一九四九年以來，台灣的社會福利體系中，針對婦女需求的“特別保護“可說非常稀少，一九八七年戒嚴解除後雖稍有改變，然而這樣的改變卻又形成福利政策的性別區隔現象。早期威權體制下，男、女公民社會參與有高度差距，婦女的議題一向由男人越廚代庖，形成“一視同仁“的性別意識形態是政策過程的主流。接近解嚴前、後階段，雖有少數女性政治菁英加入政體結構中，但是其本身的性別意識輻合於既有保守的政體性別結構，性別的代表性並未造成關鍵的力量，影響婦女的福利政策制定。近十年來，由於政治變遷、政體性別結構本身自主性的改變，與女性從政者大量增加，社會參與程度提升，若干兒童、老人、殘障的福利立法或修法都有婦女的參與，婦女的社會政治角色漸形凸顯。然而，從研究結果發現，婦女組織在議題的選擇與運動策略上，仍然必需運用傳統社會所期待的性別角色，才能有效滲透傳統家長式的政治制度中。

Social provision for women in the welfare system of Taiwan has been scarce since 1949. But the welfare provision for women gradually increased after 1987 when Martial Law lifted. However, this change formed a kind of sexual segregation in social politics. In the early 50s to 70s’, authoritarian system, men and women in Taiwan had a great discrepancy in their rate of social participation. Women's welfare issues were always decided by men. The gender ideology of equal treatment became mainstream in the political process of social welfare policy­making. After 1987, more female politicians entered into the political arena, but under the traditional paternalist male dominated political structure, the gender representitiveness cannot critically influence social politics, especially in regards to the passage of women' s welfare laws. In the most recent decade, more women have became involved in the political system and social organizations. Many social welfare laws have been passed by this lobby of those female politicians and social activists. However, these women and their organizations still have to play the traditional ideal women's role, in order to penetrate into traditional men's politics. It is a strategy and also a pitfall for women trying to influence men's politics in Taiwan. However, it has also resulted in the passage of several welfare laws for socially disadvantaged groups and unfortunate women.