The origins of the bill go back to the 1985 "Decade of Women" conference held by the United Nations in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference required member states to pass "women's provisions" guaranteeing women the right to an education and to employment. But because the ROC has long been out of the UN, Taiwan was not bound by the declaration and fell behind the international tide.
說起這部草案的緣由，一九八五年聯合國在奈洛比召開「婦女十年」大會，要求會員國明訂保障婦女就學就業的「婦女條款」，我國卻因為已退出聯合國，不受約束而落居國際潮流之後。