared on bank facades. (Author's observations, 2011)

Domestic violence remains high in Taiwan. A significant change in the world's attitude to this phenomenon has led researchers to conclude that "private issues, such as rape and domestic violence, need to be politicized and belong to the public sphere, and broader social and economic rights should form an integral part of the concept of citizenship" [Waylen, 2007, p. 5]. The Beijing Platform for Action, adopted at the 4th World Conference of Women in Beijing in September 1995, states that violence against women is an obstacle to equality, development and peace. This decision has led to a change in attitudes towards violence around the world. Many international and non-governmental organizations have joined in solving the problem.

Taiwan, in turn, adopted the Domestic Violence Prevention Act in June 1998. In accordance with its provisions, the Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Violence under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, established in 1999, cooperates with hospitals, law firms, police stations and private public organizations to create a network for the protection of women's rights. For many years, women and children have been using helpline consultations. A similar free hotline has also been established for men [Taiwan Journal, Dec. 2008, p. 3]. Specialized centers have been opened at district courts. Between 2003 and 2008 alone, over a million victims of violence received subsidies worth almost 600 million new Taiwan dollars (CEDAW, 2009, p. 210, 197-199). Various Foundations have been established in Taiwan: the Taiwan Women's Rescue Fund ²⁰ to provide long-term assistance to a large group of girls who have been trafficked by their parents and forced into prostitution, and to put an end to trafficking in women. In 1988, the Garden of Hope ²¹ charity organization was established, which since its foundation has provided shelter and services to more than 100 thousand women.

In fact, all the resources of legal, police, medical, educational, and volunteer organizations in Taiwan are integrated into an effective violence prevention system. A female Minister of Justice (until March 2010), Wang Qingfeng, one of the founders and president of the Taiwan Women's Rescue Foundation, worked with other human rights activists and social activists to persuade the authorities on the island to tighten measures to prevent the exploitation of minors in the sex industry, adopt appropriate laws to end this phenomenon and improve women's rights - victims of sex trafficking. Assessing the foundation's role in protecting women at risk, former Taiwan Vice President Annette Liu called on the Government to continue supporting the foundation. Such organizations primarily aim to "provide girls and women with the opportunity to realize their potential and live in a gender-equitable society" [Taiwan Journal, Feb. 2009, p. 7].

In 1998, the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence was adopted, which emphasizes that this is domestic violence between a man and a woman, and not violence only against a woman [Waylen, 2007, p.166]. The number of victims of domestic violence seeking help (mostly spouses, including those who are divorced) has been increasing over the past decade. More than 90% of them are women, the rest are men [Taiwan Journal, Sep. 2008, p. 2]. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of recorded cases of sexual violence, according to data for the period from 2003 to 2007, increased from about 4,900 to 7,700 ²².

Due to the increasing number of marriages with foreign citizens and with residents of mainland China, the Ministry of Internal Affairs organized a special discussion dedicated to-

²² In Taipei, there are even specially marked safe places for women on station platforms to wait for trains at night. (Author's observations, November 2011)

It is also focused on developing appropriate measures to address domestic violence in mixed families [²³] [Taiwan Journal, Sep., 2008, p. 2]. At the same time, according to Taiwanese media, the Taiwan law on protection from violence is ineffective, despite the fact that the corresponding legislative act came into force almost 10 years ago. According to Zhou Qingyu, head of the Commission for the Development of Women's Rights, efforts to prevent domestic violence are currently hampered by the lack of specially trained specialists, especially given the growing number of people seeking help [Taiwan News, 21.06.2008].

The level of women's well-being in Taiwan is growing due to changes in economic policies, access to education, urbanization, improving the quality of life, and population mobility. Women have more freedom and higher representation in business here than in any other Asian country.

As a result of a woman earning money, her status within the family changes and she becomes aware of this status. These changes, driven by economic necessity, have a direct impact on women's lives even more than the actual acquisition of income [CEDAW, 2009, p. 198; Wolf, 1992]. In addition, sociologists note that a new attitude is emerging to everything that surrounds women outside the home, it is strengthened and transformed, and then determines the social context in which women work. It is work that provides many women with a process of socialization that begins from early childhood in the family, continues in the process of education, and is formed under the influence of mass media, foreign culture, and participation in various social groups.

The most important indicator of equality in society is the availability of education for women. Education has ceased to be the prerogative of the elite. However, many Taiwanese women who received an education in the 1950s and 1960s that allowed them to expect employment in accordance with the requirements of the middle class could not fully benefit from it due to inertial traditionalism.

Gu Yanling ²⁴ encouraged women to adopt men's behavioral strategies without compromising anything with the patriarchal society. In her opinion, the participation of individual women in the social and revolutionary movement does not mean the improvement of the status of all women as a social group, and therefore women's collective efforts are necessary to achieve meaningful results, since women's interests can be best protected in collective actions and in "autonomous" organizations.

In the early stages of Taiwan's democracy, a certain percentage of seats in representative government were reserved for women (10-25%). The quota system was extremely important for encouraging women's participation in politics. Seat reservations and ²⁵ quotas have become crucial factors for achieving political gender equality during election campaigns. As a result, political parties gain greater opportunities in the political struggle. Quotas are defined by them as an important new strategy implemented by the state [Krook, 2008, p. 346].

²³ According to the Department of Budget and Statistics, among 10,133 registered marriages between January and July 2008, 1,604 (15.83%) were mixed. The number of 1,604 new couples includes 892 couples in which the bride is from Hong Kong, Macau or mainland China, and all other brides are from foreign countries.

²⁴ A feminist member of the women's movement in Taiwan since the 1970s. Together with like-minded people, she founded the Women's Studies Program at the National Taiwan University, was the chairman of the Awakening Foundation, a fighter for women's rights, currently a professor, a feminist researcher, and an adviser to the Taipei City Hall.

²⁵ Party quotas to ensure the presence of women in various political bodies (1-10%), parliamentary quotas that require all parties to nominate a certain number of women (usually 5-50%).

There is also an opposite opinion, with which it is difficult for the author to disagree, that the adoption of quotas for women is nothing more than" empty promises " that have a twofold impact on the activity of women's movements. On the one hand, they demobilize women's movements, promoting non-feminist women and thus reducing the effectiveness of women political activists. On the other hand, it leads to an increase in inequality among women themselves, class and ethnic segregation among the latter [Kgook, 2008, pp. 357-358, 360]. Quotas violate the principle of equality of votes, indicate the need to protect women - that is, they are "recognition of their weakness". In addition, women who gain electoral advantages most often represent the programs of their fathers and husbands, "not at all protecting their own interests" [Ku, 1989, p. 18; Sinetskaya, 2008, p. 118, 178-179].

The Kuomintang's policy of equal rights for women has undergone a complex evolution, directly related to the general political situation throughout China and in Taiwan itself. It is important to note that from the very beginning of the Kuomintang's activity after the Xinhai Revolution, it was its leaders who first raised the issue of legislative protection of women's rights, including political ones. Due to the influence of the patriarchal spiritual culture of Chinese society and some of its leaders, the Kuomintang's solution to the women's issue was not quick and consistent. Of course, the situation could not but be affected by the state of permanent war - the civil war, then the war against Japan, after which the civil war began again, which ended with the defeat of the Kuomintang and the relocation of its power structures and armed forces to the island of Taiwan, where a state of emergency remained for several decades in the context of military and political confrontation with mainland China, restricted political rights and freedoms.

Thanks to the successful socio-economic modernization of Taiwan carried out under the Kuomintang, the material situation of women and their cultural and educational level significantly improved, which created conditions for the active socialization of this part of society. Conducted at the end of the XX century. In Taiwan, the democratization of the political regime has opened up opportunities for women to participate widely in the island's political life, including in addressing gender issues. And now the need for further reform of the political system is being realized.

Government measures to improve gender equality and women's representation in Taiwan, such as increasing proportional representation of women in elected institutions, maintaining party quotas for women, and modernizing political culture, are helping to change traditional attitudes, especially among the younger generation of women and men, towards women's representation in"decision-making" positions.

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