Taiwan’s Silent Message
What a Flight Safety Video Says About Gender and Power
Sometimes it takes something as routine as a flight to reveal what’s been hiding in plain sight. What looks polished on the surface may quietly reinforce power structures that no longer serve us.
A New Lens on a Familiar Journey
Stepping onto your flight in Taipei, you’re invited to watch an airline safety video featuring a sleek, male narrator commanding a room full of impeccably groomed women. Silent, poised, and almost ornamental, the women serve as background to his confident tea-sipping introduction, which sets an elite tone. He is the guide, the expert, the authority.
The stewardesses stand in perfect formation, all faceless and quiet, while he directs the narrative. It all plays like theater. The message is clear: a man stands above, and women exist to serve, not to speak or lead. If this choreography feels jarring to Western eyes, it’s because it taps into a deeper, often unspoken bias.
A Legacy of Male Preference
Taiwan, like many East Asian societies, carries the historical weight of 重男轻女—a tradition of favoring sons over daughters that traces back to agrarian values and ancestor worship. Sons were economic assets and lineage bearers; daughters were seen as burdens who joined other families. Over generations, this bias was reinforced in family dynamics, inheritance laws, and social expectations.
Progress on the Surface, Gender Gaps Beneath
On paper, modern Taiwan is progressive: women dominate medical schools, serve in parliament, and entrepreneurs thrive. Yet beneath those milestones linger old norms:
In the workplace, women still face the “motherhood penalty.” Even after paying their dues, many struggle to reenter or climb the corporate ladder once they start a family.
At home, traditional expectations persist. Women shoulder most of the domestic labor even when working full-time.
In politics, representation is improving, but top leadership remains male-heavy and often hesitant to champion bold feminist reforms.
How This Affects Women and Society
That safety‑video trope is no harmless aesthetics. It reflects and reinforces a worldview that women are decorative, obedient, and confined. When half the population is subtly told that its voice matters less, the costs are profound.
Innovation suffers when women hesitate to speak or lack leadership examples. Talent goes untapped as capable women opt out or settle. Economic potential shrinks; studies consistently show that gender equality boosts growth.
Many women don’t even realize they’re living on “scraps” of opportunity. They accept them as normal and any resistance is politely tucked away.
Towards a More Balanced Future
This isn’t an indictment of Taiwan’s people. It’s a call to awareness. Societies evolve when all voices matter. Taiwan’s strong democratic ideals and vibrant tech sector offer fertile soil. But without confronting casual sexism in public messages and private expectations, real equity remains out of reach.
Ask yourself next time you board a plane: why do we invite a man in charge and silence a room of women? When we challenge these norms, Taiwan—and the world—open the door to fuller, richer potential for everyone.
This flight safety video sparked discomfort because it nailed a deeper reality. But by naming it, we can reshape what normal looks like and build a society where commanding authority includes women in every scene.
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The Toxic Legacy of Son Preference: Read how son preference is not a tradition; it still shapes families across Chinese communities.