Taiwanese politician under fire over spinster comment

A Taiwanese politician has come under fire for blaming the large number of spinsters on the island on men who marry foreign women.

Chang Hsiao-feng said many Taiwanese women were stripped of the opportunity "to be loved by men" because of the 460,000 foreign spouses in Taiwan.

Scores of human rights activists and foreign spouses protested today outside the legislature.

The protesters said Chang's comments reflected unwarranted social stigma against unmarried women. They derided them as racist, because many of the foreign spouses come from poor countries in south-east Asia.

Better education and rising gender equality have sent marriage rates plummeting in Taiwan. Only 51% of women over 20 are married, down from 75% in the 1980s.