| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
There has been a continuing decline in the persistence of the 3-generation household, the structure generally preferred in Chinese culture (H. C. Hsu et al., 2001). Although coresidence remains predominantly patrilineal, from 1965 to 1985 the percentage of nuclear family households increased from 35% to 56%; at the same time, the percentage of joint-stem family households declined from 26% to 7% (see H. S. Lin, 1994; Lee & Sun, 1995). Even though the number of older adults who claimed they preferred living with a married son had been declining—especially among the better educated—in 1990 there were still more than 60% living with one of their children (Li, 1994).
The expansion of work opportunities for younger adults has led to increased mobility, especially of females working outside the home. The changing position of women is considered among the most important social upheavals accompanying rapid economic development. From the mid-1950s to the early 1980s, the percentage of Taiwanese women working outside the home before marriage increased from 30% to 92% (Lin, 1994). The involvement of women in the workforce has had a substantial impact on their families’ economy. Various studies report that between 70% and 75% of all women working outside the home turned over most of their salaries to parents before they married (Thornton & Fricke, 1987).
The expansion of education for women and their increasing role in the workforce is not unrelated to other important changes affecting their lives. Most women born before World War II could expect their parents to choose a marriage partner for them—by one account, as many as 75%. By the 1980s, this had dropped to a mere 15% (Thornton & Fricke, 1987). Related to this trend is the increasing expansion of educational opportunities for females. In 1952 only 4% of females between the ages of 15 and 17 attended high school; by 1986 it was 70%, equal to the percentage of males attending (Hermalin & Yang, 2004).
One of the most remarkable achievements in Taiwan has been the avoidance of a polarized income structure that has all too often accompanied development in newly emerging economies. Vogel (1991) reports that the per capita income in Taiwan was less than US$100 in the early 1950s.