Education Office Executive Says... "Kindergarten Teachers Are Top Brides, Have Babies" Sexist Remark

Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] The head of the Early Childhood Education Department at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has sparked controversy for making sexist remarks during a training session for kindergarten teachers.

According to the Seoul branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) on the 28th, on the 23rd, the head of the Early Childhood Education Department at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said during a training lecture titled "Understanding Early Childhood Education Policy," attended by about 300 kindergarten teachers, that "public kindergarten teachers are the number one brides."

She also mentioned the low birthrate issue, saying, "Teachers should get married and have babies." Critics argue that these sexist remarks ignore the social structure that leads childbirth to cause career interruptions for women and reduce women to 'baby-making machines.'

In response, the Seoul branch of the KTU stated, "The person responsible for early childhood education in Seoul not only ranks and discriminates against women based on their jobs but also openly revealed an outdated belief that female teachers must get married unconditionally." They added, "Without structurally addressing why women do not marry and have children, she instrumentalized women's bodies as a 'childbirth function' to address the low birthrate."

The Seoul branch of the KTU demanded that the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education immediately remove the official from their position and discipline them. They also urged, "The Office of Education should take this incident as a lesson and urgently implement institutional measures such as pre-training on gender equality for instructors and prior review of training content from a gender equality perspective."

Meanwhile, it is reported that the head of the Early Childhood Education Department at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education recognized the problem with the remarks and apologized to the trainees the following day (the 24th).