Taiwan Makes History With Its Newest Presidential Candidate

Tsai Ing-wen is favored to win the 2016 presidential election in Taiwan, making her the country’s first female head of state. But even if Tsai loses, a woman is still likely to hold the country’s highest political office.

That’s because both of Taiwan’s political parties, the Democratic Progressive Party and the ruling Nationalist Party, have nominated female candidates.

The Nationalists announced deputy legislative speaker Hung Hsiu-chu as their candidate on Sunday, The Guardian reports, confirming that two women will face off in the January vote.

Tsai—who lost the 2012 election to current President Ma Ying-jeou by a small margin—believes that gender is less of an issue than it used to be for the Taiwanese.

“Gender used to be a barrier of some sort for a woman to overcome when they wanted to be in politics. Today in Taiwan, the situation is somewhat different,” Tsai said in a speech for the Center for Strategic and International Studies last month. “I think the young people are generally excited about the idea of having a woman to lead the country.”

Like everywhere else in the world, women don’t enjoy total equality in Taiwan and are still earning about 15 percent less than their male counterparts, according to the Taipai Times. That’s a smaller margin than the wage gap in the U.S. and surrounding countries, such as China’s 40 percent divide and Japan’s 26 percent gap. Taiwanese women also represent a larger percentage of legislators than in most Asian countries, making up about one-third of lawmakers, The Associated Press reports.

So, Why Should You Care? Electing a female head of state would be a first for Taiwan, and with two female candidates, gender is no longer even a point of debate. Relations with China—which insists on sovereignty over the independent nation—are at the forefront of the elections. As the majority of the Taiwanese favor autonomy from China, Tsai’s popularity stems from her plan for cautious relations with the mainland, while Hung wants to boost Taiwan’s economy through increased trade.

Of course, this doesn’t guarantee a race based solely on issues. Personal attacks and smear campaigns often go hand in hand with political elections. But at least Taiwanese voters won’t have to listen to any garbage questioning a woman’s capabilities as a leader.