"Democratic Party's Women's Committee Abolition Push to 'Erase Female Voices,' Female Supporters 'Defect'"

Democratic Party Pushes to Abolish Gender Equality Committee... Renamed as Culture, Sports, Tourism, Women and Family Committee
Women Supporters in Their 20s and 30s 'Furious'... Signs of Defection
Women’s Groups Demand "Immediate Halt to Efforts Erasing Women and Gender Issues in Politics"

Kim Jung-jae, a member of the Future United Party, and other members of the National Assembly's Women and Family Committee discussed measures for the standing committee hearings on the morning of the 14th at Kim Jung-jae's office in the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] The Democratic Party of Korea's plan to abolish the National Assembly's Women and Family Committee (WFC) as part of its first party policy, the 'Working National Assembly Act,' has recently come to light, sparking a wave of defections among women in their 20s and 30s who had supported the party. These women are voicing criticism and expressing disappointment over the Democratic Party's lack of gender sensitivity.

Amid a series of power-related sexual violence scandals involving Democratic Party members such as former Chungnam Governor Ahn Hee-jung, former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, and the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, the consolidation and abolition of the WFC is being criticized for silencing women's voices and making it more difficult to devise countermeasures.

In particular, the anger of female supporters, which began with controversies surrounding the five-day funeral process for former Mayor Park's Seoul Metropolitan City funeral, is spreading further. They argue that disappointment is even greater given that former President Moon Jae-in had pledged to be a 'feminist president.'

The 'Working National Assembly Act' includes a plan to abolish the WFC and transfer its functions to the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, renaming it the Culture, Sports, Tourism, Women and Family Committee. The intention is to improve efficiency by merging the concurrently held standing committee, the WFC.

However, women are reacting with disbelief. A woman in her 20s, a working professional who identified herself as a Democratic Party supporter, said, "I never want to support the Democratic Party again, nor will I ever do so," adding, "They kept silent about the sexual crimes of party members, yet now they want to abolish the WFC? How can that be?"

She continued, "Using the excuse that the WFC is a concurrently held standing committee to merge it with the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee is an unprecedented and absurd measure," and added, "It only shows that the Democratic Party intends to shut its ears to women's issues. I'm so angry that I supported this party."

Other supporters have expressed their views through social media and portal site comments, saying things like, "They claimed to be a feminist president to win women's votes, but the Democratic Party is erasing women's issues," "Aren't they ashamed?" and "The intention sounds plausible, but how deeply can the Culture, Sports, Tourism, Women and Family Committee address women's issues? I'm disappointed."

Photo by Yonhap News

This trend of supporter defections is also reflected in public opinion polls. According to a survey conducted by Realmeter on behalf of YTN from the 13th to the 17th, targeting 2,516 voters nationwide, President Moon's approval rating stood at 44.8%. This represents a 3.9 percentage point drop from the previous week and is the lowest rating in nine months since the October last year scandal involving former Justice Minister Cho Kuk.

Negative evaluations rose by 4.5 percentage points to 51.0%. The gap between negative and positive evaluations is 6.2 percentage points, which is outside the margin of error. Notably, the approval ratings among women and voters in their 30s, who were considered core supporters of President Moon, dropped sharply. Women's approval rating fell by 6.6 percentage points to 44.1%, and the 30s age group's approval rating dropped by 14.4 percentage points to 42.6%.

As a result, critical voices are growing louder in the political sphere.

Kim Jung-jae, the floor leader of the WFC from the United Future Party, stated at an emergency committee meeting on the 20th, "At a time when public outrage over power-related sexual crimes is sky-high due to the former Mayor Park's sexual harassment case, it is laughable that the Democratic Party is arguing for the abolition of the WFC under the pretext of the Working National Assembly." He urged, "The Democratic Party must immediately halt attempts to abolish the WFC."

Yong Hye-in, a member of the Basic Income Party, also posted on her Facebook on the same day, saying, "I sincerely hope this is false news," and expressed opposition to abolishing the WFC and merging it into the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee for the sake of the Working National Assembly.

Yong criticized strongly, saying, "Sexual violence, gender equality issues, and gender issues are the most important frontlines in 2020. The new standard for Korea must inevitably be gender equality issues," and added, "If the WFC is a concurrently held standing committee causing members to feel burdened and the committee does not meet well, then the WFC should be made a non-concurrent standing committee. By the same logic, why don't the Intelligence Committee, which deals with national security, or the Budget and Accounts Committee, which handles budgets, merge with other committees?"

Jeong Chun-sook, Chairperson of the National Assembly's Women and Family Committee, is striking the gavel at the full committee meeting held on the morning of the 30th of last month at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, where members of the United Future Party were absent. Photo by Yonhap News

Opposition to the consolidation of the WFC has also reportedly emerged within the Democratic Party.

According to Yonhap News, a Democratic Party official related to the WFC said, "There is dissatisfaction because there was no proper explanation even up to the proposal of the Working National Assembly Act," and added, "There is also a critical view that the party has provided the opposition with an opportunity to attack amid a series of sexual scandals involving Democratic Party local government heads."

Meanwhile, women's organizations have condemned the abolition of the WFC as erasing women's voices and urged the Democratic Party to immediately stop pushing for the abolition.

The Gender Politics Research Institute Women's Political Power Democratic Solidarity (Ye-Se-Yeon) issued a statement saying, "The idea of abolishing the WFC, which is the minimum body to address gender issues in the National Assembly, is no different from the idea of disbanding the Coast Guard after the Sewol ferry disaster," and criticized, "At a time when the WFC should be elevated to a standalone standing committee, merging it into the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee will reduce the number of lawmakers interested in women's and gender issues."

They continued, "In a situation where most lawmakers lack a gender perspective, abolishing the only committee that deals with women's and gender issues means erasing women's and gender issues from the National Assembly's discussion table," emphasizing, "Abolishing the WFC not only erases women's voices but also silences the voices of many politically marginalized, excluded, discriminated, and alienated groups in society."

They concluded, "The Democratic Party's push to abolish the WFC means a 'non-working National Assembly,' not a 'working National Assembly' for women citizens," and urged, "Stop the effort to erase women's and gender issues from politics immediately."