Having lost the custody of her child to her former husband according to the rulings of the Taiwanese family laws, Lee had experienced the gender injustice rampant in Taiwan firsthand.

Thus, in 1982, when Lu faced imprisonment due to her activity in the concurrent democracy movement, Lee and other fellow feminists affirmed the strength of their coalition via establishment of the Awakening Publishing House, a magazine focused upon gender equality.

[8] Although the former publishing house had been successful in drawing public attention to the work of many feminists, it failed in winning the active participation of women in lower socioeconomic classes.

Recognizing that Foundation was nearly entirely organized by the elite, members focused on distributing the ideas of the feminist movement amongst the masses and calling for an increase in pro-women legislation.

To similarly promote the expansion of the gender equality conversation, the Foundation replaced its eponymous monthly magazine in 1995 with Saodong, a quarterly journal that allowed for feminists to discuss women's issues from a variety of perspectives.

[12] The passing of the Gender Equity Education Act in 2004 by the Legislative Yuan is largely hailed as a significant achievement of the Awakening Foundation.