The proportion of female directors in Taiwan’s listed companies exceeded 20% for the first time

The Taiwan Female Directors Association held the "2026 Strong and Flexible Future" forum today (9th) and released the seventh "White Paper on Women's Governance". The white paper pointed out that in 2025, the proportion of female directors in Taiwan's listed companies will exceed 20% for the first time, and the number of companies with more than one-third of female directors will account for 19.4%.

This year's female governance white paper points out that the proportion of female directors in Taiwan's listed companies will be 20.1% in 2025, rising year by year from 13.9% in 2021 (14.5%, 15.6%, 18%), and breaking through the 20% mark for the first time in 2025. The number of companies with more than one-third of female directors accounting for 19.4%, an increase of 3.7 percentage points from 2024, the largest increase in the past five years.

At the same time, the number of listed companies without female directors has dropped significantly from 290 (30.3%) in 2021 to 74 (7.0%) in 2025, and the number of companies with more than two female directors has reached 523, accounting for 49.2%. The industry categories with no female leaders among listed companies in 2025 are "Oil, Electricity and Gas Industry" and "Glass and Ceramics Industry", one less than last year.

Tsai Yu-ling, founding honorary director of the Taiwan Association of Women Directors, pointed out that the most noteworthy change this year is not the number of companies where women participate in governance, but the "density." From the past, there was only one woman on the board of directors to accounting for one-third. The difference is not the number of women, but the substantial change in the quality of deliberations. This transition is taking place.

The Association of Women Directors pointed out that according to the latest data from MSCI this year, the proportion of female directors in global large and medium-sized listed companies (component stocks of the MSCI ACWI index) has reached 28.3% in 2025, an increase of 1% from 2024. The proportion of female directors in Taiwan's listed companies is 20.1%, which is still lower than the global level. However, with the global promotion of gender diversity and equality and the regulation of laws and regulations, the number and proportion of Taiwan's listed companies with female directors have increased significantly year by year.