In mainland China, if you don’t get married by the age of 27 you are relegated to the “leftover women” bin, but in Taiwan things look a little different. An unmarried woman with aboriginal roots became, on May 20, the first female president of the Republic of China, better known as Taiwan. Her name is Tsai Ing-wen and her election to Taiwan’s highest office was a landmark not only for Taiwanese politics, but also for the entire Asian region.

Tsai was not a new figure on Taiwan’s political stage, having been the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate in the presidential election of 2012, but she was the revelation of this year’s presidential race. Without inheriting an important name and without having a political pedigree, she succeeded in becoming the elected leader of Taiwan. Tsai is a single woman who thrived in a world ruled by men and filled with stereotypes, without belonging to a political dynasty – in comparison to previous female leaders in Asia.

Although the popular narrative about her election emphasizes that she is a woman with aboriginal origins and a leader who will adopt a different stance toward China, not many voices focused on the most relevant aspect of her peculiar achievement: she is the only Asian woman to take the reins of power without being related to a former male political figure or head of state. Tsai won a democratic election without inheriting a political dowry as Aung San Suu Kyi, Sheikh Hasina, or Park Geun-hye did.

Asia’s political dynasties are woven all around the region, from Pakistan to South Korea, from India to the Philippines. […]

 

This article has been published by Andreea Brînză, a RISAP researcher, on The Diplomat. Read the full article on The Diplomat website.