According to the CLA, under the subsidy program designed to keep more new mothers in the work force, each female could receive a subsidy for up to six months if they work.

Lee indicated that on account of relatively low salaries, positions of relatively low rank and the traditional concept that mothers rather than fathers should bear the family's care-giving responsibilities, many women choose not to work after getting married or having a baby.

At 47.71 percent, female labor participation rate for 2004 in Taiwan is low compared to that of Japan, Korea, Germany and the U.S., which reports labor participation rates of 73.4 percent, 49.8 percent, 65.4 percent and 73.3 percent respectively, Lee pointed out.

The Gender Equality in Employment Law currently allows a woman who has worked for more than a year at a company with over 30 employees to apply for a maximum of two years parental leave before their children reach 3 years old. Under the current legislation however, women have to take parental leaves without pay. The CLA plans to remedy this by providing subsidies to these women to further promote domestic female labor participation rate, Lee stressed.

The government estimates that it will spend NT$2.84 billion on the subsidy program every year, with expense to be supported by employment insurance fund. According to local Chinese-language media, the employment insurance fund's yearly revenues amounting to around NT$1.7 billion should be sufficient to support the program.

The CLA will propose an amendment to the Employment Insurance law before December to implement the subsidy program, Lee noted. Under the council's plan, the subsidy is calculated at 30 to 50 percent of the average salary (which is currently at NT$27,000), which amounts to a maximum monthly subsidy of NT$13,500.

However, the Executive Yuan has not made up its mind on whether the subsidy will be disbursed as a fixed amount to all qualified women or distributed at an amount according to the woman's reported salary under the labor insurance system.

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