Special programme: Taiwan, a culture of freedom and diversity (part 2)

We begin by exploring Taipei's vibrant queer scene with drag queen Rose Mary, who's been performing for five years. In 2019, Taiwan became the first and only country in Asia to legalise marriage for same-sex couples. This culture of acceptance makes Taiwan a refuge for LGBT artists in an otherwise conservative region. 

Watch part one of the show Special programme: Taiwan's artists step out of China's shadow (part 1)

Taiwan is also making progress in the fight for gender equality. In 2016, Tsai Ing Wen – a proudly single woman – became the island's first female president. And women make up over 40 percent of Taiwan's parliament, a record in Asia. Still, Taiwan's #MeToo movement came late, in 2023, sparked in large part by the Netflix series "Wave Makers". The show follows a campaign team in the lead-up to a presidential election, and its plot centres around the issue of sexual harassment. We spoke to co-writer Chien Li-Ying, who explained that with the major question of Taiwan's sovereignty dominating politics, issues like gender equality are sometimes forced onto the back-burner. Yet "Wave Makers" managed to spark a reckoning by showing sexual harassment in the political sphere. 

I wasn't expecting the show to have such an impact. We often say in Taiwan 'let's wait until we become a country or we make peace with China before we talk about other issues'. Many say that because "Wave Makers" put the issue of sexual harassment in the context of the political sphere, some staff then spoke out about being victims.

Chien Li-Ying, co-writer of the series "Wave Makers" 

Watch more Taiwan's #MeToo moment: Women speak out against sexual harassment