問：您是亞洲地區首位並非出自於政治世家的女性總統，您如何做到的？
總統：我覺得我的出現其實跟臺灣的民主發展很有關係，也就是說，臺灣民主發展的過程是一個漸進、由下而上的過程。所以臺灣的新世代領導人其實都來自民間或是跟基層有比較強的連結的政黨。
問：在男性主導的社會裡，女性要爬升到領導人的地位一定很難。
總統：Yes to a certain extent, but I think the society and our democracy is mature enough to appreciate the value of the individual politicians. They place emphasis on the quality and the value of individual politicians rather than their gender. So of course, some people will find it fashionable to find a woman leader, but I think the reason why people chose me as leader of this country was because of my policy, my values, suit the needs of Taiwan today.（某種程度上是，但我認為我們的社會和民主已夠成熟，能欣賞個別政治人物的價值。他們重視個別政治人物的品質和價值勝過性別。所以，當然，某些人會覺得找個女性領導人很時尚，但我覺得人民選我當這個國家的領導人，是因為我的政策、我的價值符合現今的臺灣需要。）
Meaning that we represent people who want to have change in this society, after years and decades this place has been dominated by a single party, with the exception of 2000-2008, but over the last few decades, all dominated by the KMT. The whole social structure and values were shaped by this regime, KMT government, over the years. But people now realize that we’re in a different situation now, we want to move forward, we have to restructure ourselves, and redefine the current values. So they want the place to be more democratic. They want this place to place more emphasis on human rights and transparency, in terms of government decision-making and public participation in the government’s decision-making process. And essentially people want to participate, they want to have a voice in the major decisions of the government. So this is somehow different from the way the government conducted business since the days when this place was an authoritarian place.（我們代表社會上渴望改變的人民。這片土地除了2000年到2008年以外，數十年來均被單一政黨，即國民黨所主導，整個社會結構及價值都由這個政權形塑而成。如今人民了解我們的環境已經不同，我們想要向前行，我們想要進行重整，重行定義目前的價值。人民想要更為民主的環境，在政府決策過程中，民眾能參與官方決策，並更重視人權及透明度。本質上來說，人民想要在政府重大決策中，能參與其中並發聲。這與過去這片土地是威權統治、由政府主導的情境，有些許不同。）
