'Do Not Take Out Your Frustration from Your Wife on Students' Sexist Content in Driving Instructor Training Textbook

Road Traffic Authority Driving Instructor and Skills Examiner Training Materials
Criticized for Gender Stereotypes and Sexist Content
Assemblywoman Lee Eun-ju "Materials Should Be Revised and Refresher Training Conducted"

Road Traffic Authority Guidelines. [Photo by Eunju Lee]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Concerns have been raised that the training materials used by the Korea Road Traffic Authority, which trains driving instructors and skills examiners, contain sexist content.

According to data from the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee member Lee Eun-joo of the Justice Party on the 30th, it was confirmed that three training manuals used by the Korea Road Traffic Authority for driving instructors and skills examiners?'Theory Education Guide,' 'Skills Education Guide,' and 'Skills Examination Guide'?contain sexist content.

First, all three manuals include a common section titled 'Customer Satisfaction Service' with a 'Grooming and Dress Checklist,' which instructs to check whether students or test takers have either not worn makeup at all or worn it too heavily, and whether the nail polish color is too intense before meeting them.

In particular, the Skills Examination Guide includes an example stating that if the skills examiner grading the practical driving test lacks fairness and reliability, "there will be widespread negative rumors that the examiner is lenient toward women." It also emphasizes that examiners must conduct objective evaluations of test takers and warns against the psychological tendency to vent anger on test takers "like taking out frustrations received from one's wife on subordinates at work."

Psychological aspects that the examiner should be aware of in the functional assessment guidelines.
[Photo by Eunju Lee]

The Theory Education Guide explains that if theory instructors frequently show students horrific accident scenes as part of the education, especially pregnant women, the elderly, and women may become unable to operate the steering wheel in similar situations or adopt a passive attitude toward driving. Regarding this, Representative Lee pointed out that it reflects the gender stereotype that men are mentally stronger.

These manuals are distributed as training materials for the two-day training sessions conducted by the Korea Road Traffic Authority. According to the Korea Road Traffic Authority, from 2016 until September of this year, 11,618 people have received training using these materials, and 90% of the trainees were male.

Representative Lee stated, "Driving instructors at specialized driving schools are educators who teach all age groups and genders," adding, "Especially since on-road training is conducted one-on-one inside a confined car, driving instructors require a high level of gender sensitivity." She further said, "Although the Korea Road Traffic Authority, a public institution, has revised the training materials annually, it failed to recognize that the materials contained sexist content," and added, "Sexist training must be immediately stopped, the manuals revised, and refresher training provided to driving school instructors and skills examiners active in the field."