Taiwanese women eager to start own businesses: Poll

By Sorwar Alam

ANKARA (AA) - Two-thirds of Taiwanese female workers would like to start their own business, local media said, citing a recent survey.

According to the results of a survey released on Tuesday, 66.8 percent of female employees in the country would like to launch a business of their own, particularly to run a low-tech small business, said the Focus Taiwan online news portal.

The survey was conducted by 1111 Job Bank, a Taipei-based popular job site, between Sept. 13 and Oct. 2 among 1,048 respondents nationwide.

The results show that 39.1 percent of the women said they wanted their own business so they could have more flexibility in their schedules, while 32.9 percent saw it as a relaxing way to boost their income.

Moreover, 28.4 percent of the women who took the survey complained about difficulty getting a pay raise from their employers, said the report.

Among the women who want to be their own bosses, 35.1 percent are thinking of an online business, 34.2 percent want to run specialty snack shops, and 28.0 percent would like to run beverage shops, according to the survey.

The main factors behind women’s desire to start their own businesses are wage stagnation and the gender pay gap in the country, said Henry Ho, vice president of the survey company.

According to the latest government data, the median wage of female employees was $1,230, compared to male employees’ median salary of $1,445, according to Focus Taiwan.