Responding to globalization trends in fisheries: assets of professional Taiwanese women

Globalization is an inevitable trend in Taiwan. The investment in human resources has increased over the last three decades, yielding a large pool of professionals, including women. Women became competitive professionals in Taiwan because many of them received sufficient education either to pass the licensing examinations or to enter the field of fisheries sciences. The licensing system and regulations protect junior and senior women experts from gender discrimination. Professional women in Taiwan adapt as well as their male counterparts to the trends of fishery development. Major aspects considered in this chapter are as follows: 1) Language and communication abilities obtained from schools or continuous education; 2) Awareness about world trends: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), World Trade Organization (WTO), etc.; 3) Willingness to learn and adopt new technology to keep pace with other countries; 4) Managing and planning to empower women colleagues in incremental steps towards globalization; and 5) Involvement in international activities: voluntary or invited participation in conference; editing, reviewing and publishing in scientific journals; commercial trading; etc. 6) Professional women in Taiwan have provided some significant opinions on future responses to globalization from personal, national and international viewpoints in reflection during this interview.