TAICHUNG (Taiwan News) — A common feature of democracies everywhere is that men and women do not always vote the same, and this is true in some cases in Taiwan as well.
Traditionally, women have been more supportive of the Kuomintang (KMT), while men are more likely to vote for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with the gap between the two usually in the 5% to 10% range.
If the DPP thought that running a female candidate for president would help attract women voters, it did not. The percentage indicating they would vote for Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in the 2020 election was approximately the percentage that indicated they would vote for the DPP, with Tsai’s support in some polls lower than the party.
That gap is wider among older demographics than younger, but the reason why this is the case is not known, because it has not been studied (at least not that I am aware of, if I am wrong, please let me know). I have seen much speculation on this and theories put forward, sometimes with anecdotes, but nothing that could be called definitive.
I have been curious to see how the entry of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) into the political scene might impact that dynamic, and to see if a similar gender disparity appears in their support base. In the past, when they were more of a force to be reckoned with, I examined the support of the New Power Party (NPP), which like the TPP today, had a similarly young support base, and found there was little difference in the amount of support between women and men.
Ko’s past sexist remarks
One notable difference between the parties is that the TPP Chair and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has foot-in-mouth disease, and has made a string of sexist remarks. This was thrown back in the spotlight when a woman showed up at the “Fairness and Justice to Save Taiwan” (公平正義救台灣) rally on July 17 and held up a sign titled “Ko Wen-je’s remarks discriminating against women” and listed ten examples.
This was a courageous thing to do. The crowd by all accounts was overwhelmingly young males and largely there to support Ko.
The heavily male rally crowd. (Taiwan News reporter Jono Thomson photo)
Appallingly, at the rally and later online, she was subjected to verbal and written abuse. This then went viral and began making waves online.
Of course, it would have been better had she not had to endure that, but she did successfully raise the question implied by her sign: Is Ko a misogynist? That has been a topic of countless headlines in the local press ever since, and has blunted his momentum in the presidential race.
She listed ten, but some of the more famous ones include saying in 2015 that the rising number of unmarried women over the age of 30 were a “security risk,” and in 2018 "Japanese women make themselves up more beautifully" than Taiwanese women, and that Taiwanese women not wearing makeup "go straight outside and terrify people." In 2014, he explained why he went into surgery rather than obstetrics and gynaecology by saying he “didn’t want to make a living between a woman’s legs.”
Ko’s bungled response
Much of the political response to this has been predictable. Aside from Ko defending himself, men have largely not commented on the issue, leaving the battles over whether he is a misogynist or not to female politicians and commentators.
Unsurprisingly, politicians from opposing parties, especially the DPP, began attacking Ko on this topic. Also unsurprisingly, Ko’s wife, mother, politicians from his party and some independents and KMT politicians came to his defense.
Ko’s response was poorly handled. What he should have done was acknowledge he had said inappropriate things in the past and show support for the protester, commending her for her courage and reminding people that raising issues at a political protest rally is what they were there to do and under no circumstances did she deserve any form of abuse.
He also could have offered to meet with the protester to listen to her concerns personally. If he genuinely listened and asked questions, he might have even earned an ally.
Instead, at first he tried to pass it off and ignore it, and after being pressed on by reporters repeatedly on the subject, he turned defensive, “impatiently” trying to write it off as “I really don’t like politics Taiwan politics, us doctors save people, how is it there is a profession that is about thinking up ways to hurt people and spread rumors?” He was of course referring to the attacks by his political opponents and has a point on how nasty politics can get, but it ignores the protester’s reasonable concerns that a presidential candidate might not fully include half the population in his consideration if elected.
Once it became clear that this topic was not going away, he tried to deflect criticism. He went and saw the movie Barbie. A “Taiwan Chooses Ko North District Sister Friends Association” was established, attracting 500 female supporters.
Ko has also repeatedly tried to imply he could not be sexist because he is afraid of his wife. That struck me as more likely to indicate he is sexist than that he is not. I am no expert in gender studies, but in my experience, it is usually the guys who have emotional issues with women, such as fear, that are the most likely to have stronger sexist attitudes.
He still has not really directly addressed the issue, so likely it will continue to dog him until he does. Watching Barbie will not make it go away.
Come on, Barbie, let's go party!
It has not helped that some of his allies trying to support him have made things worse, and even seemed at times to give the impression the TPP itself has a problem. Commenting on the heavily male crowd at the rally that caused the current discussion, TPP lawmaker Lai Hsiang-lin (賴香伶), herself a woman, commented that maybe that day the women were busy “taking care of the children” or “taking care of their elders.”
Considering that political rallies in Taiwan are usually fairly evenly split, and as a politician she should be aware of that, her comments were doubly odd. More likely theories on why the crowd was so heavily male include the hypermasculine bodybuilding and heavily tattooed co-organizer Holger Chen’s (陳之漢 aka 館長) fan base and the marketing they used among other things.
Holger Chen at rally. (Taiwan News reporter Jono Thomson photo)
Another controversy erupted when the TPP organized a “tea party” for the “Taiwan Chooses Ko North District Sister Friends Association” and dancers were arranged for the event. The dance troupe went with a flight attendant theme, featuring tight miniskirts and exposed abdomens.
The TPP was accused of “objectifying women” and the flight attendants union called for Ko to apologize. However, the dance troupe involved, Art Baby, reacted furiously, saying they were being vilified in the press, that they were just passionate about dance and totally apolitical, had no intention to denigrate any profession by the use of the mock uniforms, and that their own choice of performing in tight or loose-fitting costumes was not made with objectifying women in mind.
The Art Baby dance troupe at the TPP "tea party." (CNA file photo)
Since it is not unusual during political campaigns to book dance troupes among the entertainers at events, and since it appears that the choreography and outfits were chosen by the dancers themselves, it does not appear that the TPP organizer thought anything beyond “book a dance troupe for the event,” much less go out of his or her way to objectify women. The press had a field day, however, so the damage was done to the party’s image regardless of whether it was a fair attack or not.
Totaling up the damage
So, how much damage has this done to the party? Polls tell a mixed story, but it appears it has blunted Ko and the TPP’s previously upward trajectory and they have lost some support.
In polling taken in the days after the rally when social media was hot on the topic, an RW News poll showed Ko losing nearly three points overall since June. However, in the breakdown, it showed that he lost support across all age and gender demographics, but strikingly, he lost nearly 12% support among women in the 30-39 demographic, over 6% among those aged 20-29 and a little under 5% with women in the 40-49 group.
In a My-Formosa poll taken at the end of July, it showed the TPP’s favorability had dropped over five points and Ko lost 4.6% personally in a three-way race. However, women were 1.2% higher than men to view the TPP favorably.
Unfortunately, unlike the RW poll, My-Formosa does not break the numbers down by women and men by age groups, it just shows men and women and the age groups in aggregate, but among women in general, support for Ko dropped by four points from June to July.
However, that is not much more than the three points that the DPP’s Lai Ching-te (賴清德) lost in the same period. Most of the women who abandoned Ko and Lai shifted to the KMT’s Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), who gained nearly six points.
Is Ko a misogynist?
What about the question implied on the protestor's sign: Is Ko a misogynist?
From his long list of comments in the past, it is clear he had a sexist mentality. It’s been years since he has made any new comments that I am aware of, so he may have learned and grown since, but that could be in his thinking about women, or for political expediency, or a bit of both.
Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), who is Ko’s campaign manager and served as vice mayor when Ko was mayor of Taipei, wrote on Facebook that while Ko had made those comments in the past, he “100% respects and defers to women” and that he has “adjusted, changed and improved a lot.” She also went on to tick off a list of the women he has surrounded himself with, including most of the top figures in the TPP and noted he appointed many women to executive positions in the Taipei city government.
Those top people, including Huang, Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) and Ann Kao (高虹安) are the three leading lights in the TPP outside of Ko. Regardless of what one thinks of their politics, by all accounts, they are smart, competent and seem to work well with Ko. That does not necessarily prove Ko is not sexist in his heart at some level, but it does show he is willing to empower capable women.
There is no way for sure to know what is going on in Ko’s head and what his attitudes really are, but I hope Huang is right that he is improving and changing. She has worked with him closely for years, so she may be speaking from the heart…or as his campaign manager.
However, that the party has handled this situation so badly across the board and Ko’s initial dismissiveness and later defensiveness have left the impression that the answer to the protester’s implied question is not yet definitively and unambiguously a “no.” Until it is, this issue will continue to keep Ko and the TPP on the defensive and make it harder for the party to regain their upward momentum.
