Civil Groups Call for Reduced Working Hours Without Pay Cuts for Childcare, Increased Substitute Allowances
Taiwanese civil groups urged the government, ahead of Mother's Day, to amend the Gender Equality in Employment Act to allow parents to reduce working hours for childcare without a pay cut, and to establish substitute allowances. This initiative aims to create a family-friendly workplace.
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- 📰 Published: May 6, 2026 at 14:02
- 🔍 Collected: May 6, 2026 at 14:31 (28 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 6, 2026 at 14:44 (12 min after Collected)
Central News Agency
(Central News Agency reporter Wu Hsin-yun, Taipei 6th) On the eve of Mother's Day, civil groups held a press conference today, pointing out that parents experience difficulties in childcare, primarily due to "lack of time to spend with children." They called for amendments to the Gender Equality in Employment Act to implement reduced working hours without pay cuts and to establish substitute allowances, thereby creating a family-friendly workplace.
With Mother's Day approaching, the Alliance for Childcare and Employment Policies held a press conference before Mother's Day, urging the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan to amend the Gender Equality in Employment Act to implement "reduced working hours without pay cuts" with supporting measures, as a Mother's Day gift to childcare families.
The Alliance pointed out that flexible parental leave was launched this year, helping parents cope with urgent short-term care needs such as children aged 0 to 3 falling ill or childcare centers temporarily closing. They highly affirmed this new system, but stated that it still cannot solve the "daily time scarcity" that childcare families continuously face every day.
According to the Alliance, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "2022 Survey on the Living Conditions of Children and Adolescents" showed that as many as 37% of parents of young children had experienced difficulties in childcare, with the primary difficulty being "lack of time to spend with children." This indicates that in the dilemma of balancing work and family, "time" has become the most scarce resource for contemporary childcare families.
The Alliance advocates that the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan should implement four major reforms to the existing Article 19 of the Gender Equality in Employment Act, which stipulates that parents with young children can reduce their working hours by one hour per day but with a corresponding pay cut. These reforms include: canceling the restriction of companies with 30 or more employees, extending the applicable age of children to 6 years old, government subsidies for companies that implement "reduced working hours without pay cuts," and establishing substitute allowances, subsidized by the government to employers and paid to employees who assist with job substitution.
The Alliance cited Chunghwa Telecom as an example, which goes beyond legal requirements by extending the scope of application to employees with children under 6 years old, providing full pay without affecting performance evaluations. According to Chunghwa Telecom's 2024 ESG report, the employee application rate is over 10% of the total workforce, and employee happiness and engagement have significantly increased, which also helps employee retention and corporate development. This is a rewarding human resource investment.
The Alliance emphasized that research in the "European Journal of Population" clearly indicates that long working hours reduce the total fertility rate. Conversely, if the total annual working hours of women in a country can be reduced by 100 hours, the total fertility rate can increase by 0.08%.
The Alliance stated that "reduced working hours without pay cuts" or any family-friendly workplace system has issues where it cannot be applied to all industries and business units. However, if some Taiwanese employers, supervisors, and colleagues do not start learning how to systematically help "working parents" now, and do not start learning a culture of mutual support and coordination, then Taiwan's future labor market will face catastrophic consequences.
The Alliance appealed to the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan to immediately amend the Gender Equality in Employment Act to implement reduced working hours without pay cuts, and to continue promoting family-friendly workplaces and work-life balance. (Editor: Chang Ya-ching) 1150506
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(Central News Agency reporter Wu Hsin-yun, Taipei 6th) On the eve of Mother's Day, civil groups held a press conference today, pointing out that parents experience difficulties in childcare, primarily due to "lack of time to spend with children." They called for amendments to the Gender Equality in Employment Act to implement reduced working hours without pay cuts and to establish substitute allowances, thereby creating a family-friendly workplace.
With Mother's Day approaching, the Alliance for Childcare and Employment Policies held a press conference before Mother's Day, urging the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan to amend the Gender Equality in Employment Act to implement "reduced working hours without pay cuts" with supporting measures, as a Mother's Day gift to childcare families.
The Alliance pointed out that flexible parental leave was launched this year, helping parents cope with urgent short-term care needs such as children aged 0 to 3 falling ill or childcare centers temporarily closing. They highly affirmed this new system, but stated that it still cannot solve the "daily time scarcity" that childcare families continuously face every day.
According to the Alliance, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "2022 Survey on the Living Conditions of Children and Adolescents" showed that as many as 37% of parents of young children had experienced difficulties in childcare, with the primary difficulty being "lack of time to spend with children." This indicates that in the dilemma of balancing work and family, "time" has become the most scarce resource for contemporary childcare families.
The Alliance advocates that the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan should implement four major reforms to the existing Article 19 of the Gender Equality in Employment Act, which stipulates that parents with young children can reduce their working hours by one hour per day but with a corresponding pay cut. These reforms include: canceling the restriction of companies with 30 or more employees, extending the applicable age of children to 6 years old, government subsidies for companies that implement "reduced working hours without pay cuts," and establishing substitute allowances, subsidized by the government to employers and paid to employees who assist with job substitution.
The Alliance cited Chunghwa Telecom as an example, which goes beyond legal requirements by extending the scope of application to employees with children under 6 years old, providing full pay without affecting performance evaluations. According to Chunghwa Telecom's 2024 ESG report, the employee application rate is over 10% of the total workforce, and employee happiness and engagement have significantly increased, which also helps employee retention and corporate development. This is a rewarding human resource investment.
The Alliance emphasized that research in the "European Journal of Population" clearly indicates that long working hours reduce the total fertility rate. Conversely, if the total annual working hours of women in a country can be reduced by 100 hours, the total fertility rate can increase by 0.08%.
The Alliance stated that "reduced working hours without pay cuts" or any family-friendly workplace system has issues where it cannot be applied to all industries and business units. However, if some Taiwanese employers, supervisors, and colleagues do not start learning how to systematically help "working parents" now, and do not start learning a culture of mutual support and coordination, then Taiwan's future labor market will face catastrophic consequences.
The Alliance appealed to the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan to immediately amend the Gender Equality in Employment Act to implement reduced working hours without pay cuts, and to continue promoting family-friendly workplaces and work-life balance. (Editor: Chang Ya-ching) 1150506
Stand with the facts, every sponsorship you provide is the power to protect press freedom.
Download the Central News Agency's "Firsthand News" APP to stay updated with the latest information.
All text, images, and audio/video on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, publicly transmitted, or utilized without authorization.