"Warning Images on Cigarette Packs Should Not Blame Only Women for 'Birth Defects'"

Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Announces 2020 Gender Equality Policy Public Contest Winners
Proposals Include Mascot Gender Balance Consideration
Suggestions for Female Athletes' Sportswear Regulations Among 9 Selected Projects

Cigarette Pack Warning Image (Provided by Asia Economy DB)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] "Please improve the warning images on cigarette packs so that the cause of birth defects is not blamed solely on women."

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family conducted the '2020 Gender Equality Policy Public Contest' to improve everyday gender discrimination and spread awareness of gender equality through direct public participation, announcing nine excellent tasks requiring policy improvement on the 29th.

The top proposal was selected for suggesting a gender-equal improvement of the warning images on cigarette packs. The proposer pointed out that the text and images on cigarette packs could wrongly instill the perception that the cause of birth defects lies only with the mother, emphasizing that texts and images on commonly encountered items like cigarette packs need careful review and improvement from a gender-equality perspective.

Excellent proposals included suggestions to consider gender balance in mascots symbolizing local governments and to improve regulations on female athletes' sportswear. Since mascots used by local governments and public institutions are sometimes designed with a specific gender, which may spread gender stereotypes, it was proposed to create mascots representing both genders or use gender-neutral images. Another excellent proposal suggested improving dress codes that unnecessarily regulate exposure only for female athletes' sportswear, unrelated to performance enhancement, to prevent damage to sportsmanship and the expansion and reproduction of gender stereotypes. Additionally, six encouragement awards were selected.

The Ministry plans to select tasks requiring policy improvement among the chosen proposals as subjects for this year's Gender Impact Assessment, have research institutions study and analyze them to derive improvement measures, and recommend these to relevant ministries to promote improvements.

Lee Geonjeong, Director of the Women's Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, said, "We will analyze the proposed tasks from multiple angles, actively reflect them in gender equality policy promotion, and take the lead in creating changes that the public can feel."