Lee Jae-myung: "Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Should Be Renamed to Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and Its Functions Adjusted"

"Proposal to Rename and Adjust Some Functions"
Emphasizing Gender Equality and Work-Family Balance via SNS
Expressing Commitment to Improve Gender Wage Gap and Hiring Discrimination

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, announced on the 9th that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family should be renamed the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and some of its functions should be adjusted.

On the same day, Lee said on Facebook, "Our society must move toward eliminating all unreasonable discrimination," adding, "I propose changing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to the Ministry of Equal Family or the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and adjusting some of its functions."

Unlike calls for the abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family by some quarters, this is interpreted as recognizing the value of the ministry's existence on the condition of functional adjustment and name change.

Lee said, "There are various controversies surrounding the causes of conflicts between women and men, but I think the fundamental cause is the lack of total opportunities due to low growth and the resulting intensification of competition," adding, "Some political circles and media tend to overlook the essence and expand and incite the problem as conflicts between the weak and gender conflicts."

Lee emphasized, "Marriage, childbirth, and childcare are a heavy burden for young people and women, and I will promote policies that reduce the burden for everyone and policies that are actually felt," adding, "We will actively invest budgets to expand parental leave for men and women for work-family balance and to resolve care gaps, and improve the treatment of care workers."

Lee also cited resolving the gender wage gap and improving hiring discrimination as tasks to be addressed. He said, "South Korea's gender wage gap is 31.5%, the most severe among OECD member countries. We will strive to eliminate the gender wage gap in public institutions and private companies through measures such as the introduction of a gender wage disclosure system."

He continued, "Cases like the recent Namyang Dairy Products incident, where employees are pressured to resign after parental leave, occur frequently, and some banks have also revealed hiring discrimination scandals," adding, "We must strengthen national-level management and supervision to ensure that young women are not discriminated against from the stage of entering society."

Lee said, "Women's political participation must also be greatly expanded. The proportion of women in the 21st National Assembly is only 19%," adding, "This is an unacceptably low rate compared to advanced countries such as the EU, and the government and political parties must prepare practical measures to expand women's political participation."