2025 Empowering Women for a Better World

The White Paper on Female Governance is jointly produced by the Taiwan Women on Boards Association and EY, focusing on annual research on listed companies with female chairpersons or general managers hereinafter referred to as “female-governed listed companies”; their chairpersons or general managers hereinafter referred to as “female leaders”.

The 2025 White Paper on Female Governance takes as its theme the “resilient leadership” capability of women leading their teams to overcome difficulties when facing disruptive forces, rapidly changing and complex geopolitical risks, as well as pressures, challenges, changes, or crises in sustainable development governance. A questionnaire survey was conducted in March–April 2025 among female leaders of Taiwan’s listed companies, resulting in 112 valid responses, an increase of about 9% compared to the number of responses in 2024; the total market value of the companies with valid responses is approximately NT$3.91 trillion, accounting for 64% of the total market value (approximately NT$6.11 trillion) of female-governed listed companies, which is highly representative.

This white paper survey is presented in three main chapters: “Overview of Female Leaders of Listed Companies in Taiwan,” “Corporate Management Survey and Analysis,” and “Sustainability and ESG,” and concurrently analyzes an overview of the differences in corporate management between Taiwanese and international companies, establishing objective data analysis for female-governed listed companies. In addition, for the first time this year, the white paper has added the collection of views and expectations of corporate female leaders regarding trends in the global business environment from 2025 to 2027, as a reference for the Taiwan Women on Boards Association in assisting enterprises in the future.

1. Overview of Female Leaders of Listed Companies in Taiwan

In 2024, there were a total of 1,041 listed companies in Taiwan, of which 186 companies (about 18%) were under female governance; among these 186 companies, 17% had both the chairperson and general manager positions held by women, and about 10% had both positions held by the same woman. Male-led companies numbered 1,009, with approximately 85% of them having both a male chairperson and general manager, and about 20% of these positions were held by the same man.

Overall, by the end of 2024, the total number of listed companies increased by about 3% compared to 2023, while the number of companies with female chairpersons grew by about 9% and those with female general managers grew by about 13%. This rate of growth outpaced the overall increase in listed companies. The main reason for this change was that in 2024, more chairperson and general manager positions were handed over from men to women than from women to men. In addition, among the newly listed companies, 6 had both female chairpersons and general managers.

To align with international trends and strengthening board diversity, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) promoted the “Sustainable Development Action Plan for Listed Companies,” which requires listed companies with less than one-third of female director seats to disclose in their 2025 annual report the reasons and measures planned to increase the number of female directors. Under the global trend of promoting gender diversity and equality, the number and proportion of listed companies in Taiwan with female directors have increased year by year, with the proportion of female directors in Taiwan’s listed companies in 2024 at 18.0%. By the end of 2024, the proportion of listed companies with female directors accounting for one-third or more of the total number of directors was 15.7%; achieving the requirement of one-third or more female directors still requires efforts from all parties.

2. Corporate Management Survey and Analysis

In 2024, the overall performance of Taiwan’s listed companies was outstanding, with the proportion of companies having growth in revenue and EPS increasing by 83% and 56%, respectively, compared to 2023, while for female-governed listed companies, the proportions were 65% and 58%, respectively. Although slightly lower than the overall listed companies’ performance, they grew by 51% and 26%, respectively, compared to 2023,  demonstrating the operational resilience and stable competitiveness of female-governed listed companies amid international turbulence.

The rise of emerging technologies has placed leaders in a tug-of-war between balancing opportunities and risks, while also having to respond to constantly changing customer needs and expectations, and manage uncertainties brought by geopolitics. Taiwanese female leaders believe that “shifting global economic environment, geopolitical disruption, including trade tensions and conflicts” (81%) and “emerging technology, including AI” (63%) are the key disruptive forces affecting their industries and markets, with proportions significantly higher than the global and Asia-Pacific survey results—particularly the former, which in Taiwan is 2.3 times that of the global figure and 1.9 times that of the Asia-Pacific.

While disruptive forces impact industry development, they also bring potential opportunities. Taiwanese female leaders, when converting emerging technologies and technological disruption into business opportunities, view “leveraging emerging technologies to build an innovation edge and drive new ways of working” (79%) and “reimagining our operating model by integrating disruptive technologies and novel knowledge” (70%) as the top two strategic priorities, with 38% and 23% regarding these as their first priority. In addition, about half (51%) of Taiwanese female leaders regard “building digital ecosystems in our industry and moving from competition to ‘coopetition’” as an important strategy for turning emerging disruptive technologies into opportunities, while only 28% of global CEOs regard this strategy as most important, ranking it lowest among their priorities, showing that Taiwanese female leaders’ leadership style values cooperation and win-win resource integration.

In recent years, geopolitical risks have continued to rise. From industrial policies, trade protectionism, to wars and social unrest, political risks’ impact on business has already affected many senior executives of companies worldwide. A total of 76% of global CEOs, 69% of Asia-Pacific CEOs, and 61% of Taiwanese female leaders have a high level of understanding of the global geopolitical variables involved in their enterprises’ operations, markets, and suppliers. When “creating or refreshing a business strategy” and “making decision about market entry, expansion or exit,” most (over 70%) of Taiwanese female leaders often or always incorporate geopolitical variables into strategic decisions, which is close to the global and Asia-Pacific survey results. However, when “making decisions about transactions (e.g., M&A, joint venture, and spin-off),” about half of female leaders often or always incorporate geopolitical variables into strategic decisions, which differs significantly from the global (75%) and Asia-Pacific (73%) survey results.

The business model of a partner ecosystem goes beyond typical supplier and channel relationships. Through ecosystem cooperation, companies can generate more value than by working alone and can share the value created. More than 60% of Taiwan’s female-governed listed companies have joined, participated in, or established ecosystems. They consider the top three challenges in the ecosystem to be “business planning and strategy” (43%), “participant value and risk sharing” (25%), and “management and operations” (9%). Global senior executives, on the other hand, consider the top three challenges to be “business planning and strategy” (25%), “IT architecture planning” (20%), and “participant value and risk sharing” (18%).

The business models of ecosystems come in many forms, depending on the industries, needs, and goals of the partners. The ecosystem business models that Taiwan’s female-governed listed companies have joined, participated in, or established are mainly “Sell-through arrangements” (60%), “project-oriented, results-based” (44%), and “joint ventures” (38%). The global survey data shows that the main ecosystem business models are “hybrid” (53%), “joint ventures” (43%), and “market” (41%). Apart from the “joint ventures” model, the results for the other two differ the most from Taiwan, especially with the proportion of Taiwan’s female-governed listed companies in the “market” model being the lowest (15%).

Taiwanese female leaders indicate that the top three most important partners in their companies’ ecosystems are end customers (44%), partners with complementary offerings (43%), and suppliers (35%), all of which are “strategic partners” category. In addition, female leaders regard the importance of “end customers” as significantly higher than the results of the global survey. When building ecosystems, the top three areas where Taiwanese female leaders believe support from service providers is most needed are “product and service development” (47%), followed by “information technology” (35%) and “supply chain” (34%). Global senior executives believe the top three are “information technology” (57%), “strategy and planning” (50%), and “product and service development” (38%). Regarding the important technology considerations in building ecosystems, Taiwanese female leaders consider the most important to be “trust, a control system and governance” (50%), “flexible business processes” (49%), and “systems integration” (43%). Global senior executives consider the most important technology considerations in building ecosystems to be “IT automation” (38%) and “cloud infrastructure and applications” (34%), showing that female leaders place more emphasis on “trust, a control system and governance” (32% higher than the global figure) and “flexible business processes” (28% higher than the global figure).

With the rapid development of AI, Taiwanese female leaders show a high degree of concern for “responsible AI.” In addition to having already started investing in and deploying AI (73%), the proportion paying attention to ethics and governance issues (75%) is higher than that in the United States (53%). In terms of AI-related governance actions, 56% of Taiwanese female leaders said that their companies are building AI governance frameworks, and 48% said that their companies are addressing bias issues in AI models.

Enterprises invest significant resources in AI deployment, but without effectively tracking the actual impact and results of AI investments, it may not only lead to resource misallocation but also miss key opportunities for gaining technological advantages and managing governance risks. More than half (62%) of Taiwanese female leaders are tracking the impact and effectiveness of corporate investment or deployment of AI, with “operational efficiencies” (87%), “employee productivity” (68%), and “creating competitive advantages” (62%) being the top three areas where female leaders believe have grown as a result of AI investment.

Regarding AI talent cultivation or recruitment, as many as 91% of Taiwanese female leaders encourage employees to embrace AI fully and at scale, a proportion significantly higher than other cultivation measures and recruitment strategies. This demonstrates that female leaders tend to favor internal transformation and cultivation over external poaching/recruitment, prioritizing encouragement of self-learning as the initial promotion approach.

3. Sustainability and ESG

Taiwanese female leaders show confidence in promoting corporate sustainability and ESG investment, with more than half of then expressing strong confidence in “financial impact metrics” (57%) and “board supervision metrics” (55%), and nearly half (49%) in “operational metrics.” In the face of the 2050 net-zero emissions policy, although about 16%-37% of Taiwanese female leaders indicated they have completed related response actions, more than 30% (37%) have completed “Understanding how prepared you are to achieve compliance with potential regulatory changes under the sustainability policies, such as sustainability reporting” in response to the 2050 net-zero emissions policy. However, 61%-71% of female leaders indicated they are in the planning/preparation stage, showing that they demonstrate a proactive attitude and leadership in corporate sustainability governance. Regarding EU CSRD, ESRS, and CSDDD regulations, about 20% of female leaders indicated pursue bold changes and transformations, as well as making significant changes in certain areas since most Taiwanese enterprises are not directly subject to these regulations, but are indirectly required as part of the supply chains of European companies. More than 70% of Taiwanese female leaders have already taken response measures, with more than half of them indicating they have “made partial adjustments to meet regulatory standards.” As Taiwan will introduce the IFRS sustainability standards in 2027, as many as 95% of leaders have initiated adjustment actions, with most still in the partial adjustment and compliance phases, but about 30% of female-governed listed companies have promoted significant transformations.

4. Trend Outlook

This year’s white paper provides an in-depth understanding of Taiwanese female leaders’ views on the development trends of the global business environment for 2025–2027. More than half of Taiwanese female leaders believe that “AI proliferation” (54%) and “Global supply chain restructuring, with more flexible and diversified structures to reduce reliance on a single market” (53%) will be the main business development trends for 2025–2027. “As data becomes a key competitive resource and cross-border flows increase, data sovereignty and cybersecurity become strategic priorities” (44%) will be the third major business development trend. “Corporate sustainability concepts and the maturity of renewable energy technologies continue to drive green economy investment and development” remains a focus and trend, with 39% of Taiwanese female leaders considering it one of the main business development trends in the past two years. In addition, as Taiwan enters a super-aged society in 2025, 31% of Taiwanese female leaders predict that “population aging and the rise of the health economy” will be one of the upcoming business development trends.

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