Skip to main content

About the Modern Women's Foundation

Founded in 1987, Modern Women's Foundation is the first women's protection center in Taiwan, assisting more than 8,000 victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment each year, as well as nearly 3,000 high-conflict families in the courts each year.
Our services are available to everyone regardless of nationality, gender, or sexual orientation because we believe that all people are born equal and that everyone should be respected while maintaining their freedom and autonomy.
Our goal is to create a friendly environment of equality, safety, dignity and development, and to change social myths in the hope of ending gender-based violence and realizing a gender-just society.

Our Mission

With a firm stance, we strive to defend the rights and interests of women as well as children who witnessed domestic violence. We hope to eliminate systematic inequality while changing the cultural narrative around victims of domestic violence. By providing professional services, we comfort and assist the victims, and ultimately we hope to become the most trusted organization for victims of gender-based violence.

Our Vision

To help all families in need, to reduce crisis occurrence and assist along the road of recovery. 
To advocate for the end of gender-based violence and to create a society where all people have access to equality, security, dignity, and development. 
To promote women's and children's rights, to eliminate any form of gender discrimination, and ultimately to achieve a gender equal society.

Our Core Service Ethos

  • Individualized service: Provide individualized services according to the needs of different cases.
  • Victim-centered: We do not judge victims and respect their choices and decisions.
  • Understanding and Empathy: Show understanding and empathy towards the victim's situation to make them feel comfortable.
  • Accompaniment and Empowerment: Accompanying the victim during their case, assisting with decisions and further actions so that they may live a more free and autonomous life.
  • Empowerment Advocacy: We provide victims with a voice and connect them with relevant resources to help them reclaim their rights.

MWF's Footprints

In 1987, the Modern Women’s Foundation was established following the ending of martial law in Taiwan. Prior to its establishment, women in Taiwan had little to no rights, so the original purpose of the organization was to advocate for women’s rights. So, Pan Wei-Kang gathered a group of individuals dedicated to the promotion and advocacy of women’s rights and established the Modern Women’s Foundation. Since its establishment the organization has served countless women who have experienced sexual assault or were in domestic violence riddled relationships. Because they quickly realized that women were not taken seriously even in basic matters such as personal safety. Victims of sexual assault or domestic violence had no way of seeking help because the police did not accept their cases, medical professionals refused to treat them, and there were no other governmental services provided to assist them. 

  • Stage 1　1987 – 1993 Establishment of “Women's Guardian Center”
    Our founder Pan Wei-Kang recognized that women in our society didn't have laws protecting their basic human rights or personal safety, let alone other essential progressive laws. Therefore, we established “Women's Guardian Center” in 1988. We invited lawyers, crime prevention analysis, doctors, and social workers to join the center. We provided the victims with legal services, accompaniment services for medical appointments and police interviews, as well as other social services. We become the first foundation that provided services to women and children suffering from sexual assault, domestic violence, and sexual harassment. Therefore, we have been pioneers in the protection of women and children's rights in Taiwan. 
  • Stage 2 1994 – 2004 Anti gender-based violence Legislation
    MWF advocated and ultimately helped to pass the first set of women’s rights and protection laws in Taiwan. We advocated for the legislation of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act in 1997, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act in 1998, the amendment of Chapter 16 of the Criminal Law in 1999, and Sexual Harassment Prevention Act in 2005. As a result, the first laws protecting women’s safety in Taiwan were enacted, beginning a new era for Taiwanese women.
  • Stage 3 2002 – 2011 Developing professional services and advocating
    During this period of time, we not only expanded our services throughout Taiwan we also continued to advocate for many important policies. Such as changing policies around interrogation of victims of sexual assault, establishing court service centers for domestic violence survivors, and safe houses for victims in high-risk DV situations. All of the policies we advocated for were adopted by the government. We now are a leading foundation committed to ending gender-based violence.
  • Stage 4 2012 to the Present Commitment to end gender-based violence and achieving gender justice
    MWF has been committed to ending gender-based violence and to achieving gendered justice for years. We have continuously provided victim-centered services while advocating for more progressive laws. Furthermore, we host a lot of educational seminars in schools and communities for young people, teaching them how to have healthy relationships, and encouraging them to engage in gendered violence prevention. We hope to end the gender discrimination that permeates our traditional culture. Our goal is to achieve the vision of gender equality set by the UN listed in their Sustainable Development Goals. When we accomplish that, Taiwan will be a gender equal society.