Does this count as sex discrimination? Or no?

About the company:

At Tomofun, we LOVE pets and technology. Our vision is to bring joy and innovation to every pet lover in the world. Headquartered in Taiwan, we’re building a one-of-a-kind global company that helps pets and pet parents stay connected through our innovative products. Our pioneer product, Furbo Dog Camera, is the #1 best selling pet camera on Amazon US, Canada, UK, and Japan. The learning curve is steep. But the work is exhilarating. Tomofun is on the cusp on a pet tech boom and we’re looking for smart, innovative thinkers who aspire to incredible things.

About the interview:
We are looking for someone who were born and raised in the UK to join our marketing/validation team.

Requirements:

  1. you must be a female from 23-35
  2. a dog lover

If you’re interested, please email your resume and a brief introduction of your background to wen@tomofun.com

Does this count as sex discrimination? or no?

Perhaps its more meaningful to ask if sex discrimination is illegal in Taiwan? And if it is, why do we see so many job posts like this?

It may be more acceptable to some readers if the job ad did not specify gender, or even age. But doesn’t the employer have a right to have a preference - even if this preference unwisely limits their talent pool? And if an employer does have this preference, aren’t those who do not meet these requirements better served by knowing upfront not to answer the job ad?

http://laws.mol.gov.tw/Eng/FLAWDAT0201.aspx?lsid=FL015149

Article 7
Employers shall not treat applicants or employees discriminatorily because of their sex in the course of recruitment, examination, appointment, assignment, designation, evaluation and promotion. However, if the nature of work only suitable to a special sex, the above-mentioned restriction shall not apply.

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That last sentence kind of complicates things.

Do internships count as employment in Taiwan?

There’s a legal category, I forget the Chinese for it, that means something like “student worker”. I haven’t looked into the details.

As to whether or not it’s sex discrimination, there are Gender Equality committees you can contact for information and complaints. There’s also an entire law devoted to the subject, the Act of Gender Equality In Employment (also translated by another title sometimes). Basically it states the obvious, no gender discrimination, and goes on to establish minimum standards for various gender related issues like menstrual leave, as well as some enforcement measures.

If “marketing” in this case means starring in ads, it’s not hard to see a justification there, like in any artistic project. If it’s office work, it’s much harder to see a justification.

Article 7 says it’s legal to discriminate in Taiwan. http://laws.mol.gov.tw/Eng/FLAWDAT0201.aspx?lsid=FL0151492 I can’t think of a situation where the nature of work is only suitable to a special sex…

I worked in a tech company in Tainan. The few female engineers were given crappy work. It’s a shame because the company missed out by excluding them. Part of the problem is that many women don’t see themselves as equals, and some welcome the laws on the books that give them time off.

I’m working in a tech company in Taipei and they are definitely not discriminatory. But then again the headquarters is in Australia and the boss is from California.

This report provides some clarity:

http://news.thewildeast.net/brunch-restaurant-fined-for-not-hiring-men/

勞工局長謝政達強調,事業單位招募員工時,應以求職者的能力及專業是否勝任為徵才條件,除非工作內容確實有限制性別必要,例如男性服飾廣告模特兒可限男性、女性內衣銷售員可限女性等特殊情況,否則不能任意設定條件,限制特定人求職權益。

Quick translation:

New Taipei Labor Affairs Department Commissioner Hsieh Cheng-Ta emphasized that when employers recruit personnel, the conditions for recruitment must be their ability and qualifications. If the nature of the employment is not necessarily limited by gender (for example a man modeling men’s clothing, women selling women’s lingerie, or other special conditions) limitations cannot be applied arbitrarily.

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I don’t know but it is an incredibly restrictive spec for a job applicant.

I think it was a lot about the management and not in a good way.

They could easily miss out on excellent candidates due to origin, sex and age discrimination.

They even state the person needs to be born in the U.K.!
Sorry that doesn’t make any sense.

If they want an actor or model they should state that.

A lot of these start-ups have issues similar to this, basically because they often lack experienced management staff and are staffed by rich kids with expensive rubber stamp MBAs. I recently interviewed with the travel start-up KK Day. The manager that interviewed me looked about 14 years old and the first thing he said to me was “you look too old for this job, we’re all young here”. He had no idea how to conduct an interview and gave me an invoice with virtually no run-on text to test edit with a biro before ushering me out the door because he had another candidate (young ABC) booked in the same interview slot. Needless to say did not get said job but I am booked in for a course of botox next week.

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