Women and community work in Taiwan : a feminist perspective

This study aims to explore specific strands within women's approaches to community work in Taiwan. I adopt three feminist concepts, sex roles, patriarchy and family obligations, in conjunction with a study of the relationships which exist between women, the state and the community to investigate: women's contradictory relations to the family, the community and the state; women's struggles to create their own spaces in the community; and women's capacity to set their own parameters for action in Taiwan.This study also attempts to locate women's community work in the Taiwanese context and to examine the qualitative changes in styles, strategies and organization of women's community involvement from the 1960s to the present day. In order to gain access to information on women's community work in the 1990s, I employ the semi-structured interview method incorporating feminist interview techniques, to gain access to 41 women's groups for the case study, combined with 22 respondents who provided supplementary thematic information for the analysis.In this study, Western feminist thought is drawn upon to provide a body of knowledge to account for women's community work in Taiwan. Although there are immensely valuable elements to cross cultural research, Western feminist thought cannot simply be applied uncritically outside its own social context. Therefore, I also identify the major gaps in Western feminist thought when applied to women in Taiwan. These gaps occur primarily in terms of the importance of the family and domestic responsibilities, which mobilize women in Taiwan to participate in the community work arena. The public spaces which are available for women in Taiwan to participate in the community work arena. The public spaces which are available for women in Taiwan to engage in non-traditional activities are carved out of actions undertaken in relation to their traditional roles. Women in Taiwan are able to use the interface of the public and private spheres to create spaces in which they can set the agenda for themselves.