Paper Title
Breaking the Glass Ceiling--Equal Rights in the Workplace for Upper and Middle Class White-collar Women

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to survey female white-collar workers’ promotion barriers. Taiwan’s female labor force participation rate has been increasing in recent years. However, according to the latest analytical surveys conducted by authorities and private institutes, the percentage of women directors in both public and private sectors remains low, indicating the glass ceiling is still impenetrable. Especially, private corporations appear to have an obvious gap. In addition, observing Taiwan’s judicial practice, the number of promotion-related lawsuits is considerably less than expected. It is possible that our equal employment laws are not well-designed enough in the aspect of procedure and substantive contents to protect women’s rights in the workplace. In consideration of time and available cases, this study mainly focuses on female lawyers, female accountant and female engineers. By comparative law studies, this study aims to re-analyze the history of Taiwan’s female workers, the glass ceiling effect and the practice of our present equal employment laws. Finally, this study proposes several legal changes in incentivize corporations to promote gender equality. Key words - feminist legal approaches, Glass Ceiling Act of 1991, the glass ceiling effect, women in white collars